194 THE SEAT. 



ridcM- wants to sit down in the saddle, he should put as little 

 wei^i^ht as he can on the stirrups. 



The grip of the knees acts to greater advantage than that 

 of any part of the thighs, because the bones of the knee 

 stand out prominently from the thigh bone, and the pressure 

 falls more nearly at right angles to the surfaces to which it 

 is applied than it would do higher up the sides of the horse. 

 The more the knees are turned in, the more is the pressure 

 taken by the bony prominences of these joints ; and the 

 more they are turned out, the more does it fall on the soft 

 tissues which are at the back of the thighs and knees. It is 

 evident that in getting down into the saddle, the hollow and 

 not the back of the thighs should be applied to the sides of 

 the animal. 



As the grip of the knees in all ordinary cases will be 



applied above the " swell " of the horse's barrel, it will be 



found that security of seat will be enhanced by also 



obtaining a certain amount of grip from the calves of the 



legs, which, as a rule, can be applied below the swell of the 



barrel. In utilising this pressure from the calves of the 



legs, care should be taken that the grip of the knees is in no 



way interfered with. We may observe that, with ordinary 



shaped legs, the more the rider turns his toes in, the greater 



will be the preponderance of the pressure from the knees, over 



that from the calves, and vice versa. Bad riders who affect 



plain-flap saddles often afford a good illustration of this fact ; 



for, failing to obtain sufficient knee-hold on the slippery flaps, 



ihcy instinctively turn out their toes and bring their heels 



close to the horse, in order to get what grip they can with the 



calves of their legs, and, presumably, having short stirrups, 



so as to obtain all possible purchase on them, they show a 



good deal of " daylight " between the knee and the flap on 



each side, when viewed from behind or from the front (Fig. 



184). The rider who wishes to possess a strong seat should 



