Saddle

“ Then bring me a cup of the red Ahr-wine; I never shall drink but this one.
"And fetch me my harness, and saddle my horse, And lead him me round to the door: He must take such a leap to-night perforce As horse never took before.
"I have lived by the saddle for years two score, And if I must die on tree, The old saddle-tree, which has borne me of yore, Is the properest timber for me.
"I have lived my life, I have fought my fight, I have drunk my share of wine; From Trier to Cöln there was never a knight Led a merrier life than mine. ”

“ In another moment the daring youth is once more in the saddle, going down, down, till he feels his feet upon the plain. Then stepping out of it, and sending up the preconcerted signal, he detaches saddle and bridle from the cords, leaving the latter to swing free. ”

“ It is now that the formation of the Californian saddle and the large wooden stirrups protect the rider: a small bar lashed crossways to the peak of the saddle prevents the horse from rolling over, and when he rises his tormentor rises with him unhurt; finding all efforts useless, he bounds into the plain, to return in a few hours sobbing, panting, but mastered. ”

“ I have seen so many young riders, and it is they alone who concern me, who have really had latent possibilities, but who, from an original faulty position in the saddle, and, alas, a deaf ear, have not made the progress they should. Still, if they do not listen to the counsels of wisdom, and yet aspire to go straight, they will find sitting astride on their saddle that hard-bitten dame, Experience. She rides with us all. She likes hunting—is seen to play polo, and is known to go racing. ”

“ How often I have seen Piety in the saddle, sawing the tender bars of the horse's mouth, and sliding back and forth from pommel to cantle of the saddle, excoriating the tender skin and flesh beneath. How often I have seen Philanthropy and Worth driving horses with cruel bearing-reins, traces too long, pole-straps too tight, coupling-reins of the same length for the long-necked and the short-necked horse, belly-band tight and girth loose, bit too wide, nose-band flapping up and down, and breeching too tight or too loose. ”

“ A horse that is used to it thinks nothing of drawing a cart over a fallen trunk a couple of feet in diameter, going at it obliquely, one wheel at a time. But as tall hats, and black coats, and crinolines, and bonnets are about as necessary on a bush journey as an Armstrong gun or a pair of skates, you will probably dispense with any such useless incumbrance, and take only a change of clothes in a valise on the pommel of your saddle or behind it, or a mackintosh-covered bundle of eight or nine pounds weight strapped neatly to the off side of your side-saddle. ”

“ He would ride as lightly and as easily as ever, sitting erect and jaunty in the saddle, his reins held high and loose in the hand whose fingers turn up gracefully, his whole body free yet firm in the saddle with the seat of the perfect horseman. ”

“ You know every man here has his own saddle, and no one ever uses it except the man that owns it. Your saddle is here, and you ought always to hang it on its peg, and hang bridle, blanket and rope over it, so that they won't get dirty or be gnawed by anything, and so you'll always know where they are. You see, if you lose your things you'll have to go without any. No one'll lend you theirs. Now, the first thing you've got to learn is how to saddle your horse. I'll saddle old Baldy first, and you watch me close and try to see what I do. ”

“ Suppose you were riding with a lady, on her left,—which is the safe and proper, if not the fashionable side,—and her saddle should begin to turn, say toward you, as it is most apt to do. If your horse minds the indication of your leg, you can keep him so close to your companion's as to afford her suitable assistance, even to the extent of bodily lifting her clear of her saddle. If your horse is only half trained, you cannot, perhaps, bring him to the position where you want him in season to be of any service at all. ”

“ But, even so recently as Garsault’s time, the saddle in ordinary use, by French women, was, we learn from his work on equitation, still, a kind of pillion, on which the rider sate, diagonally, with both feet resting on a broad suspended ledge or stirrup. ”

“ The pathetic part of it is that, obeying the law of opposites, the saddle has an irresistible and fatal attraction for the poor chaps. They take to it on every possible and impossible occasion. You can see them playing alleged polo at Malta, riding each other off at right angles and employing their sticks as grappling irons. ”

