82 SEATS AND SADDLES. 



If a man " sits on horse ape-like," as the Hungarian 

 phrase is, he will scarcely succeed in any kind of riding ; 

 and we believe that the great secret of good horseman- 

 ship in general consists in avoiding exaggerations of all 

 kinds. The saddle, the position of the stirrup, and the 

 peculiar object in view, may and must induce modifi- 

 cations of the seat ; but riding is still riding, and the 

 mechanism of the horse's construction cannot be altered 

 by mere fashion. 



Road-Riding. The road-rider, although not required 

 to take fences, or permitted to ride at full gallop like 

 the fox-hunter, has his own difficulties to contend with . 

 he has to do his work on a hard inelastic surface, and 

 not on grass fields or ploughed land ; he must be pre- 

 pared to make sharp turns, and to meet all sorts of 

 provocations to shying and restiveness, of which the 

 hunting man knows little or nothing ; in fact, handiness, 

 safety for himself, and a due regard for his horse's legs, 

 are much more important considerations for him than 

 great speed. It is all very well to say that a roadster 

 or hack should possess the qualities requisite to insure 

 the above, but all does not depend upon the horse ; if 

 the seat of the rider be faulty, a breakdown will ensue 

 sooner or later. 



Let us take the hard road, in the first instance, into 

 consideration. When one body strikes, falls, or im- 

 pinges on another, to use a scientific phrase, it receives 

 the blow back sooner or later. This is, as we all know, 

 what is called recoil or rebound; the elastic surface 

 gives back the blow later and more gradually ; the 

 inelastic one sooner and more suddenly. The horse's 

 leg being elastic, it receives but a small shock from 

 the elastic turf, this being divided between both nearly 



