THE MILITARY SEAT. 99 



which the stirrups cannot afford otherwise than by 

 assuming an angle at the other side of the perpendicular 

 that is to say, the tread in the stirrup comes to be in 

 the direction of the point of the horse's shoulder, "tongs 

 across a wall," and the counter-action is then upwards 

 in the line of the man's thigh, against which the intes- 

 tines descend, and produce, if there is the slightest 

 natural weakness in the individual, rupture. The stir- 

 rups being far forward in the hunting or civilian saddle 

 are not so injurious in this way, because the rider evades 

 the shock by rising in the saddle and this is just what 

 led to the English way of riding ; but the cavalry soldier 

 cannot do so. 



It is all very well to say the man must retain the 

 position prescribed for him ; if he is constantly on the 

 strain to do so, he simply cannot; besides which, the 

 stirrup is actually of very little, if any, use to him. 

 Two-thirds of the time and the whole of the talk ex- 

 pended in endeavouring to make a man retain an in- 

 convenient seat can be saved, and devoted to the much 

 more necessary objects of teaching him how to manage 

 his horse and use his weapons, if you make the pre- 

 scribed seat inevitable, and every deviation from it 

 uncomfortable ; and this can be easily done. 



With the light cavalry (or Hungarian) saddle, it will 

 not do to put a man into it as it comes out of the saddler's 

 hands, and order him to sit in a particular manner ; it 

 is just as necessary, or more so, to make the saddle fit 

 the man's seat, as to make his coat or boots fit his body 

 or feet ; and this is done, after careful observation of 

 the seat, by shortening or lengthening the bearing-strap 

 of the seat, or by altering the lacings, till the seat 

 comes right of itself, when you don't need to correct it 



