CROUCH SEAT BARRED.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1562, 1 April 1920, Page 9

CROUCH SEAT BARRED.

WEST AUSTRALIAN DECISION.

The turf authorities in Western Australia have decided to bar the use of the extreme crouch seat, and in doing so (remarks “Sentinel” in the Otago “Daily Times”) will exhibit more courage and horse wisdom than the New Zealand Racing Conference did when dealing with the same subject. Some of the delegates to the New Zealand Racing Conference expressed the opinion that if a rider was ordered to lengthen his leathers before leaving the birdcage, he might draw them up again when at the starting post. Any such defiance of authority could be easily detected and met with sufficient punishment to convince the offender that it was much wiser to obey than flout orders issued in the general welfare of racing. It was also held at the same time that it would be difficult to decide as to what length of stirrupleather a rider should use. Nothing could be easier to anyone who knows anything about horsemanship. . It may surprise some of our disciples of Tod Sloan that they use a shorter leather than the crack American rider used with such great success in the days of power and pride which came before his fall from grace. The fact that they do so shows that some riders do not really understand the seat they have adopted, even if a certain amount of success has been achieved. Some few riders who adopt an idiotic imitation of the Sloan seat should be commanded to lengthen their leathers instead of being allowed to use a seat which is unnecessarily dangerous and detrimental to the chances of a horse who has the bad luck to be ridden in such a ridiculous style.