SIDE-SADDLES AND SORE BACKS. 125 



wise bear on the sore, by removing some of the 

 stuffing and sewing round the base of the hollow 

 thus created ; but this must, of course, be done by 

 a saddler, and carefully done, too. And the saddle 

 must be girthed very exactly, so as to ensure the 

 ' chambering ' being over the exact spot, and not 

 shifting ; otherwise the sore will be very consider- 

 ably increased, and the horse thereby have to be 

 laid up for some long time. But, to speak plainly, 

 such a thinof as a sore back should be unknown in 

 a properly managed stable. 



Ladies' horses are more subject to sore backs 

 than others, and for the following reasons — viz. : 

 A side-saddle is longer in the seat than a man's 

 saddle, and being so it is more apt to swing from 

 side to side and cause a sore. Where such is the 

 case, the sore is generally on the near side of the 

 back ; and very often another is also formed at the 

 same time on the off side of the withers. And in 

 order to prevent this swaying to and fro it is neces- 

 sary to use a back-stay, as it is called, which is a 

 divided strap fastened from the off and outer edge 

 of the tree and the seat of the saddle, and connected 

 with the surcinarle. There are various ways of 

 arranging this back-stay ; but a back-stay is neces- 

 sary, especially for hunting purposes. Mr. Souter, 

 of the Haymarket, has invented an arrangement 



