86 Seats and Saddles. 



the saddle the point his enemy intends to attack, and 

 accordingly the blow aimed at it fails to reach it." * On 

 the contrary, Mr. Apperley says, "When hounds find 

 and go away, place yourself ivell dow7i in your saddle, 

 on your fork or twist, and don't be standing up in your 

 stirrups (as formerly was the fashion, and the cause of 

 many a dislocated neck)^ sticking out your rump as if 

 it did not belong to you." Who shall decide when such 

 high authorities difler? But perhaps the difference is 

 more specious than real. Mr. Apperley says, well down 

 in your saddle, which, we take it, will bring a man very 

 near to the middle of that piece of furniture, and prob- 

 ably to the horse's centre of motion. Here the neces- 

 sity for avoidi72g the blow does not arise, it is the point 

 of least motion ; but if a man sits well back in his 

 saddle, a la wash-ball, he gets much nearer to the action 

 of the hind legs, and nothing else remains for him than 

 a speedy retreat wlien this becomes dangerous. Some- 

 thing like this must be the key to this difference of 

 opinion ; for a rifle or other gun that kicks will only 

 hit your shoulder the harder the looser you hold it, and 

 perhaps knock you down if you hold it quite clear, or 

 at least knock the wind out of you. If a man sits in 

 the right place, he does not need to rise in his stirrups 

 for aiiy such purpose; and if he does not, the rising 

 in the stirrups, and thereby abandoning his whole seat, 

 may or may not lielp him. 



Perhaps we should never have attempted writing a 

 single line about the hunting seat but for one consider- 

 ation — it is this : The majority of our cavalry, yeo- 

 manry and mounted volunteers are hunting men, and if 

 there really were such an enormous difference between 

 a good cavalry and a good hunting seat, as many people 

 seem to suppose, it would be simply a very hopeless 

 case. But is there this great difference } Mr. Apperlej 

 * Sir F. Head, as above. 



