Let the horseman then place himself at once, upon his Twist, sitting exactly in the middle of the saddle; let him support this posture, in which the Twist alone seems to sustain the weight of the whole body, by moderately leaning upon his buttock.
Let the Thighs be turned inward, and rest flat upon the sides of the saddle; and in order to this let the turn of the thighs proceed directly from the hips, and let him employ no force or strength to keep himself in the saddle, but trust entirely to the weight of his body and thighs; this is the exact equilibrio: in this and this only consists the firmness and support of the whole building; a firmness which young beginners are never sensible of at first, but which is to be acquired, and will always be attained by exercise and practise. I demand but a moderate stress upon the buttocks, because a man that sits full upon them can never turn his thighs flat to the saddle; the thighs should always lay flat to the saddle, because, the fleshy part of them being insensible, the horseman would not otherwise be able so nicely to feel the motions of his horse: I insist that the turn of the Thigh must be from the Hip, because it can never be natural, but as it proceeds from the hollow of the hip bone.
I insist farther that the horseman never avails himself of the strength or help of his thighs, except he lets his whole weight rest upon the center, as before described; because the closer he presses them to the saddle, the more will he be lifted above the saddle on any sudden or [iregular] motion of the Horse.
Having thus firmly placed the immovable parts, I now pass on to the first of the Movables, which is as I have already observed the body as far as to the waist. I comprehend in the Body, the Head, the Shoulders, the Breast, the Arms, Hands, Reins and Waist of the Horseman.
The head should be free, firm and easy, in order to be ready for all the natural motions that the horseman may make in turning to one side or the other. It should be firm, that is to say, strait, without leaning to the right or left, neither advanced nor thrown back; it should be easy because if otherwise it would occasion a stiffness, and that stiffness affecting the different parts of the body, especially the back bone, the whole would be without ease and constrained.
The shoulders alone influence by their motions that of the breast the reins and waist.
The horseman should present or advance his breast, by that his whole figure opens and displays itself; he should have a small hollow in his reins, and push the waist forward to the pommel of the saddle, because this position corresponds and unites him to all the motions of the horse.
Now only throwing the shoulders back, produces all these effects, and gives them exactly in the degree that is requisite; whereas if we were to look for the particular position of each part [seperately] and by itself, without examining the connection that there is between the motions of one part with those of another, there would be such a bending in his reins that the horseman would be, if I may so say, hollow backed; and as from that he would force his breast forward and his waist towards the pommel of the saddle, he would be flung back, and must sit upon the rump of the horse.
The arms should be bent at the elbows, and the elbows should rest equally upon the hips; if the arms were strait, the consequence would be, that the hands would be too low, or at too great a distance from the body; and if the elbows were not kept steady, they would of consequence, give an uncertainty and fickleness to the hand, sufficient to ruin it for ever.
It is true that the Bridle-hand is that which absolutely ought to be steady and immoveable; and we might conclude from hence, that the left elbow only ought to rest upon the hip; but grace consists in the exact proportion and symmetry of all the parts of the body, and to have the arm on one side raised and advanced, and that of the other kept down and close to the body would present but an aukward and disagreeable appearance.