MODERN RIDING. 



265 



to be perpendicular to the knee, horizontal 

 with the heel and foot, and nearly parallel 

 with the horse's sides. 



Many sportsmen, in the habit of riding 

 home in the stirrups, will object to the me- 

 thod of not riding home ; and their reason 

 is because they from custom cannot ride 

 otherwise. If, however, they had begun and 

 continued this method, they would have found 

 no difficulty in it, and the chafing their legs 

 and galling their insteps would have been 

 avoided. Beside, they lose a considerable 

 easement ; for when you ride in the stirrups 

 under the ball of the foot, you have the play 

 of the instep, which acts as a spring, as does 

 also the knee, and the hip, which save the 

 body from a great part of the roughness which 

 the action of the horse occasions. 



The arms must be placed firmly, and close 

 to the body ; and the reins are mostly held 

 by both hands without separating, for the 

 eagerness of horses when hunting will occa- 

 sion them to pull even in their slow paces : 



