PRACTICAL DETAILS.
The first thing for a rider to do is to place herself in a thoroughly comfortable position on the saddle. She should sit well down in it, in the same manner as she would sit on a chair in which she wished to lean back, and would thus get her seat well under her, and would be able to obtain, when required, a strong grip of the crutches. In this position she will be able to increase her stability by bringing her shoulders back, which she could not do with the same facility, if, instead of leaning back, she sat back. In order to see where she is going, she should sit more or less erect. Her left foot should be placed in the stirrup only as far as the ball of the foot, so as to allow the ankle joint full play. The stirrup leather should be long enough to enable the left thigh to clear the leaping head, when the lady rises at the trot; and short enough for it to exert full pressure against the leaping head, by the action of the ankle joint. A correct compromise between these two opposing conditions is obtained when the length of the leather will just allow the flat of the hand to be easily placed between the leg and the leaping head ([Fig. 82]).
The rider should obtain her grip of the leaping head just above the point of the left knee, as shown in [Fig. 83]; and by rotating the right thigh inwards, she should press the flat of that knee against the upper crutch, as if she were trying to bring her two knees together. While gripping in the manner described, the portion of the right leg which is below the knee, should rest in an easy position against the horse’s near shoulder, as in [Fig. 79].
When the beginner has learned how to sit in the saddle, she should practise leaning back, which she can best do by gripping the crutches, while keeping her legs in proper position ([Fig. 84]), and leaning her body back until she can almost touch the horse’s croup. When doing this for the first few times, her teacher should support her, in order to give her confidence, and the groom, if necessary, should hold the horse, which should of course be a quiet animal. The object of this practice is to show her that the movements of her body are entirely independent of her grip of the crutches, and that the forward and backward motion of her body is regulated by the action of her hip joints, and not by altering her seat, which should remain fixed, and, as it were, glued to the saddle, at the walk, canter, gallop and jump; the trot being the only movement at which she should rise. Having learned the meaning of grip and leaning back, she can take a snaffle rein in each hand, as in [Fig. 71], while keeping her hands low and well apart; she can then “feel” the horse’s mouth by drawing her hands towards her through a distance of a few inches, and then keeping them in a fixed position.
[150-*] The muscles of our limbs are attached at each end to bones, between which there are one or more joints; and they act by their power of contraction, which enables them to become shortened to about two-thirds of their length. The full effect of this contraction can be obtained by a muscle only when its points of attachment are separated to their utmost extent, and it becomes diminished in proportion as the distance between them is shortened by the bending of the intermediate joint or joints, up to a length equal to that of the muscle in a fully contracted state, at which limit the muscle is out of “play.” The muscles which bend the knee are attached, at one end, to the back of the shin bone, close to the knee; and at the other extremity, to the end of the ischium (lower part of the pelvis), which is below the hip joints. Consequently, the more the knee is bent and the more the upper part of the body is drawn back by the play of the hip joints, the nearer are the opposite points of attachment of these respective muscles brought together, and the less power will they have to hook back the knee. Hence the more a lady leans back, when going over a fence for instance, the less firmly will she be able to hook her leg round the upper crutch. Therefore, ladies who adopt this hooked-back seat, are invariably prompted by the requirements of this position, to bend forward, and have more or less difficulty in bringing the upper part of the body back.