196 THE SEAT. 



as in Fig. 184. 1 venture to think that the outward direction 

 of the leg in Fig. 185 may be taken as a maximum. I may 

 point out that the rider in this illustration had particularly 

 long legs. As a man with long flat thighs will be able to 

 get a better grip with the knees than a short round-thighed 

 rider, the former will be more independent of a grip with the 

 calves than the latter, and consequently will be able to keep 

 his feet farther away from the horse. In any case, a rider 

 who wears spurs will do well to keep his feet parallel to the 

 horse's sides (the toes turned neither in nor out) ; because, in 

 this position, he will not be so liable to involuntarily touch 

 his horse with them as he would be were his toes turned out, 

 in the event of the animal jumping or " playing-up." I 

 would not advise that the toes should be turned in and the 

 heels turned out, as in military riding; because the effort 

 needed to keep the feet in that position would be too 

 fatiguing to be maintained for a period sufficiently long for 

 practical requirements. The usual tendency even of good 

 horsemen is to turn the toes too much out ; hence the learner 

 will do well to cultivate the habit of keeping his feet parallel 

 to the horse's sides. 



The feet should be put "home in the stirrups" (Fig. 186), 

 so as to avoid any chance of their coming out of the irons. 

 For military and school equitation, the plan of riding with the 

 feet only as far as the ball in the irons, allows the play 

 of the ankles to ease to some extent the bumping up and 

 down motion which the rider unavoidably has, when he does 

 not rise in the trot ; and enables the heels to be kept close 

 to the sides more easily than could be done with the feet 

 home. The latter is an advantage only for circus purposes, 

 and, as we have just seen, is entirely opposed to the principles 

 of useful horsemanship. The former has nothing to recom- 

 mend it from this point of view ; because, although bumping 

 up and down in the saddle at a trot may conduce to uniformit}- 



