240

LIFE OF COLONEL MACERONI.

the fork,” consequently without any power of rising, eitherin the management of the horse or of the sabre. Nothingcan tend to deduct from the power of a man on horseback somuch as giving him such long stirrups. Better h ‘d- he noneat all, inasmuch as a portion of his constant care must be tokeep them to his feet, every movement having a tendencyto make him lose them. The stirrups should be so short asto enable the rider to stand up in them, when he will havethe greatest possible command of his arms and of his horse.All those men who, as it were, pass their lives on horse-back, the Tartars, Calmucks, Arabs, Llianaros of SouthAmerica , &c., are seated on their saddles, with the thigh inan almost horizontal position. This to us may seem anextreme; and, in fact, on one of their Asiatic saddles, withstirrups according to their proportion, /find all power takenaway from the knees. But for Europeans, there is a mediumas practised by the Hungarians , which is just “ the thing.” Ifwe look at the equestrian statues and reliefs of the ancientGreeks and Romans, we shall see, that although they usedno stirrups, they are so seated on the horse as to place theirthighs at an angle of not more than thirty-five degrees.

Another great error in the equitation of the British cavalryof that day, and which is now common with most horsemenand drivers (not military) is in the use of the bit. The bit isintended and constructed so as, with the assistance of thecurb chain, to form a powerful lever, acting on the lowerjaw, while the arch of the cross piece presses with violenceagainst the roof of the mouth. For this purpose the curb-chainmust be sufficiently tight to keep the check pieces of the bitin a straight line with the line of the horse’s face, when thearch of the cross piece will be in the same line, and nottouch the roof of the mouth ; but if the curb-chain be lefttoo slack, the arch piece is always tormenting the roof ofthe mouth; and when the bridle is pulled, instead of acting