SEATS. 79 



legs, because the rider's weight is with every bound 

 thrown forward into his stirrups in the direction Q P, 

 Fig. 4 that is to say, exactly counter to the direction in 

 which the arm-bone ends its action ; whereas, by sitting 

 over the centre of motion, the shock is equally divided 

 over all four legs, and not on one pair alone. This is 

 what we meant by saying that a man may sit far back 

 and still ruin his horse's fore legs. Secondly, it is not 

 the safest method, because, if the horse fails with one or 

 both fore legs, the rider loses all his support at once, 

 the stirrup acting only as a pivot round which, by means 

 of his stiff leg, his whole body is made, by the impulse 

 received from the hind legs, to rotate and perform the 

 catapult experiment. And if a horse suddenly swerves, 

 turns on his haunches, or comes to a dead halt at a 

 jurnp,\he rider is most likely, through the same agency, 

 to continue the original line of movement, whilst the 

 horse adopts a new one, or ''reposes." Thirdly, this 

 method of riding tends very forcibly to making the horse 

 convert the rider's hand into a fifth leg for itself, the 

 pull of the head on the rein coming at an acute angle to 

 the push or tread of the leg in the stirrup; and this, 

 when carried to excess, degenerates into pure rein and 

 stirrup riding without any seat, especially with horses 

 that carry their heads low. It is, however, just precisely 

 with a hard-pulling horse that a curbed bit would be 

 so desirable, and with this seat it is a matter of im- 

 possibility to use one. The rule for the jockey we have 

 seen is, never, in standing in his stirrups, to depend for 

 seat to any extent on his reins. Why this should be 

 neglected in hunting is not easy to understand. The 

 Cossacks and Circassians, who all ride with a snaffle, 

 and do wonderful things with it, sit perfectly k independent 



