example of all the old riding masters, French and foreign. We must admit that formerly riders had quite a different seat to those of the present time. Stiffness has replaced the pliability, ease and grace of the olden time, because pupils have fallen into bad habits from the commencement of their instruction, either from want of comprehension or on account of being badly taught.

Not only the premature, but also the excessive use of the stirrups has other faults. I am of opinion that the great majority of dangerous falls are caused by their abuse. For example, Mr. X—— is run away with by his horse in the Forest of Saint-Germain ; he sits well down into the saddle, succeeds in stopping the animal, and starts into a trot on his stirrups ; unfortunately, a stirrup leather breaks at this moment, and Mr. X—— falls on his head and is killed. Every horseman knows that the breaking of a stirrup leather can cause a rider to fall on his head, only because the man had put all his weight on the stirrups, and was consequently more or less out of the saddle. If he was not bearing his weight on the stirrups he might, no doubt, roll off, but the severity of the fall would be more or less broken by the fact that the knees would be gripping the flaps of the saddle. I would go further and say that if a rider did not depend on his stirrups, he would hardly ever fall off on account of a stirrup leather breaking.

Let us take another example. Mr. Z——, at Toulouse, rides out of his stable at a walk ; his horse falls, and Mr. Z—— is thrown forward on to his head and is killed. We need no knowledge of riding to understand that if he had been sitting in his saddle he could not have been thrown forward with such violence. I hasten to add that I recall these two well-remembered accidents, not in a spirit of criticism, but in order to explain the sad consequences which may arise from the abuse of the stirrups, and in the hope