The polished Greeks
as well as the ruder nations of Northern Africa, for a long while rode
without either saddle or bridle, guiding their horses, with the voice or
the hand, or with a light switch with which they touched the animal on the
side of the face to make him turn in the opposite direction. They urged
him forward by a touch of the heel, and stopped him by catching him by the
muzzle. Bridles and bits were at length introduced, but many centuries
elapsed before anything that could be called a saddle was used. Instead of
these, cloths, single or padded, and skins of wild beasts, often richly
adorned, were placed beneath the rider, but always without stirrups; and
it is given as an extraordinary fact, that the Romans even in the times
when luxury was carried to excess amongst them, never desired so simple an
expedient for assisting the horseman to mount, to lessen his fatigue and
aid him in sitting more securely in his saddle. Ancient sculptors prove
that the horsemen of almost every country were accustomed to mount their
horses from the right side of the animal, that they might the better grasp
the mane, which hangs on that side, a practice universally changed in
modern times. The ancients generally leaped on their horse's backs, though
they sometimes carried a spear, with a loop or projection about two feet
from the bottom which served them as a step. In Greece and Rome, the local
magistracy were bound to see that blocks for mounting (what the Scotch
call _loupin_-on-stanes) were placed along the road at convenient
distances.
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