s I have already remarked,
rises when the animal's near fore leg is placed on the ground, and
remains seated while the off fore leg rests on the ground, but the
height and duration of the rise will depend on his power of forward
reach. Some ladies exert themselves far too much in rising, and flop
down on their saddles with a noise which attracts attention to their
faulty riding, and which must be very uncomfortable both to them and
their mounts. The chief cause of this faulty style is the adoption of a
long stirrup (Figs. 95 and 96), by which the weight of the body is
brought so much to the near side that the rider can rise only with great
muscular exertion, and with the risk of giving her mount a sore back, by
the downward drag of the saddle to this side. If the horse were to break
into a canter, the lady with a long stirrup would obtain her grip by
bringing back the left leg as in Fig. 97 and pressing against the
leaping-head high up on the thigh, which would give her a very insecure
and ungraceful seat. I have seen ladies trying to trot with the left
leg, from hip to foot, swinging about like the pendulum of a clock, as
if they had no knee-joint at all. When we see an effort to trot with a
stiff left leg swinging along the horse's shoulder, we may safely
conclude that the rider has her stirrup too long, and knows nothing
about the art of trotting, or that the leaping-head of her saddle is
placed so low down on the near side that she is unable to ride in it,
and has to stick on as best she can. As we do not use the leaping-head
in trotting, its position on the saddle may appear unimportant, but this
is not the case; for, even if a lady has her stirrup at its correct
length, the fact of the leaping-head being placed low down on the near
side, compels her to ride with her stirrup longer than she would have to
do if this crutch were properly placed. The farther it is away from the
upper crutch, the greater difficulty will a lady have in rising at the
trot. I have tried to ride in saddles in which I have found trotting
such a tiring business, and requiring so much muscular exertion on my
part, that it was much more comfortable for me not to rise, but to bump
in military fashion. Many ladies, probably from the same reason, never
rise in the trot. It is both wrong and unkind to put girls on bad
saddles and then reproach them for not sitting straight at the trot, for
I have found it absolutely impossible to do so in some saddl