DRIVING, RIDING, HUNTING, RACE-RIDING 395 



Bits. 



When riding across country it is prudent to use as easy a 

 bit as gives the necessary control over the horse. Many 

 persons pin their faith to a plain double bridle, in which the 

 generality of horses go pleasantly ; but there is a bit which 

 is an admirable invention, which seems to suit more horses 

 — or possibly their riders' hands — than any other. Smooth 

 snafHes are apt to induce horses to lean too much upon 

 them if the man in the saddle is in the habit of steadying 

 his balance by the reins ; but this bit is more severe than an 

 ordinary snaffle, though just as easj^ if a horse does not pull 

 hard, so it lies with the animal itself whether it hurts its 

 own mouth. Moreover, all horses jump freely into it, 

 and there is no fear of pulling the steed into a ditch on 

 the far side of a fence when using it. Horses are not 

 irritated with it as they often are with a curb bridle ; nor do 

 they snatch at it, or throw their heads about when they are 

 caught hold of to steady them at a fence. The great objec- 

 tion to chain and twisted snaffles is that they are always 

 severe, but this bit combines the severity of a twisted snaffle 

 with the ease of a plain one; and thus unites the merits 

 of both. It consists of four smooth bars of steel, as if an 

 ordinary snaffle had been sliced in half, with three large 

 rollers inserted between each pair of bars, the whole con- 

 stituting a "roller snaffle." When a horse is very head- 

 strong, and determined not to stop, if the bit is drawn through 

 his mouth from side to side all the rollers begin working, 

 and few horses will continue to rebel under this treatment. 

 When, however, the horse ceases pulling the bit becomes in 

 effect a plain snaffle, and horses soon learn the easement of 

 this. 



Some horses acquire a trick of getting the tongue over the 

 bit, when the rider is powerless to control his mount. Many 

 inventions have been brought forward to obviate this, and 

 one which is particularly successful when properly adjusted 

 was the idea of the famous Allan Macdonough, as fine a 

 horseman and steeplechase-rider as Ireland ever produced. 

 It IS detached from the reins, and is simply a plain bit with 



