Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1891-08-15
HOW TO RIDE A HORSE.
WHAT MUST az DONE TO HAVE A
CORRECT SEAT AND SADDLE.
Reasons why Many People whs Kidc
Have so Much Trouble with Their
stirrups-A Riding Master Gives some
Excellent RuIes and Suggestions.

Have so Much Trouble with Their
stirrups-A Riding Master Gives some
Excellent Ruies and Suggestions.
saddle is constructed right IL il
gives the rider the greatest possible com.
fort and the most secure seat, with al
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, an
teaches certain style Of seat rs the best,
and his pupils, taking perhaps lttle or
no trouble to study others and 60 in
vestigate further, have to accept his.
But, irrespective of the science of rid
ing, there is one shape Of saddle which
Is the most comfortable, viz, the saddle
which is SO constructed that, in accord
ance with the Laws of gravity, the riders
body will and must sit in balance with
out 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
springy or to strmghten 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
trot You lose the stirrups. you lose
your balance. and unless trotting very
alnNt.lU ur1 xtnlaaa 4.
easy trot, you have to bring him to q
walk to regain the stirrups.
If you are not experienced, and your
horse trots roughly, you are in discom-
fort and in danger Of losing your seat.
Ii your horse is nervous and not we'll
broken to the touch of the heel the hap-
ping of the stirrups against his fanks
renders him Uneasy and prolongs the
task OF getting your foot in the stirrup."
WHERE THE TROUBLE LIES.
Examine your saddle; it seems nice,
soft and comfortable; the stirrups as
heavy as should be--even their tread COW
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 feathers on the
saddle tree. Your saddle is perhaps too
long and, rs most English style saddles,
dat; its lowest point, instead as near as
possible to the center, is back toward the
end; You are almost sitting on the cantle.
In order to bring your knees to the knee
puffs, which are too far front, you have
to stretch your legs forward This
obhges YOU TO carry your stirrips 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.
What lis the result? AS soon as your
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
10 hang as near as possible to the center
OF gravity; and then 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 tc force your legs mp and front
into a position very tiresome to main
tain But If you, according to the law
of gravity, have the lowest point Of the
saddle in its center; IL you have this
center as close as possible to the horses
back by reducing the thickness Of the
saddle to minimum; il you drop your
self into this lowest point of the saddle
to stay there; IL you drop your legs to
where they will stay by their own weight
instead Of holding them forward and
raising them by muscular exertion; il
you have the stirrup leather bars
attached far enough back to be in line
with that place where your feet meet the
stirrups, with stirrup feathers 30 long as
to raise your toes high enough to give
you an elastic tread on the stirrup with
out cramping the muscles of your thighs
and 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,
rs it were. meet unintentionally at their
places. II turning your toes slightly to-
ward the horse tho stirrup win by its
own weight try TO find its place and slip
on Your foot The displacements 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 to fall back
into the places which their weights Ms
sign TO them.
Have your saddle built 30 that no
muscular exertion be required to keep
you In its lowest tcen.fel 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 fiat saddle
with the lowest point back at the
cantle. with the knee puffs too far front,
with the saddle pad raising you several
inches above the horse and with leather
and straining, ETC., built up high be-