288 FOX-HUNTING IN THE SHIRES 



cellence as to be effective, yet never for a moment 

 obtrusive. 



In the same way the saddles should be made to fit 

 the rider, the stirrup leathers should be flexible, and 

 the saddle must also suit the horse. Perhaps the 

 best plan is to have a saddle made which is of the 

 right length — I find many saddles too short for com- 

 fort — and with the cut that suits your seat, since 

 each man necessarily differs in this respect from every 

 other, and then to have one stuffed, and of course 

 restuffed as time goes on, to fit each horse in the 

 stable. In this way each hunter will go at ease in 

 a saddle that fits him, and that enables his rider to 

 sit in the right place. There is no doubt that a 

 saddle makes all the difference between comfort and 

 safety and the reverse, and it is a matter on which 

 it is impossible to spend too much care and attention 

 at first. There is of course no doubt, especially if 

 we have not been riding much during the summer, 

 that the seat will alter a little in the course of the 

 season, but altering and shortening the stirrups will 

 give all the change we require. A saddle should 

 always be roomy, for there is absolutely nothing to 

 be gained by trying to save weight in the saddle, and, 

 on the contrary, a saddle too small for the rider tires 

 a horse. A badly fitting saddle is a fruitful source 

 of riders' strain, so are stiff stirrup leathers, and so 

 too is a big jumping horse. If you buy a horse from 

 a man, say, a couple of stones heavier than yourself, 

 you should look out for this. The horse will spring 

 as he has been accustomed to do under the heavy 

 weight, and the effort will of course not meet with 

 the usual resistance. It is this spring, the twist of 

 powerful hind-quarters expecting, as it were, to have 

 to hoist a heavy man over a fence, that strains us. 



