INTRO D UCT1ON 1 1 



well in this bridle. A gag and curb is not a bad bit, and for a 

 light-mouthed horse that is rather too much for you in a snaffle, 

 a plain bridoon and Tom Thumb bit, with a very short cheek 

 to it, makes a good bridle. I am happy to think that the sharp 

 twisted bridoon of our youth has died out. Bad hands and bad 

 temper spoil many horses, and bad mouths, in revenge for having 

 been spoilt by bad hands, retaliate by spoiling the temper. 

 AZquam memento rebus in arduis servare mentem. If you substi- 

 tute a hard mouth and keep your temper with that, as well 

 as with other rebus in arduis, and the ordinary disagreeables of 

 life, it will be well for both horse and rider. 



Everyone who rides has his own fancy about the best and 

 most comfortable saddle and the best bit. It is therefore only 

 a waste of time to make recommendations. I have in previous 

 pages stated my opinion as to the most serviceable sort of 

 saddle, and have indicated one or two useful sorts of bits. 

 Most horses go well in a plain curb bit, with just sufficient bend 

 in the mouthpiece for the tongue to go under comfortably, and 

 a plain bridoon ; but if they will not go pleasantly in that, I 

 can only recommend the reader to try other bridles till he 

 finds one which suits his horse ; also to remember that a really 

 hard puller soon gets accustomed to a new bit, and that, as soon 

 as he can pull comfortably in the new one, a change should 

 be made. A gentleman, celebrated for the excellence of his 

 hands and horsemanship, who was first-rate as a rider over a 

 country and excelled in the riding school in breaking and 

 teaching horses, gave it as his opinion that not one horse in a 

 thousand had a mouth good enough to be ridden in a snaffle, 

 and that not one man in a thousand had hands good enough 

 to ride in a curb bridle. Probably he was about right in his 

 opinion. It is therefore evident that the selection of saddles 

 and bridles must be left to the taste and fancy of each indivi- 

 dual. Though riders may try something that they find recom- 

 mended in these pages, they will in all probability prefer some- 

 thing else of their own selection. 



