General Rules. 233 



the entire back. The rider that comes into antagonism 

 with his horse is only, then, safe in his seat when his 

 own centres of gravity and motion fall in the same per- 

 pendicular line with the horse's centre of motion, other- 

 wise he will have to contend with the centrifugal mo- 

 tion by dint of muscular exertion alone. 



Now, for a man standing upright, the centre of grav- 

 ity is in the perpendicular from the base of the skull, 

 and the centre of motion is at the point where this 

 line intersects a horizontal line drawn through both hip- 

 joints. If the rider sits upright on his "triangle" (as 

 explained above), and in the middle of his saddle, this 

 being in the right place, his legs will, unless the stir- 

 rups obstruct, come of themselves into such a position 

 that his own centres of gravity and motion will be 

 directly over and very close to the centre of motion of 

 the horse. What Englishmen are pleased to call " a 

 stuck-up seat" may be the result, perhaps, especially 

 if the rider be awkward ; but it is not a question of 

 taste or fashion, but of attaining certain definite ob- 

 jects which remain otherwise unattainable ; for no one 

 will pretend that the position assumed by the hunting 

 man for the purpose of making his horse throw its 

 weight on the fore legs, with its head and neck well 

 down and extended^ can also serve the exactly opposite 

 purpose we have in view in the correction of vicious 

 animals. 



A word with regard to the whip and its use will not 

 be out of place. The etTect of this instrument depends 

 altogether on the part of the horse's body to which it 

 is applied and the way in which it is used. One or tw^o 

 strokes, given at the proper moment and in the right 

 place, will sometimes work wonders, while a severe 

 flogging almost always does mischief. It has been 

 pointed out that in lounging the whip may be made to 

 do the work which the rider does with his legs and 

 20* 



