168 
REVIEWS. 
slightest imputation of want of knowledge or skill in things 
pertaining to horsemanship.” 
Then he goes on to enumerate the ills which are inflicted 
upon good and willing beasts by the unskilfulness of riders, 
the broken knees and tempers, the plungers, bolters, kickers, 
and rearers, which are produced secundem artem by the 
riders of the period. Admitting the excellence of our horses, 
in which matter Major Dwyer does no more than justice, he 
proceeds to inquire into the failure of the riders, and very 
distinctly illustrates the essential points of diflerence between 
a bad rider and a good one. First, the framework of the 
horse is described principally with respect to the mechanical 
principles which are involved in the arrangement of his 
osseous structure, all the so-called points of the animal, the 
mysteries of his angles, and perpendiculars, and verticals, 
are systematically elucidated, and the reader, if he is pains¬ 
taking and interested in his work, finally gets an idea of 
the why and wherefore of bits and saddles, and is highly 
delighted to discover that the fault is not all his own, but 
that imperfectly constructed saddles and badly adjusted bits 
have much to answer for. In the matter of saddles, the 
author writes clearly and carries conviction to the reader’s 
mind; the introduction of iron in the framework of a saddle 
he deprecates in the following terms :— 
The original Hungarian saddle had not a particle of iron 
in it; no doubt it was subject*to breakage, hut it could be 
repaired, or a new one made at the side of a ditch, and in 
time for the next day’s march. The nineteenth-century men 
have improved it everywhere, especially in England, up to 
more than its original weight, to a nearly total incapacity for 
repairs or alterations, and to being the most efficient instru¬ 
ment conceivable for making holes in horses’ backs. 
Good and bad seats on horseback are next considered, and 
the rules to be observed are summed up at page 60, in these 
W'ords:— 
The larger the surface of the rider and saddle brought 
into permanent contact, the firmer will he the seat, and the 
less imll it depend on the stirrups or the reinsT 
And further on— 
The saddle in the centre of the horse^s hack ; the girths, 
stirrup, and rider about the centre of the saddled 
Critical observers, with the least taste in life of the 
humorous in their composition, find an inexhaustible source 
of amusement in the observation of the manners and cus¬ 
toms of the ‘^promenaders on horseback,’^ who are to be seen 
everywhere, but always in greatest luxuriance on the road to 
