Riding and Driving. Collier Price
VI
THE SEAT—GENERAL HORSEMANSHIP
The most important thing in horsemanship is the acquirement of a stable seat, for without it not only is the rider insecure, but it is impossible that the hand should act with lightness and precision if his seat is so feeble that under any circumstances he should depend upon the reins for maintaining his position on the horse.
Whether it be for pleasure, sport, or war, a man has one seat that is the best possible. This is readily obtained, even upon mounting the horse for the first time; but to keep it exactly under the more or less vigorous movements of the horse requires long practice and a suppleness of the body in every part, that comes from carefully followed exercises in the saddle.
The seat about to be described was that of the earliest riders, represented by Pheidias, described by Xenophon, employed by the Bedouins and other Eastern horsemen, when no cumbrous trees with a dip of varying parts of a circle interfered with a position that was safe, natural, and rational—the seat in use before those saddles which held the rider between high pommels and high cantles demanding a standing posture in the stirrups that prohibited the grasp of the knees and thighs and the pliancy of the body which gives friction and balance to the mounted man.
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FIG. 36.—SEAT WITHOUT STIRRUPS
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FIG. 37.—SEAT WITH STIRRUPS
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FIG. 38.—LEANING BACK
I may say here that the saddletree was not used until the Romans introduced it sometime in the fourth century, and the stirrup followed in the seventh century, first as an aid in mounting and finally as a support. The Greeks and their ancestors and the horsemen of the Euphrates Valley rode upon cloths and skins, without stirrups and without trees. The first mention of the horse that we find upon the monuments is supposed to date about 3800 years before our era. The first representation of the horse is upon a little wooden disk now in the British Museum, in which two horses attached to a chariot by harnesses that closely resemble those now in use are shown; and this work is ascribed to Aahmes I. (about 1700 b.c.) and suggests that the animal was introduced into Egypt by the Hyksos (possibly Bedouins), as they had possession of the country previously. I cannot find any representations of mounted men earlier than the sculptures upon the Assyrian monuments, attributed to the middle of the seventh century b.c. It would seem from the inscriptions and from historical writings that, both in war and in the chase, the horse was in very early times first and most frequently used in harness; and there can be no doubt that in ancient days chariots were employed in charging bodies of the enemy just as modern cavalry are used. The residents of mountainous countries, I venture to say, were the first to use cavalry. Wherever the ancient rider is shown upon the monuments, before the introduction of the saddletree, he has exactly the seat of the modern, the only possible seat upon a flat or treeless saddle.
The variations which appear in the seats of modern horsemen are observable in the positions of the lower parts of the leg from the knee down, and such may be passed over as negligible quantities, for the principles are everywhere observed; and while it is doubtless better that there should be no deviations from the canons of the art in any particular, circumstances sometimes demand trifling changes, as when the soldier's kit requires the lower parts of his legs to be carried unduly to the rear of the perpendicular, or when the cross-country rider drives his feet home, to secure the irons, and so obtains rigid, insensible bearing instead of the lively, springy contact of the balls of the toes. It is like walking on the heels. For the best results, that pressure only should be given to the tread of the stirrup that will hold the iron with an elastic touch; any undue weight will force the seat, as can plainly be understood. This forcing of the seat is usually avoided by the rider carrying his feet to the rear when the horse springs in jumping, and then he depends upon his true seat without the aid of the stirrups; where this is not done, the rider does not stick very closely to his saddle, as many of the photographs of leaping horses show. I do not say that it is not necessary on occasion to ride with the feet home, but I do say, that it gives a stiff seat, and that it should only be followed when the necessity arises; certainly not for pleasure riding, where that mode, as well as the crop, are unsuitable.
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FIG. 39.—GERMAN CAVALRY
On page 200 of that admirable work, "Horses, Saddles, and Bridles," General Carter gives a photographic illustration of the American military seat, which is an absolutely perfect representation of the seat about to be described. The photographs of the best riders of the various countries reproduced here exhibit the same type; and it will be observed that where the most violent exertions of the horse are to be expected the saddle is of the English form, for in it the friction and balance which insure firmness are found in the highest degree.
The flat race jockey is a striking exception to what has been said of horsemen's seats, and the ridiculous and tottering pose he assumes is to throw as much of the weight as possible on the shoulder of the sprinter, in order that the drivers of the hind quarters may have free play. But when the Jock comes to steeplechasing, he lengthens his stirrup leather and rides like a man.
The man may find his own best seat in the following manner: mounting the horse, he should sit down in the saddle, taking his weight upon his buttocks, while he holds his body erect, the shoulders held back squarely, his chin slightly withdrawn, while his arms hang down loosely. He should then, without disturbance in any other part of his body, raise his legs upward and inward until the points of his knees meet above the crest of the horse. From this position he will drop his legs slowly until the inner sides of his thighs and the flat inner surfaces of his bent knees take every possible point of contact with the saddle, the lower parts of the legs hanging without stiffness. There can be no question with regard to the height and position of the knees. Should they be too high, the upper surfaces of the thigh will have contact with the saddle; should they be too low, the under surfaces of the thigh will find the saddle, when the points of the knees take this hold. The jockey seat is the extreme type of the first-named condition, the armor-clad knight an extreme type of the latter. The length of the stirrup leathers will be right when the tread of the iron strikes the heels. When the rider's feet are inserted in the stirrups, it will be found that without effort they are parallel with the sides of the horse, and very slightly in rear of the perpendicular. From this erect position upon his buttocks, together with the grasp of the knees and thighs, the rider has the strongest and best possible seat that can be obtained through weight, balance, and friction; and from it the upper part of the body may, without affecting his stability, be bent forward or back, or swayed from side to side, as circumstances may require, while the lower parts of his legs are free to apply the calf or the heel with rapidity and precision to the sides of the horse. How much of this bending or this swaying of the body may sometimes be required is exhibited by the photograph of the Italian cavalry officer who rides down the face of a cliff, or by that of the rider who makes a wheel, or pirouette volte, at a rapid pace. From this seat the soldier may rise high enough to give force to the blow of his sabre; the hunter may send his feet home in the irons without lengthening the leathers, and every horseman will have the greatest security in the saddle that his skill in riding makes possible.
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