62 Scats and Saddles, 



the girths so as to act directly on the centre of the 

 saddle will have precisely the same effect ; and ihe fric- 

 tion that results — that is, the adhesiveness produced by 

 pressure — will be equable throughout, and of course 

 least likely to injure any one particular point. It was a 

 very prevalent idea some years ago, that " the point- 

 strap" — that is to say, the girth that was placed well 

 forward in the saddle — was the thing to depend on to 

 prevent the saddle slipping ; but experience has proved 

 this notion to be erroneous ; and Sir Francis Head, a 

 very good authority on these matters, has pointed out, 

 if we mistake not, that the proper jDlace for attaching 

 the girths is in the middle of the saddle. It is, no 

 doubt, quite possible, by placing the girths forward, to 

 accumulate the whole amount of friction on one or two 

 points ; but this is precisely what bruises horses' withers 

 without having power to prevent the saddle slipping. 



Direct proof of the correctness of what is advanced 

 here may be obtained in the following manner : Take a 

 longish saddle on which the girth-straps (or points) are 

 fixed forward ; girth the horse tolerably tightly ; now 

 put a rider in the saddle — the heavier he is the more 

 apparent will the result be — and get him to sit well 

 back. You will find, by putting your fingers flat be- 

 tween the girth and the horse's chest before the man 

 mounts, that, on his taking his seat as above, the girth 

 will be drawn forcibly upward; a proof that the saddle 

 must have relinquished in a corresponding degree its 

 previous " gripe" of the horse's back, or rather shoulder. 

 Now let your man dismount, loosen the girths a little, 

 and put a surcingle right over the middle of the saddle ; 

 draw this equally tight as the girth had been previously, 

 and put your rider once more into the saddle, making 

 him, however, sit exactly in the middle over the sur- 

 cingle : your finger, if placed as before, will now tell 

 you, if it should not be apparent to the eye, that the sur- 



