Ill 



BALANCE 



" It is from the loins that he must really ride when all is said and 

 done." Whyte Melville. 



•• He that would venture nothing must not get on a horse." 



Spanish Proverb. 



T> ALANCE, i. e., the mechanical adjustment of 

 the body to the movements of the horse, is 

 the foundation of all good riding. It is the most 

 difficult of all things to teach, and is more quickly 

 acquired by men with pluck and nerve than by those 

 who lack self-confidence. The secret of its attain- 

 ment is suppleness of the body from the hips up- 

 wards ; Pembroke righly remarks that " good riding 

 is incompatible with stiffness." The heavily-topped 

 man with short legs is theoretically at a disadvantage 

 as a horseman, because his center of gravity is 

 higher, and therefore farther from the saddle. Nor- 

 mally it is at about the height of an imaginary line 

 running horizontally through the hips. Once learnt, 



balance is quite instinctive. 



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