Saddle with Stirrups v. Numnah 133 



weight and softer bones making the unpleasant ex- 

 perience of less consequence, and the effects, as far 

 as nerve and confidence were concerned, of little 

 or no duration. Figure-skating is notoriously more 

 quickly learned by boys than by men for the same 

 reason. It may also have struck Hayes that the 

 anxious parent would not look forward with equa- 

 nimity to the likelihood of his young hopeful being 

 dragged. 



No European nation now adheres to the rigid rule 

 of not allowing a man stirrups until he has acquired 

 a firm seat. In the British Army ofificial opinion has 

 changed twice on the subject within the last ten 

 years, and the instructor is now allowed to do as he 

 likes. The German recruit has a few lessons on a 

 blanket, but when serious instruction commences he 

 is given a saddle with stirrups. 



Doubtless one of the reasons why early writers 

 did not favor stirrups was that they followed the 

 sound rule of placing the man in the saddle as they 

 eventually wished him to appear when a finished 

 horseman, and to do this the stirrups would have to 

 have been fitted so long as to be practically useless to 

 the novice. Fillis admits this, and goes so far as to 



