80 SEATS AND SADDLES. 



of the rein : any one can make his horse equally light in 

 the hand with a snaffle as theirs are, by making his seat 

 as independent of the reins and stirrups, or use a curbed 

 bit in hunting if he pleases. It is the close steady seat 

 that makes the hand light and the horse's mouth soft ; 

 and therefore it is much more valuable in teaching to 

 make the young riders dispense altogether with the reins 

 than with the stirrups, and may be done sooner. 



Apropos of riding in the stirrups, " either to avoid a 

 kick, or in jumping a large fence, the rider, by merely 

 rising in his stirrups, at once raises or abstracts from 

 the saddle the point his enemy intends to attack, and 

 accordingly the blow aimed at it fails to reach it."* On 

 the contrary, Mr. Apperley says, " When hounds find 

 and go away, place yourself well down in your saddle, 

 OQ your fork or twist, and don't be standing up in your 

 stirrups (as formerly was the fashion, and the cause of 

 many a dislocated neck), sticking out your rump as if 

 it did not belong to you." Who shall decide when such 

 high authorities differ? But perhaps the difference is 

 more specious than real. Mr. Apperley says, " well down 

 in your saddle," which, we take it, will bring a man 

 very near to the. middle of that piece of furniture, and 

 probably to the horse's centre of motion. Here the 

 necessity for avoiding the blow does not arise, it is 

 the point of least motion ; but if a man sits well back 

 in his saddle, a la wash-ball, he gets much nearer 

 to the action of the hind legs, and nothing else remains 

 for him than a speedy retreat when this becomes 

 dangerous. Something like this must be the key to 

 this difference of opinion ; for a rifle or other gun that 

 kicks will only hit your shoulder the harder the looser 

 * Sir F. Head, as above. 



