Meanwhile the Riding Masters who were professional soldiers, and ceased to learn when they began to teach, wrought with fanatical zeal to compel straight-leg riding on a bent-leg saddle, and so got a magnificent tally of ruptures and sore tails. In 1805 Prussian instructors were brought to England to enforce the straight-leg seat on the bent-leg saddle. It is only in the twentieth century that this wonderful kidney-crusher military seat has been mercifully abandoned. The army has adopted the hunting seat, and one reads the last word in Major Birch's book on "Modern Riding."
Horsemanship for war
"The rough-riders from the Royal Artillery Riding Establishment, using the hunting seat, sat perfectly without either reins or stirrups over a five-foot six-inch rail—one horse jumping six feet—besides other formidable obstacles, which proves that no better seat could be wanted for practical work."
The practical work, one notes, for a civilized Army, is jumping!
What is the horse to be used for? Pleasure?
By all means let the high-strung, highly-fed, massaged, hospital-bred, courageous, and powerful but exceedingly delicate blooded horse be used for pleasure, and for pleasure only. One does not use a racing yacht for cruising, because she is too fragile, or for cargo because she has no stowage. Use the blooded horse for running and jumping, with a day's rest following each day's sport. It does not matter if the rider's weight is concentrated on the space of a postage stamp. It only matters that the equipment be light for high speed, and slippery to throw the rider in case he is not wanted on the saddle.
Mobility
What is the horse to be used for? War? Then if we love our country let us forget tradition, take a rest from filling up returns, and set ourselves to the exercise of human reason until we find out what we really want. Why do we use the horse in war? To carry men, to haul guns, and draw supplies. Why do we use the horse for transport? To quicken the pace, and ease the labour of men. Why do we need this mobility? In order to concentrate troops at distant points where they were not expected. Mobility is not jumping on Germans, but the long, swift march that covers and supplies the advance or the retreat which shall decide the issue. Mobility may include the getting and rendering of vital news, the sudden seizure of a strong position, or even the special privilege and glory of shock action.
Those of us who indulged ourselves in the habit of thinking, knew many years ago that mechanical transport would carry and haul men and supplies much quicker than horses could upon a highway. But we also observed that war destroys the road, and that campaigning is a cross-country exercise wherein the horse can hold his own against the car.
In the same way we knew as far back as 1896 that aerial warfare would evolve in three phases: reconnaissance, fleet engagements, and occupations in force with aerial transport.