The Dickinson press., 1891-03-21
HOW TO RIDE A HORSE.
WHAT MUST eE DONE TO HAVE A
CORRECT SEAT AND SADDLE.

Reasons Why Many People Who Ride
S~tirrupS-.i Iiidin. Master Gives Some
Excellent i;u;cs and Suggestions.
y saddle is constructed right if it
gives the rider the greatest possible COM
fort and the most secure scat, with al
most total absence of cxcrtion of mus
clcs of his legs in order to maintain his
balance. Almost every riding master
prefers IL certain make of saddle, and
teaches Il certain style Of seat as tho best,
and his pupils, taking perhaps little or
nc trouble to study others and to in
vestigate further, have 10 accept his.
But, irrespective If 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
ancc with the laws of gravity, the riders
body will and must sit i'll 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 OF 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
Il trot you lose the stirrups, you lose
your balance, and unless trotting very
slowly, and unless your horse has an
easy trot, ,'on have to bring him to Il
walk to regain the stirrups.
Ii you ara not experienced, and your
horse trots roughly, You are in discom-
fort and in danger of losing Your seat.
Ii your hose is w and not well
broken to tho touch Of the heel the flap
ping of the stirrups against his fianks
renders hin, uneasy and prolongs the
task of "get.ing your foot in the sti,Tup."
WHERE II TROUBLE LIES.
Examine YOU saddle; it seems nice,
soft and comfortable; the stirrups us
heavy as should bc-evcn their tread COW
cred with leather OF rubber tic prevent
slipping from your foot; but slip they
will. Why: Look at the shape of your
saddle, ut the positions which the sadd]er
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, us most English style saddles,
flat; its lowest point. instead as near as
possible to the center, is back toward the
end; You arc almost sitting OH the cantlc.
In order to bring Your knees tc the &nec
putfs, which arc too far front, you have
to stretch your legs forward. This
ohliScs you to carry your stirrlps for
ward with your feet away from aud in
front OF the place where they would hang
by their own weight, and in order to
keep them at Your feet you have tc
shorten the stirrup feathers and lear
heavily on tho stirrups, otherwise they
will slip back.
What is tho result? AS soon as your
foot loses the stirrup the latter, accord
ing to the law Of gravity, returns to tho
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 as near rs possible to the center
of gravity; and then your legs will hang
far back the knee pulfs, Perhaps on the
bare horse almost behind the saddle
skirts.
10 avoid this by muscular exertion
you try to force your legs up and front
into Il position very tiresome to main-
tain. But if you, according to the law
of gravity, have the lowest point of the
saddle i'll its center; if you have this
center us close as possible to the horses
back by reducing the thickness of the
saddle to a 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 tho stirrup leather bars
attached far enough back to be in a line
with that place where your feet meet the
stirrups, with stirrup feathers so long us
to raise your toes high enough to give
you all 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 w weights according to
the law of gravity; after each displacc-
ment resulting from the movement OF
the horse Your body will fall back into
the lowest part of the saddle; youl
thighs, knees and feet will 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. Ii turning your toes slightly to-
ward the horse the stirrup will by its
own weight try to find it's 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 as
sign to them.
Have your saddle built so that no
muscular exertion be required to keep
you in its lowest (%centre) 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 u flat 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,
tween your legs. Have the tree open
longitudinally in the center from the
front to the middle, allowing circulation
of air between you and the horse and
ye"i will have more case to yourself and
less sore backs for your horses.-C,
3rcssmann in Philadelphia Times.
The First Step.
Perhaps you are run down, can't eat
can't sleep, can't think, can't do anything
to your satisfaction, and you wonder
what ails you. You should heed thu