292 ladies' biding. 



cylinder, three or four inches in diameter, 'betweeii your 

 legs, press your two knees together by crossing them, in 

 the position of a woman on a sidesaddle. Besides, when 

 a man clasps his horse, however firmly, it has a tendency 

 to raise the seat from the saddle. This is not the case 

 with the sidesaddle seat : if a man wishes to use a lance 

 and ride at a ring, he will find that he has a firmer seat 

 with this kind of sidesaddle than with his own. There ia 

 no danger in this side-pommel, since you cannot be thiown 

 on it, and it renders it next to impossible that the rider 

 should be thrown upon the other pommel. In case of a 

 horse leaping suddenly into the air and coming down on 

 allfour feet, — technically, " bucking"' — without the leaping- 

 horn there is nothing to prevent a lady from being thrown 

 up. But the leaping-horn holds down the left knee, and 

 makes it a fulcrum to keep the right knee down in its 

 proper place. If the horse in violent action throws him- 

 self suddenly to the left, the upper part of the rider's bodj 

 will tend downwards, to the right, and the lower limbs to 

 the left: nothing can prevent this but the support of the 

 leaping-horn. The fear of over-balancing to the right 

 causes many ladies to get into the bad habit of leaning 

 over their saddles to the left. This fear disappears when 

 the hunting-horn pommel is used. The leaping-horn is 

 also of great use with a hard puller, or in riding down a 

 Bteep place, for in either case it prevents the lady from 

 sliding forward. 



" But these advantages render the right-hand pommeJ 

 quite useless, a slight projection being all-sufficient (see 

 fig. 35) ; while this arrangement gives the habit and figure 

 a much better appearance. But every lady ought to be 

 measured for this part of the saddle, as the distance be 

 tween the two pommels will depend partly on the length 

 of her legs. 



