THE GRIP 71 



out daily it is of little, if any, value, except for 

 growing lads ; and after nearly a quarter of a cen- 

 tury's experience in a cavalry regiment, a spectacle 

 I have yet to see is that of the rough riders, headed 

 by the riding master, trotting round the school 

 every morning on numnahs to keep their muscles 

 in order ! But surely this should be done if it is 

 of the benefit assumed by its originators. 



I object to the practice for another reason. It 

 gives the rider a wrong seat. The balance of the 

 body is quite different to that when riding with 

 stirrups, the consequence being that when the 

 stirrups are taken up the inclination is to ride too 

 long. Furthermore, it teaches a man a wrong 

 lesson. He is made to believe that riding is an 

 effort of grip, and not a question of balance. 



The advocates of the practice assume that it 

 teaches a man to sit down in the saddle. Person- 

 ally, I believe it has an opposite effect. When a 

 man is not "sitting down" it is because he is 

 gripping. No one can help " sitting down " in the 

 saddle if the legs are splayed out from the horse's 

 sides, and this simple fact demonstrates sufficiently 

 clearly that not "sitting down" is due to an 

 unnecessary grip. In fact, nearly all awkwardness 

 in the saddle is caused by the rider using muscles 

 unnecessarily, either in the arms, hands or legs. 

 So that what we want to teach is freedom. These 

 callisthenics or muscle exercises are sufficiently 

 performed in ordinary riding, and there is no fear 

 that they will be used ine^ectively provided the 

 balance of the body is correct. That is the main 



