SEAT 



Nevertheless, it is still repudiated by some of 

 our finest horsemen, who allege the sufficient 

 reason that an inch or so of stuffing adds to their 

 strength and security of seat This, after all, is 

 the sine qua non, to which every article of 

 equipment, even the important items of boots 

 and breeches, should be subservient ; and I may 

 here remark that ease and freedom of dress are 

 indispensable to a man who wishes to ride across 

 a country not only in comfort, but in safety. I 

 am convinced that tight, ill-fitting leathers may 

 have broken bones to answer for. Many a good 

 fellow comes down to breakfast stiff of gait, as if 

 he were clothed in buckram, and can we wonder 

 that he is hurt when, thus hampered and con- 

 strained, he falls stark and rigid, like a paste- 

 board policeman in a pantomime. } 



I have already protested against the solecism 

 of saving yourself by the bridle. It is better, if 

 you must have assistance, to follow the example 

 of two or three notoriously fine riders and grasp 

 the cantle of the saddle at the risk of breaking its 

 tree. But in my humble opinion it is not well to 

 be in the wrong even with Plato, and, notwith- 

 standing these high authorities, we must consider 

 such habits, however convenient on occasion, as 

 errors in horsemanship. To a good rider the 

 saddle ought to be a place of security as easy as 

 an arm-chair. 



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