, 1891-03-18
HOW To RIDE HORSE.
WHAT MUST BE DONE TO HAVE A
CORRECT SEAT AND SADDLE.

most total absence Of exertion Of mus
cles Of his legs in order to maintain his
balance. Almost every riding master
prefers a certain make Of saddle, and
teaches n certain style of seat as the best,
and his pupils, taking perhaps little or
no trouble to study others and to in
vestigate further, have to accept his.
But, irrespective Of the science Of rid
ing, there is n shape Of saddle which
is the most comfortable. viz, the saddle
which is so constructed that. in accord
auce with the laws Of gravity, the riders
body viii and must sit in balance with
u trying to do so.
Much has been said and written about
how you should sit on,the horse Per
haps you have been told to grasp the
saddle or the horse firmly with thighs
or knees, to have your toes higher than
your heels, TO keep the heels away from
the horse, to bend your back to be
sprlngy or to straighten yourself to sit
firmly, etc. Perhaps your teacher has
made great efforts and exhausted all re-
sources of his knowledge to impress
upon you how you should sit, and yet at
a trot you lose the stirrups, you lose
your balance, and unless trotting very
slowly, and unless your horse has an
easy trot, o have to bring him to a
walk to regain the stirrups.
II you are not experienced, and your
horse trots roughly, you are in discom-
fort and in danger Of losing your seat,
If your horse is nervous and not well
broken to the touch Of the heel the flap
ping Of the stirrups against his lanks
renders him uneasy and ~prolongs the
task of getting your foot in the stirrup."
WHERE THE TROUBLE
Examine your saddle; 1t seems nice,
soft and comfortable; the stirrups as
heavy as should be-eveuatheir tread GOV
cred with leather or rubber to prevent
slipping from your foot; but slip they
will Why Look at the shape of your
saddle. at the positions which the saddler
has assigned for your seat. thighs, knees
and feet, and see where he has attached
the bars for the stirrup leathers on the
saddle tree Your saddle is perhaps too
long and, MS most English style saddles,
tat. its lowest point, instead as neal as
possible to the center, is back toward the
end. you nre almost sitting IN the camille.
In order to bring your knees TO the knee
puffs, which are too far front, YOU have
to stretch your legs forward. This
obEges you TO carry your STRIPS for
ward with your feet away from and in
front of the place where they would hang
by their own weight, and in order to
keep them at your feet you have to
shorten the stirrup feathers and bear
heavily on the stirrups, otherwise they
will slip back.
UEha4 - she r.nrIt9 A. .
foot loses the stirrup the latter, accord
ing TO the law of gravity, returns to the
lowest position which the length of stir
rup leather allows far behind your foot:
then your foot, too, having lost its sup
port, and with nothing to bear against,
together with your leg, according to the
law of gravity, tries TO slip back in order
to hang a. near as possible to the enter
of gravity; and hen your legs will hang
far back the knee puffs, perhaps on the
bare horse almost behind the saddle
skirts
To avoid this by muscular eXertion
you try to force your legs mp and front
into a position very tiresome 10 main
tain But if you, according TO the law
Of gravity, have the lowest point Of the
saddle in its center; if You have this
center as close as possible to the horses
back by reducing the thickness of the
saddle to n minimum; If you drop your
self into this lowest point Of the saddle
to stay there; if you drop your legs to
where they will stay by their own weight
instead of holding them forward and
raising them by muscular exertion: if
you have the stirrup leather bars
attached far enough back to be in Il line
with that place where your feet meet the
srirrups, with stiTTup feathers so long as
to raise your toes high enough to give
you an elastic tread on the stirrup with
out craIuping the muscles Of your thighs
IL knees. then your body, legs, feet
and stirrups will maintain their posi-
tons by their own weights according to
the law Of gravity; after each displace-
ment resulting from the movement of
the horse your body will fall back INTO
the lowest part of the saddle; your
thighs, knees and feet viii not become
tired because you are not using muscu-
lar exertion to hold them in their places.
BY the law Of gravity they always fall
back into them. Your stirrups and feet,
even if disengaged from each other, will,
as it were, meet unintentionally at their
places. If turning your toes slightly to-
ward the horse the stirrup will by its
own weight try to find its place and slip
on your foot. The displscements from
their positions Of your body, thighs,
knees, feet and stirrups will be followed
by their involuntary movements accord
ing to the law Of gravity L fall back
into the places which their weights as-
sign to them.
Have your saddle built so that no
muscular exertion be required to keep
you in its lowest tcentre) part; that your
legs, thighs, knees, feet and stirrups re-
tain their positions by their own weight,
and you will enjoy that comfort which
you can never find in a fiat saddle
with the lowest point back at the
cautle, with the knee pufs too far front,
with the saddle pad raising you several
inches above the horse aud with leather
and strRiuing. etc, built up high be-
twesn your legs Have the tree open
!ongirudinIlly in the center from the
front to the middle, allowing circulation
OF air between you and tine horse and
you will have more ease to yourself aud
les sore backs for your hOrses.-C,
Erussmann in P~uiladslphis Times
Electric Butter
This remedy Is becoming 40 we'll knoTn