SADDLES

As the first law of riding is that the rider should sit in the centre of the saddle, all saddles ought obviously to be made to facilitate this. But this is not th case. On most hunting saddles the pommel is a lttle higher than the cantle, and the rider is consequently constantly slipping back. The accompanying figures will make the point clear. In Fig. 6 the upper dot represents the position to which the rider's body

slips on the normal saddle. In Fig. 7 the saddle is differently shaped and the fault has been rectified; the rider's body rests naturally farther forward. It is important that the rider should sit as near as possible to the horse's centre of gravity. The two lower dots in the diagrams represent this centre of gravity. In Fig. 6 the dot is considerably in front of the rider's seat. In Fig. 7, because the tree has been differently shaped, the rider's seat is very nearly directly over the centre of gravity. To carry the rider's weight at this point is a great help to the horse; it is worth a stone in weight at least. And it has the further advantage of

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