6o Scats and Saddles. 



in this point, have the least possible tendency to disturb 

 the seat of the rider or the position of the saddle ; 

 thirdly, the weight of the rider being equably distributed 

 over the whole surface of the saddle in contact with the 

 horse's back, is therefore less likely to injure any one por- 

 tion of this ; nor does it convert the saddle into a lever, 

 and shove it forward or backward. Again, let us sup- 

 pose the saddle as before, but the rider sitting altogether 

 at its hinder end for instance, and there will be, first, 

 the horse's equiHbrium destroyed ; secondly, the rider 

 himself, being nearer to the hind legs, will first receive 

 an impulse from the direction R S^ and be thrown for- 

 ward till he meets that coming from the direction /^.§, 

 and these two forces, instead of resolving each other 

 from one common point into their sum total, neutralize 

 each other partially in successive shocks at the expense 

 of the horse's legs. It will be said that the use of 

 the stirrups is to prevent the rider being thus thrown 

 forward. No doubt they do, and this kind of rider 

 always sticks out his legs toward the horse's shoulder 

 on the line ^ P ; in other words, he transmits the 

 shock from the hmd legs to the frre ones through the 

 medium of the stirrups (this, by the way, is the reason 

 why stirrup-leathers are broken), of course shoving the 

 saddle constantly forward, and these men's girths can 

 never be drawn tight enough to prevent the saddle 

 tilting up in front. Thirdly, of course his weight is not 

 distributed equably over the whole under surface of the 

 saddle. This is the man that manufactures sit-fasts, or, 

 at the very least, transforms his horse's back from its 

 natural color into a strange pattern of white and gray 

 blotches. 



Some men would find it inconvenient to sit otherwise 

 than well back in their saddles, and some kinds of 

 riding seem to be more easily done in this form than in 

 any other. Now it is evident enougli from the fore- 



