MODERN FARRIER. 191 



if you rode without stirrups ; and is only to be pre- 

 served by a proper poise of the body, though the 

 generahty of riders imagine it to be done by the 

 grasp of the thighs and knees. The rider should 

 consider himself as united to his horse in this point ; 

 and when shaken from it, endeavour to restore the 

 balance. 



Perhaps the mention of the two extremes of a 

 bad seat may help to describe the true one. The 

 one is, when the rider sits very far back on the 

 saddle, so that his weight presses the loins of the 

 horse ; the other when his body hangs forward over 

 the pommel of the saddle. The first may be seen 

 practised by grooms, when they ride with their stir- 

 rups affectedly short ; the latter, by fearful horsemen 

 on the least flutter of the horse. Every good rider 

 has even on the huntinir saddle, as determined a 

 place for his thigh's, as can be determined for him 

 by the bars of a demi-peak. Indeed, there is no 

 difference between the seat of either, only, as in 

 the first you ride with shorter stirrups, your body 

 will be consequently more behind your knees. 



To have a good seat yourself, your saddle must 

 sit well. To fix a precise rule might be difficult : 

 it may be a direction, to have your saddle press as 

 nearly as possible on that part wliich we have de- 

 scribed as the point of union between the man and 

 horse ; however, so as not to obstruct the motion of 

 the horse's shoulders. Place yourself in the middle 

 or lowest part of it : sit erect, but with as little con- 

 straint as in your ordinary sitting. The ease of 

 action marks the gentleman : you may repose your- 

 self, but not lounge. The set and studied erectness 

 acquired in the riding-house, by those whose de- 

 portment is not easy, appears ungenteel and un- 

 natural. 



If your horse stops short, or endeavours by rising 

 and kicking to unseat you, bend not your body for- 

 ward, as many do in these circumstances : that mo- 



