the pressure of the narrow one on the centre of
the broad one, makes the edges of the broad girth incline outwards, and
thus apparently helps to save the horse from becoming girth-galled.

Girths should always be buckled high up on the near side, in order to
prevent their buckles hurting the rider's left leg, by making an
uncomfortable bump in the flap of the saddle; and also to allow plenty
of space on the girth straps of the off side, for shortening the girths
as may be required.

BALANCE STRAP.

This is a leather strap which is attached to the off side of the rear
part of the saddle, at one end; and to a strap close to the girth straps
of the near side, at the other end. Before the days of safety bars, its
near side end was usually buckled on to the stirrup leather, which was a
faulty arrangement, not only as regards the leather (p. 36), but also
because its degree of tightness was a constantly varying quantity which
entirely depended on the amount of pressure that the rider put on her
stirrup. The presence of a properly tightened balance strap helps to
prevent lateral movement on the part of the saddle. Also it counteracts,
to some extent, the excess of weight which almost every rider puts on
the near side of her saddle; this good effect being due to the fact that
the off attachment of the balance strap is farther away from the centre
line (axis) of the animal's body than the near attachment; and
consequently the pull of the balance strap on the off side acts to
greater mechanical advantage than the pull on the near side.

BREAST-PLATE.

The breast-plate is attached at one end to the girth or girths, and at
the other end to the staples of the saddle. Its use is to prevent the
saddle shifting backwards, as it might do if the girths were slack,
especially if the animal was very narrow waisted. Even with a
well-shaped horse, a breast-plate is often useful on a long day and in a
hilly country. It is much in favour with hunting ladies. Staples are
small metal loops which are fixed to the front part of the saddle-tree.

WEIGHT OF A SIDE-SADDLE.

In order to avoid giving a horse a sore back and consequently disabling
him for the time being, it is essential to have the tree rigid, so that
the weight may remain evenly distributed over the bearing surfaces of
his back, which rigidity cannot be obtained without having the tree
fairly heavy. The necessary width and length of saddle and strength of
upper crutch and