PAST AND PRESENT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23517, 3 June 1938, Page 22

PAST AND PRESENT

SEATS AND SADDLES RIDING METHODS CRITICISED By Sentinel The most notable change in cross-country riding has been made in connection with seats in the saddle and the style in sitting a horse. In bygone years riders rode with a long leather, giving a grip with his knees and calves of the leg, and a horse had to hit very hard to shift them. The calves of the legs gripped a horse below the saddle flap, but nowadays riders lose a great deal of their gripping powers because the short leather and the extended saddle flap, in fairly general use,, give the leg too much fold and consequent loss of grip. The French rider Parfrement created a sensation when he used the crouch seat on Lutteur 111 and won the Liverpool Grand National Steeplechase in 1909; but his seat was not so short as some in use here. Long before that the late Clarence O’Neill was the first to adopt it in Australia. He broke a thigh, and informed the writer that when his mount hit he was “ shot about a hundred yards ” and badly lamed for the rest of his life. When Beau Cavalier won the New Zealand Grand National Steeplechase his rider (S. Henderson) rode very short and appeared really himself to the saddle. When Beau Cavalier jumped the fence at Cult s Corner for the first time he dipped' on landing and his tail flew up. It looked long odds on Henderson parting company with his mount, but he stayed, and went on to win. Beau Cavalier was an extravagant jumper, and a hit would send an ordinary rider into the next parish. It would be quite safe to claim that the English riders make a deeper study of horsemanship than is generally the case in this part of the world. Australia and New Zealand have produced what may be termed great natural horsemen, but proof positive that some of them cannot be told anything about riding is supplied by the fact that James Scobie, one of the greatest and most successful riders in the history of cross-country racing in Australia, is dead against the short leather in any shape or form on the flat or over jumps. Yet the fact remains that the short leather is in general use. This means that knowledge is wasted and experience does not teach in riding. k -,-v It is almost a certainty that a horse will hit one or more fences in the course of a race, and grip is essential to staying in the saddle. Since the adoption of the crouch seat saddle flaps have been extended to cover a horse’s shoulder. The principal reason appears to be that the extended flap helps to keep a rider’s trousers clean near the knees; but if the knee rests on the up-to-date flap, it certainly diminishes the rider’s grip on his mount. When the rider’s knee rested on the lower part of the horse’s shoulder and the calf of the leg gripped below the saddle a firm seat was obtained. They go to the other extreme, with knees knocking over a horse’s withers and a cramped leg providing a minimum of grip, which means severance from the saddle by an impact that would not disturb an old-time horseman.

The crouch seat was made popular in England by Tod Sloan, although he did not introduce the idea. A miniature man with a short leg who could not ride long because he was physically incapable of doing so, he revolutionised riding in England, not because he rode sfiort. but because he sent his mount along from end to end and rode a waiting race in front, and the others had to catch and beat him. He absolutely proved the value of the old adage that a horse can give weight, but not distance. The famous English horseman, George Fordham, one of the most successful of his time, was a short man, and crouched in the saddle long before Tod Sloan was born. The crouch seat derives its primary value in avoidance of wind pressure, and is at times completely discounted by inability to assist a horse in a fighting finish. . , It is doubtful ;if some young riders know why they ride short. Their leg at almost full stretch can barely span a saddle flap, and their grip is practically nil. Yet they closely fold the knee. If a horse peeks, swerves, or turns quickly when walking it is odds on a separation. If that is so in connection with fiat racing, the chance of a rider being separated from a mount must logically become much greater when riding over jumps. Another aspect of the question consists in the fact that a horse must rise to take off at a jump, and if the rider’s weight is mostly in front of the saddle the effort to negotiate it must be accentuated at each succeeding fence, and so also does the danger of impact and a faulty landing. Experience teaches, and time after time horses have dropped their riders, who should never have parted company with their mounts if a reasonable grip seat had been adopted. It is quite possible to ride too long as well as too short. The extreme short seat spills a rider out of the saddle, .and a long seat may result in gripping a mount in a fall and staying too long, with the result that a horse may roll on a rider. The happy medium is based on a rider’s length of leg, and not a blind following and sort of rule-of-thumb adoption of a seat. The short seat is a more prolific source of trouble, causing crossing and interference in flat races, and at times it is a stupid seat over jumps. Some riders make a success of it, but some horses would win even if the riders faced the tail and not the front of a mount. The long and short can be seen in the illustrations on this page. They show contrast between riding in the saddle or in front of the saddle and on the reins. England may be very conservative in some respects, blit can teach the rest of the world how to produce horses, train, and ride them. The English riders use a much longer rein and stirrup leather than is the general practice in this part of the world. Their methods of training are rather different, and one might say more rational, and their best riders are the best in the world. Probably some of us know more about training and riding than they do in England.