HINTS ON THE MANAGEMENT OF HOSES.—-NO. 7. 
335 
HINTS ON THE MANAGEMENT OF HORSES.— 
No. 7. 
Standing of the Horse of ter* Mounting. —If your 
horse has been used to stand still when he is 
mounted, there will be no occasion for a groom to 
hold him ; but if he does, suffer him not to touch 
the reins, but that part of the bridle which comes 
down the cheek. He cannot then interfere with 
the management of the reins, which belongs to the 
rider only; and holding a horse by the curb, (which 
is ever painful to him,) is evidently improper when 
he is to stand still. \ 
Posture , or Mode of 'Sitting, when Riding .— 
Another thing to be remembered is, not ride with 
your arms and elbows as high as your shoulders ; 
nor let them shake up and down with the motion 
of the horse. The posture is unbecoming, and the 
weight of the arms, (and of the body, too, if the 
rider does not sit still/) acts in continual jerks on 
the jaw of the horse, which must give him pain, 
and make him unquiet, if he has any spirit or a 
tender mouth. 
Bad riders wonder why horses are gentle as soon 
as they are mounted hy skilful ones, though their 
skill seems unemployed; the reason is, the horse 
goes at his ease, yet finds all his motions watched; 
which he has sagacity enough to discover. Such 
a rider hides his whip, if he finds his horse is afraid 
of it; and keeps his legs from his sides, if he finds 
he dreads the spur. 
Avoid the ungraceful custom of letting your legs 
shake against the sides of the horse; and as you 
are not to keep your arms and elbows high and in 
motion, you are not to rivet them to your sides, but 
let them fall easy. One may, at a distance, distin¬ 
guish a genteel horseman from an awkward one ; 
the first sits still, and appears of a part with his 
horse; the latter seems flying off at ail points. 
It is often said with emphasis, that such a one 
has no “seat” on horseback; and it means, not 
only that he does not ride well, but that he does 
not sit on the right part of the horse. To have a 
“ good seat,” is to sit on that part of the horse, 
which, as he springs, is the centre of motion ; and 
from which, of course, any weight would be with 
most difficulty shaken. As in the rising and fall¬ 
ing of a board, placed in equilibrio , the centre will 
be always most at rest, the true seat will be found 
in that part of your saddle into which your body 
would naturally slide, if you rode without stirrups; 
and is only to be preserved by a proper poise of the 
body, though the generality of riders imagine it to 
be done by the grasp of the thighs and knees. 
The rider should consider himself as united to his 
horse in this point; and when shaken from it, 
endeavor to restore the balance. 
Perhaps the mention of the two extremes of a 
bad seat, may help to describe the true one. The 
one is, when the rider sits very far back on the 
saddle, so that his weight presses the loins of the 
horse; the other when his body hangs forward over 
the pommel of the saddle. The first is practised 
by grooms, when they ride with their stirrups affect¬ 
edly short; the latter, by fearful horsemen on the 
least flutter of the horse. Indeed, there is no dif¬ 
ference between the seat of either, only, as in the 
first, they ride with shorter stirrups, their body will 
be consequently more behind their knees. 
To have a good seat, your saddle must sit well. 
To fix a precise rule might be difficult; it may be 
a “ direction,” to have your saddle press as nearly 
as possible on that part which we have described 
as the point of union between the man and horse; 
not so as to obstruct the motion of the horse’s 
shoulders, however. Place yourself in the middle 
or lowest part of it; sit erect, but with as little 
constraint, as in your ordinary sitting. The ease 
of action marks the gentleman; you may repose 
yourself, but not lounge. The set and studied erect¬ 
ness acquired in the riding house, by those whose 
deportment is not easy, appears ungenteel and 
unnatural. 
If your horse stops short, or endeavors by rising 
and kicking to unseat you, bend not your body 
forward, as many do in these circumstances; that 
motion throws the breech backward, and you off 
your fork or twist, and out of your seat; whereas, 
the advancing of the lower part of your body, and 
bending back the upper part and shoulders, is the 
method both to keep your seat, and to recover it when 
lost. The bending your body back, and that in a 
great degree, is the greatest security in flying leaps; 
it is a security, too, when your horse leaps stand¬ 
ing. The horse’s rising does not try the rider’s 
seat; the lash of his hind le<*s is what ought 
chiefly to be guarded against, ana best done by the 
body’s being greatly inclined back. Stiffen not 
your legs nor thighs; and let your body be pliable 
in the loins, like the coachman’s on his box. This 
loose manner of sitting will elude every rough 
motion of the horse; whereas the fixture of the 
knees, so commonly laid a stress on, will in great 
shocks conduce to the violence of the fall. The 
skilful horseman will recover his poise by giving 
some way to the motion; and the ignorant horse¬ 
man will be flung out oi his seat by endeavoring 
to be fixed. 
Stretch not out your legs before you ; this will 
push you against the back of the saddle; neither 
gather up your knees like a man riding on a pack; 
this throws your thighs upwards ; each practice 
unseats you. Keep your legs straight down ; and 
sit not on the most fleshy part of the thighs, but 
turn them inwards, so as to bring in your knees 
and toes; and it is more safe to ride with the ball 
of the foot pressing on the stirrup, than with the 
stirrup as far back on the heel; for the pressure of 
the heel being in that case behind the stirrup, keeps 
the thighs down. 
When you find your thighs thrown upwards, 
widen your knees to get them and the upper part 
of your fork lower down on the horse. Grasp the 
saddle with the hollow or inner part of your thighs, 
but not more than just to assist the balance of your 
body; this will also enable you to keep your spurs 
from the horse’s sides, and to bring your toes in. 
Sink your heels straight down; for, while your 
heels and thighs keep down, you cannot fall; this, 
(aided with the bend of the back,) gives the secur¬ 
ity of a seat to those who bear themselves up in 
their stirrups in a swift gallop, or in the alternate 
rising and falling in a full trot. 
Length of Stirrups. —Let your seat determine the 
length of your stirrups, rather than the stirrups 
your seat. If more precision is requisite, let your 
stirrups be of such a length, as that, when you 
