104 SEATS AND SADDLES. 



wooden or Hungarian saddle with a proper seat. Several 

 modifications of the Hungarian saddle have been adopted, 

 amongst others, a Danish model ; but it is quite absurd 

 to attempt to retain, as has been done in many instances, 

 the chair-seat of the heavy cavalry saddle in a wooden one 

 better far stick to the old form : however, the difficulty 

 will probably be ended by heavy cavalry being gradually 

 abandoned, for which there are many other reasons 

 than merely the technical ones we have had to deal with. 

 We cannot wind up this portion of our work better 

 than with a few remarks on the following passage from 

 the ' Handy Horse Book,' pp. 48, 49 : " Altogether it 

 might be desirable that commanding officers of some 

 cavalry regiments would study the pose on horseback of 

 Marochetti's sculptured dragoons, or those of other 

 eminent artists. The result would probably be a marked 

 improvement in the position of the saddle, and, con- 

 sequently, in the general coup d'&il of our cavalry," &c. 

 Now, if it were merely for appearance' sake, we should 

 say that no real advantage of other methods should be 

 sacrificed to this; but, after all, what is Marochetti's 

 pose, and why have he and other eminent artists 

 succeeded in producing works that please the eye of 

 such judges of horsemanship as " Magenta" and other 

 sporting men? and why are our public places dis- 

 figured by absurd equestrian statues? Simply because 

 Marochetti perfectly understood the equilibrium of the 

 horse and rider, and was bound to do so, as otherwise 

 he could never have got the weight of material to 

 balance on a pair of legs, but must have had recourse, 

 like others, to a post growing out of the ground and 

 into the horse's belly to sustain it, or wholly abstained 

 from the attempt to reproduce his figures in motion. 



