The Military Seat. 1 07 



many instances, the chair-seat of the heavy cavah'y sad- 

 dle in a wooden one — better far stick to the old form : 

 however, the difficulty will probably be ended by heavy 

 cavalry being gradually abandoned, for which there are 

 many other reasons than merely the technical ones we 

 have had to deal with. 



We cannot wind up this portion of our work better 

 than with a few remarks on the following passage from 

 the " Handy Horse-Book," pp. 48, 49 : "Altogether it 

 might be desirable that commanding officers of some 

 cavalry regiments would study the pose on horseback 

 of Marochetti's sculptured dragoons, or those of other 

 eminent artists. The result would probably be a marked 

 improvement in the position of the saddle, and conse- 

 quently, in the general coup d'ceil of our cavalry," etc. 

 Now, if it were merely for appearance' sake, we should 

 say that no real advantage of other methods should be 

 sacrificed to this ; but, after all, what is Marochetti's 

 pose, and why have he and other eminent artists suc- 

 ceeded in producing works that please the eye of such 

 judges of horsemanship as " Magenta " and other sport- 

 ing men ? and why are our public places disfigured by 

 absurd equestrian statues? Simply because Marochetti 

 perfectly understood the equilibrium of the horse and 

 rider, and was bound to do so, as otherwise he could 

 never have got the weight of material to balance on a 

 pair of legs, but must have had recourse, like others, to 

 a post growing out of the ground and into the horse's 

 belly to sustain it, or wholly abstained from the attempt 

 to reproduce his figures in motion. And the ease and 

 dignity of his statuettes depend on the impression they 

 make on the spectator of their perfect security, and be- 

 cause they exhibit the rider as having a perfect control 

 over the movements of his horse ; and this is what a 

 cavalry soldier should have. What can be more undig- 

 nified or repugnant to good taste than to put a great 