“ To vault into the saddle, the man should stand facing the near shoulder of the horse. In the left hand he should take a lock of the mane, halfway between the ears and the withers, and, with the right hand resting on the front of the saddle, he should grasp the throat of the pommel, thumb under, fingers pointing to the ground over the right side of the horse. Then, springing from the balls of both feet, he should take his weight upon his extended arms and, carrying his right leg over the croup of the horse, sink into his seat. ”

“ He regrets to say that he has also seen not a few who affect to sneer at a padded saddle or a horse with a long tail, who seem incapable of throwing their heart across a thirty inch stone wall in a burst after hounds, although upon the road they seek to impress one as constantly riding to cover. ”

“ Now the stranger tossed on the saddle and cinched it with amazing speed, sprang onto his mount, and urged it across to the other side of the corral. Up to that moment no one in the little crowd of watchers had suspected the intention of the rider. ”

“ Along the road a rider is proceeding leisurely, a large wooden pannier jutting out from either side of his saddle. This bulky gear, that lends such a swollen appearance to the advancing combination of man and horse, denotes a travelling merchant of humble status. ”

“ The saddle for racing is a sort of hollow dish, in which the rider sits. He does not straddle the beast as we would mount a horse, but he sits in this trough, or dish, and crosses his legs in front of him. His place is not an uncomfortable one, except that it is pretty high in the air and a fall from it would be no joke. Since I saw that race I have done some camel travelling, and have my opinions, but of that I will speak by and by. ”

“ When assisting his companion from the saddle, the gentleman should stand about a foot from her with his face toward the horse, while she, after taking her foot from the stirrup and disengaging her right leg from the pommel, must turn her body so as to face him. After putting the stirrup over the shield of the saddle, as in mounting, he should then extend his hands so as to support her by the elbows, while she rests a hand upon each of his shoulders. ”

“ The girth, which passes under the horse's belly and cinches the saddle in place, is woven of hair from horses' manes by a native artisan, and is fully eight inches broad, with a tassel hanging at its middle. The saddle, the bridle, and all its appointments are marvels of beauty. ”

“ My own experiences induce me to believe in a saddle which is as nearly as possible flat from between the pommels to the cantle; any dip in the stretcher of the tree, while it renders the lady's seat less secure, has also the effect of throwing her weight too much upon the horse's forehand, and thus cramping his action. ”

“ Now I saw that all the people, great and small, rode handsome thorough-bred horses barebacked and without saddles, at which I wondered and said to the King, “O my lord, why dost thou not ride with a saddle? Therein is ease for the rider and increase of power.” “What manner of thing is a saddle?” ”

“ The lady should seat herself exactly on the centre of the saddle, with her body erect, and her backbone in a direct line with that of the horse, at a right angle with it. A spectator can readily tell whether the rider is in the centre of the saddle by observing whether the space between the buttons on the hind flaps of her riding-jacket corresponds with the backbone of the horse, and also with the chamber of the saddle. ”

“ Each wave was crested with tawny foam, Like the mane of a chestnut steed. In vain! no torrent, deep or broad, [Pg 123] Might bar the bold moss-trooper's road. At the first plunge the horse sunk low, And the water broke o'er the saddlebow; Above the foaming tide, I ween, Scarce half the charger's neck was seen; For he was barded from counter to tail, And the rider was armed complete in mail; Never heavier man and horse Stemmed a midnight torrent's force. ”

“ His saddle is capacious, with broad stirrups in the form of an open shoe. The saddle has, moreover, a hump on which the rider can support his arms, and an arrangement for fixing a short rod, with a crescent-shaped top or cushion, on which the rider rests his chin and sleeps during night travelling. Letters and parcels are placed in saddle-bags, which are thrown astride the saddle in the same way as paniers are with us. They are made of leather, of carpet, or camel's-hair, and the opening is closed through a series of loops running into each other. ”

