THE SEAT.
There is one direction which applies to all seats.--Different seats for
different styles of riding.--The manége and the Eastern seats are the
extremes.--The long stirrup is necessary for cavalry to act in
line.--Medium length of stirrup for common riding.
[Sidenote: One direction for all seats.]
There is one direction which, I think, applies to all seats. Turn the
thigh from the hip, so as to bring the hollow to the saddle; this places
the foot straight to the front, with the heel out and the toe in.
Trotting without stirrups, on the thigh only, with the heel down and the
toe up, shoulders back, a snaffle-rein in each hand, like a rough-rider
(Fig. 13), is the best possible practice for sitting.
[Sidenote: Different seats for different styles of riding.]
[Sidenote: Manége and Eastern seats the extremes.]
Farther than this I abstain from giving any particular directions about
the seat; because, though I consider the rules here laid down for the
hands as applicable to every species of riding (I have excepted the
soldier with his weapon in his right hand), I think there is a peculiar
seat proper to many different styles of riding. The extremes of these
are the manége and the Eastern styles, both admirable in their way, and
perfectly practical, but each wholly inapplicable to the performances of
the other.
[Sidenote: Long stirrups are necessary for cavalry.]
What can be more perfect than the seats of M. de Kraut and the Marquis
de Beauvilliers, in De la Guérinière's work, or the engraving of M. de
Nestier? But I do not think that a man in such a seat would look well,
or perform well, in a five-pound saddle, over the beacon course: still
less that he could lay the reins on the neck of a well-bred horse, and
at full speed lie along his horse's side, and with his own body below
his horse's back, prime and load a long Persian gun, jump up and use
both hands to fire to the right or left, or over his horse's croupe; or
that he could wield a long heavy lance with the power of a Cossack; or
at full gallop hurl the djerrid to the rear with the force of a Persian,
and again, without any diminution of speed, pick it from the ground. On
the other hand, his peculiar seat renders the Eastern horseman so
utterly helpless in the performances of the manége, that he is unable to
make his horse rein back, or _pass_ sideways a step. And I have seen
three hundred Mussulman troops from the northern parts of Persia (each
of whom would perform forty such feats as I have mentioned) take more
than an hour to form a very bad parade line, in single rank. When one of
them was the least too far forward, or had an interval between him and
the dressing hand, however small, as he could neither make his horse
rein back, nor pass sideways, he was obliged to ride out to the front,
turn round to the rear, and ride into the rank afresh, and so in
succession every man beyond him. This was an affair of seat; the Eastern
horseman's leg does not come low enough to give his horse what are
called _sides_.
On _sides_ depend reining back and passing; on reining back and passing
depend _closing_ and _dressing_, and consequently the power of acting in
line. On _sides_ also depends the _central_ wheel of threes _on their
own ground_. This is an invaluable attribute to cavalry, regular or
irregular. On the plain, the central wheel of threes affords the only
true principle of correcting intervals between squadrons, regiments, or
brigades, whether in line or in line of columns. Threes also supply the
most perfect principle of retiring in line in the presence of an enemy,
with the power of instantly showing front, provided that (according to
regulation) leaders are appointed to the rear, the same as to the front.
In the defile, for advanced or rear-guard movements, threes alone afford
the power to occupy the entire width of a lane, road, street, or defile,
with the perfect facility of constant and instant alternation of
retiring and advancing. Without some _central_ wheel, columns or
divisions occupying the width of a road or street, _can not retire_; or
when retiring, cannot show front to the enemy. With reining back and
passing (and they are easily acquired) irregular cavalry might move with
the precision of regular cavalry.
I should say, that the most perfect seat for the manége should be
shortened for the soldier to give him power with his weapons; that the
military rider should take up his stirrups when he goes hunting; the
hunter the same when he rides a race; and for tours de force, I consider
the short stirrup-leather and the broad stirrup-iron of the East
indispensable--they give, in fact, the strength of the standing instead
of the sitting posture. The Cossack retains this standing posture even
at a trot; few Eastern horsemen allow that pace at all, but make their
horses walk, amble, or gallop.
[Sidenote: Medium for common riding.]
The English hunting seat is, in point of length, the medium of those
mentioned; and perhaps that seat, or something between that and the
military seat, is the best adapted to common riding. It unites, in a
greater degree than any other, ease, utility, power, and grace.