'HANDS' AND OTHER MATTERS 141 



stirrups out a hole in order to make it more 

 comfortable for the rider. The point I want to 

 touch on here is to do with the comfort of the 

 horse. It must be remembered that when a horse 

 is trotting, his off fore and near hind both touch 

 and leave the ground almost simultaneously. 

 Similarly his near fore and off hind. Now, when 

 we rise in the saddle at the trot, the body rises 

 and falls to the cadence of one or other of these 

 pair of legs, diagonally situated. Hence, when we 

 trot, we trot upon one diagonal or the other. A 

 horse that has been properly trained will be quite 

 accustomed to the rider using either, and will trot 

 perfectly true in each case. But most horses have 

 not been so trained, and it will be foimd that a 

 definite habit has been established to throw the 

 rider on to the diagonal to which the horse is accus- 

 tomed. Generally they always break into the trot 

 off the same leg, so that the rider will find himself, 

 without knowing why, always rising and falling on 

 the same diagonal. This is, as I have said, due 

 to bad training, and should be rectified as quickly 

 as possible. The reason for it being bad is that 

 the horse always takes the weight of the rider on 

 the same two legs, and equally uses the same 

 muscles for throwing the rider up. Directly the 

 diagonal is changed, then the strain is immediately 

 shifted from those two legs on to the other two, 

 and the opposite and corresponding muscles are 

 brought into use. 



The knowledge of this fact is very important in 

 long-distance riding, and of course to a lesser 



