146 THE SEAT. 



and places the lady in the best possible position to 



fall off. 



The greater difficulty which a rider has in keeping 

 her seat when her mount abruptly swerves to the left, 

 than when he goes to the right, is due to the fact that 

 in the former case, the upper crutch is drawn away from 

 the right thigh ; but in the latter case, it forms a more 

 or less effective obstacle to the forward movement of 

 the right thigh, and thus helps the rider to retain her 

 seat. To explain this subject more fully, I may point 

 out, that if a person is standing on the foot-board of 

 the right side of a rapidly moving train which suddenly 

 turns to the left, he or she would be far more inclined 

 to fall off, than if a similar change of direction had been 

 made to the right, in both of which instances the side 

 of the train would play the part of the upper crutch. 

 The fact that the lower part of the rider's right leg 

 rests against the horse's near shoulder, as in Fig. 79, 

 will materially help her in keeping her seat, in the 

 event of an abrupt swerve to the left. 



The side position of the seat, combined with the fact 

 that the head has to be kept more or less in the 

 direction the horse is proceeding, causes more weight 

 to be placed on the near side than on the off. 

 Although the rider cannot entirely remove this dis- 

 advantage, she may lessen this unequal distribution of 

 weight, (i) by avoiding the use of too long a stirrup 

 leather, for the longer it is, the more inclined will she 

 be to bring her weight to the near side, in order to 

 obtain the assistance of her stirrup ; (2) by sitting a 



