44 HANDS AND SKAT. 



men have not the patience or common sense to under- 

 stand that the horse requires to be shown and instructed, 

 and must be given time to learn. 



Riders who have the best seats are they, whether 

 men or women, whose tempers are good and who are in 

 constant communication with their horses. A good rider 

 always has a feeling of his horse's mouth, but never 

 holds on by it ; he can tell in an instant by the feel of the 

 horse's mouth if he contemplates anything out of the way, 

 and can nearly always forestall him in time. If the horse 

 should get startled and jump to one side, he goes with 

 him and does not pull his mouth about ; in fact, it would 

 appear that horse and man were one machine, possessed 

 of one mind between them. If people who keep horses 

 once are made to understand what riding means, and to 

 know how agreeable is the feeling of a horse going pleas- 

 antly up to the bit without pulling, at the same time feel- 

 ing, as it were, every motion of the horse, they would 

 never be satisfied with one that was not thoroughly 

 broken, and they would always try to keep him a perfect 

 saddle horse. 



The first thing then a rider must try to get is a good 

 seat, and it must be in the proper place, that is, in the 

 middle of the saddle, which is the only coirect seat to 

 have. The man that sits back on his saddle on the can- 

 tie, and has his legs bent forward has a chair seat, and 

 the man who leans his body forward and sticks his legs 

 out has a fork seat, and any man that rides the latter way 



