SEATS. 85 



end. The difference is this, that a much less amount 

 of rise will suffice, and the seat is therefore not only 

 less completely abandoned, but also for a shorter time 

 the horse's balance is not destroyed ; and fine bitting 

 may be resorted to.* There is, however, a further 

 peculiarity belonging to this English method that is 

 worth understanding, because the successful trotting of 

 many horses depends on its being so. The "bobber 

 up and down " rises and falls with each tread of the 

 horse ; the English rider only with the intermediate ones : 

 he always comes down on his saddle simultaneously 

 with one and the same hind leg ; and the consequence 

 is, that in trotting after this fashion one diagonal pair 

 of legs is constantly saved from the recoil, and the 

 other as constantly exposed to it in an aggravated 

 form.f 



Every practical rider must have observed that with 

 certain horses there is a difficulty, in starting to trot, 



* The author has done many a mile of hard work in this way in 

 a military saddle with stirrups exactly central; and ridden to 

 English foxhounds also tolerably well in full military fig in a stiff 

 country. 



f A friendly criticism in the ' Scotsman ' objects that we treat 

 the animal too much like a machine, and thinks " that it must be 

 an immense relief to a horse that his rider should occasionally 

 change his position, even to a weaker point," because, by keeping 

 the weight constantly in one place, " the strongest muscles will 

 get tired." Now, in the first place, there is very little muscular 

 action expended or required for the mere purpose of supporting the 

 rider's weight this is done chiefly by the bones and tendons ; the 

 great expenditure of muscular action, and consequently the great 

 fatigue, is occasioned in propelling the horse's and rider's weights ; 

 and secondly, what we object to so much in the exaggeration of 

 the English system of rising in the stirrups when trotting, and 

 transferring the weight alternately from rear to front, and vice 

 versa, is precisely that one set of muscles is constantly over- 

 burdened, whilst another set is unduly spared ; whereas, by placing 

 the rider permanently in the centre, his weight is alternately 

 propelled by the diagonal action of each pair of legs. 



