a Somerset, I say, in the words of the old proverb, "Pride must
have a fall."

The late Captain Nolan had a military saddle improved from an Hungarian
model, made for him by Gibson, of Coventry Street, London, without
flaps, and with a felt saddle cloth, which had the advantage of being
light, while affording the rider a close seat and more complete control
over his horse, in consequence of the more direct pressure of the legs
on the horse's flanks. It would be worth while to try a saddle of this
kind for hunting purposes, and for breaking in colts. Of course it could
only be worn with boots, to protect the rider's legs from the sweat of
the horse's flanks.

With the hunting-horn crutch the seat of a woman is stronger than that
of a man, for she presses her right leg down over the upright pommel,
and the left leg up against the hunting-horn, and thus grasps the two
pommels between her legs at that angle which gives her the most power.

Ladies' saddles ought invariably to be made with what is called the
hunting-horn, or crutch, at the left side. The right-hand pommel has not
yet gone out of fashion, but it is of no use, and is injurious to the
security of a lady's seat, by preventing the right hand from being put
down as low as it ought to be with a restive horse, and by encouraging
the bad habit of leaning the right hand on it. A flat projection is
quite sufficient. The security of the hunting-horn saddle will be quite
clear to you, if, when sitting in your chair, you put a cylinder three
or four inches in diameter between your legs, press your two knees
together by crossing them, in the position of a woman on a side-saddle;
when a man clasps his horse, however firmly, it has a tendency, to raise
the seat from the saddle. This is not the case with the side-saddle
seat: if a man wishes to use a lance and ride at a ring, he will find
that he has a firmer seat with this kind of side-saddle than with his
own. There is no danger in this side-pommel, since you cannot be thrown
on it, and it renders it next to impossible that the rider should be
thrown upon the other pommel. In case of a horse leaping suddenly into
the air and coming down on all four feet, technically, "_bucking_,"
without the leaping-horn there is nothing to prevent a lady from being
thrown up. But the leaping-horn holds down the left knee, and makes it a
fulcrum to keep the right knee down in its proper place. If the horse in
violent action throws himself