impedes the working of the right hand on the reins. The
appearance when mounted is infinitely improved by the absence of it. The
saddle should have what is called a third pummel, or leaping-horn. In
case of any unusual motion of the horse, such as leaping, an ebullition
of gaiety, or violence from any other cause, by pressing upwards with
the front part above the left knee, and downwards with the back part
above the right knee, a wonderfully strong grasp is obtained, much
stronger than the grasp obtained by the mode in which men ride. This
will be quite clear to you if, when sitting in your chair, you press
your two knees together, and afterwards, by crossing them over, press
them, one down and the other up. Besides this, when a man clasps his
horse, however firmly it fixes the clasping parts, it has a tendency to
raise the seat from the saddle. This is not the case with the clasp
obtained in a side-saddle; and, for a tour de force, I find I am much
stronger in a side-saddle than in my own. There is no danger in this
third pummel, since there is not the danger of being thrown on it; more
than this, it renders it next to impossible that the rider should be
thrown against or upon the other pummels. In the case of the horse
_bucking_, without the leaping-horn, there is nothing to prevent the
lady from being thrown up; the right knee is thus disengaged from the
pummel, and all hold lost. The leaping-horn prevents the left knee from
being thrown up, and from that fulcrum great force may be employed to
keep the right knee down in its proper place. If the horse, in violent
action, throws himself suddenly to the left, the upper part of the
rider's body will tend downwards to the right, the lower limbs upwards
to the left. Nothing can counteract this but the bearing afforded by the
leaping-horn. This tendency to over-balance to the right causes so many
ladies to guard themselves against it by hanging off their saddles to
the left. The leaping-horn is also of infinite use with a hard puller,
or in riding down steep places; without it, in either case, there is
nothing to prevent the lady from sliding forward. It has also the
advantage that, should one rider like it, and another not, it is easily
screwed on or taken off.

[Sidenote: Surcingle.]

[Sidenote: Stirrup leather.]

[Sidenote: Stirrup-iron.]

The saddle should be kept in its place by the elastic webbing girths,
and not, as the common error is--probably from the facili