276 BESTIVENESS ; ITS PREVENTION AND CUKE. 



usually very short, the body of the rider, from the hips 

 upwards, is in most cases further back than the perpen- 

 dicular line through the fourteenth vertebra, Fig. 4 ; but 

 from the hips downwards the legs are brought forward 

 towards the horse's shoulders, and the main reliance for 

 the seat is with that portion of the leg from the knee 

 down to the ankle, in the hollow close behind the horse's 

 shoulder : therefore, although the rider's body is actually 

 farther back than what we have described to be the 

 normal position, the direction in which his weight is 

 thrown by each impulse received from the horse's hind 

 legs, is diagonally forwards on to the fore legs, and not 

 in the vertical line shown by the arrows in Fig. 4. 

 Moreover, the rider's legs exercise in this their usual 

 position all the influence derivable from mere pressure, 

 or from the spur, wholly on the horse's fore legs, leaving 

 the hind legs free from all control, for they almost 

 always come too late when the rider endeavours to meet 

 the horse's croup or fix its hind quarters. 



The system of bridling and bitting is also perfectly 

 suited to the object kept steadily in view, the horse's 

 head being kept low, if necessary, with the martingale, 

 which, of course, as has been shown, throws an ad- 

 ditional portion of the weight on the fore legs. When, 

 at a later period too, a curbed bit is used, this is put 

 so high up in the horse's mouth that the action of the 

 curb becomes more painful than that of the mouth- 

 piece (see Part II. of this book), and consequently in- 

 duces the horse rather to lean on the bit than yield 

 in the direction of the rider's hand. Finally, this 

 latter is, both with the snaffle and the curb-bit, held 

 as low as the horse's withers will permit, and quite 

 steady that is to say, without much varying the pull 



