CHAPTER VIII.
THE SEAT.
Theory of the Seat—Practical Details.
THEORY OF THE SEAT.
The best seat for all practical purposes is evidently one which affords security and comfort to the rider and freedom from injury to the horse. The lady should sit (not lean) forward in the saddle, so as to get a good grip of the crutches; and should bring her seat well under her (“sit well into the saddle”), in order to bring the centre of gravity of her body well back, as regards her base of support, and thus to increase her stability, which will depend almost entirely on her power to resist forward propulsion, when the horse suddenly stops or swerves to the left. Her hold of the reins will in any case prevent her from toppling backwards over the animal’s tail, in the event of his making an unexpected movement forward from the halt, or suddenly increasing his speed when in motion. The faulty practice of riding the crutches, instead of sitting down in the saddle, brings the weight forward, and places the lady in the best possible position to fall off.
The greater difficulty which a rider has in keeping her seat when her mount abruptly swerves to the left, than when he goes to the right, is due to the fact that in the former case, the upper crutch is drawn away from the right thigh; but in the latter case, it forms a more or less effective obstacle to the forward movement of the right thigh, and thus helps the rider to retain her seat. To explain this subject more fully, I may point out, that if a person is standing on the foot-board of the right side of a rapidly moving train which suddenly turns to the left, he or she would be far more inclined to fall off, than if a similar change of direction had been made to the right, in both of which instances the side of the train would play the part of the upper crutch. The fact that the lower part of the rider’s right leg rests against the horse’s near shoulder, as in [Fig. 79], will materially help her in keeping her seat, in the event of an abrupt swerve to the left.
The side position of the seat, combined with the fact that the head has to be kept more or less in the direction the horse is proceeding, causes more weight to be placed on the near side than on the off. Although the rider cannot entirely remove this disadvantage, she may lessen this unequal distribution of weight, (1) by avoiding the use of too long a stirrup leather, for the longer it is, the more inclined will she be to bring her weight to the near side, in order to obtain the assistance of her stirrup; (2) by sitting a little over on the off side, so as to place her weight as much as possible on the middle line of the seat of the saddle, namely, over the backbone of the horse; and (3), as already pointed out ([p. 34]), by having the leaping head close to the upper crutch. In order to meet the second requirement, she should rest her weight on her right leg, which in any case will have less fatigue to bear than the left one. Putting the weight on the right leg has the further advantage of lessening the tendency of the right shoulder to go forward, and of diminishing the pressure of the left foot on the stirrup.
