USUAL OR INSTINCTIVE EQUITATION 



move forward or backward of the perpendicular, 

 and to the left and right, without in the least 

 displacing the weight from its base, and without 

 any effect whatever upon the contact, adhesion, or 

 other element of the seat. So, too, should the lower 

 leg be able to swing backward from its position and 

 forward again, without any tendency to advance 

 too far, and without any disturbance of any other 

 member. 



In short, both the upper and the lower parts of 

 the rider's body must be trained to work freely on 

 their respective joints, separately or together, in 

 any direction, yet without affecting in any wise the 

 immovable seat. 



For the seat is the focus of all equestrian feeling. 

 By way of the seat, the rider senses the coming 

 movements of the horse. By means of the seat, with 

 other aids, he controls or prevents these. Further- 

 more, it often happens that a fidgety animal will 

 submit unresistingly to a rider whose seat is firm, 

 while another rider, unsteady of seat, will manage 

 it only with difficulty. The creature seems to be 

 affected one way or the other, according as it can 

 or cannot shift the rider's weight. 



Some horsemen are of the opinion that this 

 moral effect passes from horse to rider; some that 

 it travels from rider to horse. I myself think that 

 both are right. For consider any horse, standing 

 still, mounted by a rider having the most perfect 

 seat, but who moves neither hands nor legs. Where, 



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