RIDING RECOLLECTIONS 



little here that he might get a stronger purchase 

 there, swaying his body loosely to meet and 

 accompany every motion, while he kept his legs 

 pressed hard against the saddle, withstood trick 

 after trick and shock after shock creditably 

 enough, till a hint muttered in German that it was 

 time to displace him, put such mechanism in 

 motion as settled the matter forthwith. 



There was one detail, however, to be observed 

 in the equipment of the mechanical horse that 

 brings us to a question I have heard discussed 

 amongst the best riders with very decided 

 opinions on either side. 



Formerly every saddle used to be made with 

 padding about half an inch deep, sewn in the front 

 rim of the flap against which a rider rests his knee, 

 for the purpose, as it would seem, of affording him 

 a stronger seat with its resistance and support. 



Thirty or forty years ago a few noted sports- 

 men, despising such adventitious aid, began to 

 adopt the open, or plain-flapped saddle ; and, 

 although not universal, it has now come into 

 general use. It would certainly, of the two, have 

 been the better adapted to the automaton I have 

 described, as an inequality of surface was sadly in 

 the way when the figure in its downward perpen- 

 dicular, brought the rider's foot parallel with the 

 point of its shoulders. The man's calf then 

 necessarily slipped over the padding of his saddle, 



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