THE SEAT 



then, is this moral effect? But let the animal once 

 start to move, then he must immediately be sen- 

 sible of the rider's quality. The rider who has a 

 correct seat will not permit his mount to proceed 

 according to its own fancy, but will constrain it, 

 confidently, unhesitatingly, by rational and positive 

 means. On the other hand, the rider whose seat 

 is not firm will sometimes surprise his horse and 

 sometimes let it go. His control will be strained, 

 hesitating; and the horse will feel this. 



Moreover, in spite of inconsistencies in certain 

 systems, I cannot but believe and the longer I 

 study, the better I am convinced that the seat 

 is much improved by training horses for one's self. 

 For after all, it matters little what the origin or the 

 quality of the particular system adopted, so long as 

 the rider takes and gives with hands and legs, and 

 thus learns to move his members without disturbing 

 his seat. Whenever, by constant practice, this habit 

 has become fixed, then the rider will maintain his 

 seat without ever thinking of it at all. But in that 

 case, he will, obviously, communicate his own 

 confidence to his horse, while at the same time he 

 forestalls easily any untoward movement, rearing, 

 bucking, arching the back, shaking the head, kick- 

 ing, and the rest. 



But how can a rider do all this without self- 

 confidence; and how shall he be self-confident 

 without a steady seat? The indifferent rider, who 

 lets his horse go as he will, who hangs on by the 



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