232 Restiveness : its Pt'eventio?i and Cure. 



positive rules for the seat and give reasons why it should 

 be so and not otherwise. 



We have seen how a horse that meditates resistance 

 gets its legs under its body, coiling itself up, as it were, 

 round one fixed point, the fourteenth vertebra. The 

 nearer the rider's seat is to that point or centre of mo- 

 tion, the less will it be liable to disturbance from the 

 violent efforts that ensue. If he sits farther back to- 

 ward the loins, his weight being there will interfere 

 with his management of a rearer or a backer, and ex- 

 pose him directly to the action of a kicker ; if, on the 

 contrary, he sits close to the horse's withers, he unduly 

 overweights the forehand and loses most of his control 

 over the hind legs. Let us compare together, for in- 

 stance, the upper and lower figures of Plate V. on the 

 supposition of the horses wheeling sharp round sud- 

 denly ; those of Plate VI. on the supposition of their 

 attempting to rear or kick ; and those of Plate VII. on 

 that of their attempting to back against the will of their 

 respective riders. As to the hindermost figure of Plate 

 III., selected purposely to illustrate an exaggeration, 

 he can do nothing with his horse. 



As regards the position of the rider's legs, the upper 

 figure of Plate V. and the lower one of Plate VI. sprawl 

 them out forward, and the upper one of Plate VII. side- 

 wise, with stiff' knees away from the horse's ribs, so that 

 they must alter their uohole seat when they require to 

 give the spur, which must be applied in this position with 

 a stab, instead of growing, as it w^ere, out of and being 

 the climax of the pressure of the calf, the importance 

 of which we have seen. 



The position of the rider's body from the hips upward 

 is by no means indifferent. The getting up the horse's 

 head and neck to the required position demands a cer- 

 tain amount of fixity of the spinal column, for the work 

 to be done by the arms brings into play the muscles of 