“ It does not look well according to our ideas, for they slouch in the saddle and flap their elbows, sitting with their legs sticking out straight as if the horse had tar or something on its ribs which the rider wanted to keep clear of. They seem to hold their reins in any sort of way, in each hand and up to their chins being the favourite method, which looks awkward, to say the least of it. ”

“ Duke Morgan tested the cinches of the saddle on the Lady once more, unloosed the tugs once more from the horse’s shoulder, examined each buckle of the collar and every inch of the two 418 strips of leather, the reinforced fastenings on the whiffletree, rolled all up again, strapped it, and stood by the head till de Spain swung up into the saddle. ”

“ Before the saddle is a large skin of some shaggy coated animal, hanging down to the heavy Spanish box stirrup, or still heavier and indescribable one of iron, over which lies the long taper end of the bridle, made of narrow slips of hide twisted into a cord, and so long as to serve the purposes of a whip. ”

“ Horses are not naturally vicious, and very few of them who have had any sort of fair-play in training, really require a curb, or will go as well or pleasantly upon it as if ridden in a snaffle-bridle.
Your saddle is another most important point. Never commence, be your age ever so tender, by riding upon a pad. Accustom yourself from the beginning to the use of a properly constructed saddle, made as straight as a board, seat perfectly level, and scarcely any appearance of a pommel upon the off-side. A leaping-head, or what is commonly termed a third crutch, is, in my opinion, indispensable. ”

“ I would strongly recommend to parents that, when a daughter begins to ride, it should be on her own saddle, made on her measure, or at least amply large for her, as riding on a short saddle leads to a cramped and ungraceful seat. The correct size should allow the space of three fingers between the end of the saddle and the base of the spine, when the right knee is round the second pommel. ”

“ The position of the rider in the saddle has a decided influence upon the horse's mouth, rendering his movements regular or irregular, according to the correctness and firmness of the seat; for, if the rider be unsteady or vacillating in the saddle, this will exert an influence upon the hand, rendering it correspondingly unstable, and will thereby cause the horse's movements to be variable. ”

“ Then seize the cantle of the saddle with your right hand, and springing from your right foot, without touching the horse's flank with your left toe, raise yourself into the stirrup, pause a moment, and then throw the leg across the horse, moving your right hand away in season. ”

“ There lies the proof. At West Point, and in fact at every military school, the cadets are sometimes practiced to ride with a scrap of paper held to the saddle by the knee while they leap a bar, and at the same time thrust or cut with the sabre at a convenient dummy foe. I have seen a silver dollar so held between the knee and saddle. But the bar is not a succession of high stone walls, nor is the cadet riding a burst of several miles. And with a longer stirrup it is more natural to keep the foot parallel with the horse's side. To-day, the best riders do not so hold their feet. ”

“ The saddle-tree forked low down over the pony's back so that the saddle sat firmly and could not readily be pulled off. The great broad cinches bound the saddle fast till horse and saddle were practically one fabric. ”

“ Too high behind, the saddle will throw the whole weight of the rider into the stirrups. Too high in front, it will throw him back and diminish the grip of the thighs and prevent proper set of the knees. ”

“ The plate illustrating this nice performance shows that the man had to stand with his left leg in the stirrup and put his weight on the saddle with his hands, while he raised his right leg over the lady’s head. Having lived in the East, I am aware that Oriental women ride astride, but I have not seen any of them voluntarily go out of a walk. It is not difficult to trot and canter in a man’s plain hunting saddle, but I think our conformation requires the assistance of knee rolls for jumping. ”

“ The almost universal saddle rigging in use the West over is a breast strap of webbing fastened at the forward points of the saddle, and a breech strap fastened to the back points of the saddle, with guy lines running from the top to prevent its falling too far down the horse's legs. ”

“ To get the saddle on him he is next blindfolded. A strong man grasps the left ear and another man slowly approaches and, after quietly and kindly rubbing and patting him, gently puts the saddle blanket in place; then the huge and heavy saddle with all its loose strings and straps is carefully hoisted and adjusted, and the cinch drawn up. In placing the blanket and the saddle there will likely be several failures. He will be a poor-spirited horse that does not resent it. ”