BRITISH STABLES AND FOREIGN METHODS. 



527 



for it, confined themselves to considering the advisability of the American seat 

 a forward, crouching attitude with very short reins, hard on the horse's neck, 

 and shortened stirrup-leathers. This peculiar attitude was said to have been copied 

 from the Indians, and to save a great deal of wind-pressure. What the unprejudiced 

 observer noticed was that it led to far more objections on the score of bumping, 

 crossing, and boring, than had been known for some time, owing to the difficulty 

 it seemed to involve in keeping a horse straight. This might happen anywhere 

 on the course. But at the start, where a sudden backward shy is common, a 

 shortened stirrup-leather seems even 

 more dangerous. Down hill, too, 

 round Tattenham Corner, for instance, 

 the descending weight of a jockey is 

 thus placed exactly on that part of 

 the horse which is least able to bear 

 it, instead of near the stronger hind- 

 quarters. The terrible accident to 

 Ho/ocauste (Tod Sloan up) in Flying 

 Fox's Derby will recur to every one's 

 memory in this connection. And 

 lastly, at the finish, shortened stirrups 

 prevent a rider from shifting his 

 weight, and tightening his grip, or 

 stopping a swerve. Then as to the 

 wind-resistance. If the crouch pre- 

 vents wind-pressure occasionally, it 

 also loses the benefit of a thirty-five 

 knot breeze coming dead aft ; for you cannot have it both ways, and very few 

 courses are so exactly straight that a breeze which would really make a difference 

 would come from the same quarter all the way. Moreover, men who ride " like 

 a lifeo-uardsman " down hill, or with the breeze behind them, do not retain that 

 position up hill or in a steady headwind. Their long stirrup-leathers enable them 

 to change their seat as required. Shortened stirrup-leathers necessitate the same 

 posture all the time. 



Yet when all this had been said, the hard fact remained that Lester Reiff in 

 1900 was at the head of the winning jockeys with 143 out of 553 mounts, beating 



7- Raff. 



