To dismount without stirrups, the rider should transfer the reins to his right hand, take the holds on mane and pommel as in mounting, lean far forward, and, taking his weight upon his flexed arms, carry his right leg back over the croup to the near side, and drop gently to the ground.
In dismounting from a moving horse—and this can readily be done even at a moderate gallop—the rider should be ready to take a few steps in the direction of progress as he reaches the ground, in order that he may maintain his equilibrium.
CHAPTER 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.