he may say racehorses are ridden in such, the answer is ready, they are obliged to be ridden in such to save weight. But racing saddles are made as long as they possibly can be made, in proportion to their weight, and in that proportion are much longer than hunting saddles; and though jockeys are forced to ride on very small saddles, they much prefer riding on larger when the weight will allow it. Independently of this, jockeys are, on an average, little more than as many minutes on their horse as a hunting man is hours on his ; but beyond all this, racehorses' backs are often a good deal chafed,—sometimes very much so during the racing season, short as is the time they carry a racing saddle.

Some saddlers are famous for giving a roomy and easy seat to the rider on the saddles they make, others quite the reverse, though their saddles are quite as heavy as the well-proportioned one, and are only fit to send to a West India planter to ride on about his sugar plantations, mounted on a mule.

I will give the reader a hint, by attending to which he will derive considerable advantage; (it is on a trifling difference in the lower flap of a saddle, yet one I never saw attended to by the best judges in such matters;) it is this:

I think it must be quite clear that, supposing two men- one five feet three, and another five

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feet eleven were both well-proportioned, and were both to get into their saddles, the leg of the tall man must come lower down on the flap of the saddle than that of the short one. Supposing these were each to order a saddle of an eminent maker, desiring it to be about sixteen or seventeen inches, and with its appendages to weigh twelve or thirteen pounds,-about the usual weight of a hunting saddle,—the lower flap of each would be stuffed and made alike. What is the

consequence? We should see the calf of the leg of the short man touching-in fact, resting against -the lower part of the saddle-flap, — and he gets a firm hold by it; but the same part of the leg of the tall man coming still lower down, it is just opposite to that part of the flap which is the thinnest, and where, in fact, except before the leg, there is no stuffing at all; consequently, the same part of his leg will be an inch away from that part of the flap, and not rest on it like the other's (if on occasion it is wanted to do so), to give an additional grip of his horse, unless, indeed, he was bow-legged. A man with a large calf could get this hold; but suppose, like me, he happens to be one of "the lean kine," and what over-calf he carries about with him is anywhere but on his legs, he can only rely on his knees, in a general

way.

Now if my reader should happen to be one of

the spindle-shanked sort, if he will direct his saddler to carry the flap stuffing down lower than usual, it will be tantamount to having a calf to his leg; and as the stuffing of a saddle-flap is lighter than the stuffing of a calf, we light-timbered gentry must set the advantage our horse gains against the loss we sustain by the absence of handsome legs: however, bless the man who first patronised trousers for dress; no doubt he was one of us.

Most persons prefer stirrups broad in the tread, and I believe they are, to the greater proportion of riders, the most comfortable; but for my own use, from habit, I prefer a narrow one; and, again, I like the feel of a light stirrup. They, like most other things, have their advantages and the reverse. If a man wishes to have the old safetyspring stirrups, they must, of course, be heavy; but spring bars have nearly exploded the spring stirrup.

Habit has a vast influence on many trifles connected with riding: for instance, I cannot ride with any comfort with a thick sole to my boot,I never feel that I have any hold of my stirrup; I do really believe a man with a thick unyielding sole does oftener lose his stirrup than the man who uses thin ones.

Most stirrups are made with the eye that takes the stirrup formed the segment of a circle. If a

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man will have what the generality of persons use, merely on that account, of course he can and will do so; but stirrups thus made are really objectionable; they bend the stirrup leather into their own form; and then, supposing that from use it stretches, which, more or less, it will do,-the curvature cannot be got rid of, and they are difficult to alter as to length. The eye should be flat at the top (barrel-eyed, as it is technically termed), so as to let the leather bear evenly on it; it can then be easily lengthened or shortened, and it retains its original flat form, and wears longer. They also wear far better made the flesh side outwards, and, I consider, look more workman-like. All stirrupleather buckles should be what is termed doublebarred; not for the very unsportsman-like practice of putting the end of the stirrup-leather through the eye or interstice between the bars, but because such buckles permit the leather to be more easily altered, and, being in themselves longer, the leather lies flatter beneath the upper flap of the saddle.

I

CROSS PURPOSES. HANDY AND UNHANDY HORSES. INCLINING A HORSE TO THE RIGHT OR LEFT. TURNING TO RIGHT OR LEFT. SHYING AND STARTING.

HAVING made some observations on the circumstances likely to make or mar a horseman, on habits that should be encouraged or avoided, on the description of horse I consider best adapted to ordinary road riding, and on such horse equipment as I hold to be required for the same purpose, I will suppose my reader furnished with what he considers likely to please him; and we will now turn our attention to the using of them.

We will now suppose the reader about to mount his horse. He might ask me the best way of doing this, or might say "How do you mount your horse?" This last question, if it was put, would, odd as it may appear, be something of a poser, and one I really could not answer in a