sit (not lean) forward in the saddle, so as to get a
good grip of the crutches; and should bring her seat well under her
("sit well into the saddle"), in order to bring the centre of gravity of
her body well back, as regards her base of support, and thus to increase
her stability, which will depend almost entirely on her power to resist
forward propulsion, when the horse suddenly stops or swerves to the
left. Her hold of the reins will in any case prevent her from toppling
backwards over the animal's tail, in the event of his making an
unexpected movement forward from the halt, or suddenly increasing his
speed when in motion. The faulty practice of riding the crutches,
instead of sitting down in the saddle, brings the weight forward, and
places the lady in the best possible position to fall off.

The greater difficulty which a rider has in keeping her seat when her
mount abruptly swerves to the left, than when he goes to the right, is
due to the fact that in the former case, the upper crutch is drawn away
from the right thigh; but in the latter case, it forms a more or less
effective obstacle to the forward movement of the right thigh, and thus
helps the rider to retain her seat. To explain this subject more fully,
I may point out, that if a person is standing on the foot-board of the
right side of a rapidly moving train which suddenly turns to the left,
he or she would be far more inclined to fall off, than if a similar
change of direction had been made to the right, in both of which
instances the side of the train would play the part of the upper crutch.
The fact that the lower part of the rider's right leg rests against the
horse's near shoulder, as in Fig. 79, will materially help her in
keeping her seat, in the event of an abrupt swerve to the left.

The side position of the seat, combined with the fact that the head has
to be kept more or less in the direction the horse is proceeding, causes
more weight to be placed on the near side than on the off. Although the
rider cannot entirely remove this disadvantage, she may lessen this
unequal distribution of weight, (1) by avoiding the use of too long a
stirrup leather, for the longer it is, the more inclined will she be to
bring her weight to the near side, in order to obtain the assistance of
her stirrup; (2) by sitting a little over on the off side, so as to
place her weight as much as possible on the middle line of the seat of
the saddle, namely, over the backbone