EARLY HISTORY OF HORSEMANSHIP 219 



force the hand, the severe bit must be brought into play, ' in 

 order that when the horse bears against it he may be hurt by 

 its roughness, and consequently let it go ; but when he finds it 

 exchanged for the other he may be gratified with its smooth- 

 ness, and whatever he has been trained to perform with the 

 severe bit, he may also do with the light one. . . . But it is 

 possible to vary the severe bit in every way, by relaxing or 

 increasing the tension.' 



In the lever bit of Xenophon we have the prototype of the 

 gag-bit of the East, and the curb-bit of Europe. The bits 

 upon the Sarmatian horses in Trajan's column (first century) 

 appear to be on the principle of the lever, as do those upon 

 the mosaic in the British Museum found at Pompeii, and 

 ascribed to the fourth century B.C. The representations of the 

 ,horse upon the Byzantine column of Theodosius (fifth cen- 

 tury) suggest the use of the curb-bit ; and there can be but 

 little, doubt that the curb-bit, as we now have it, was employed 

 by the Normans in the eleventh century, as is shown in the 

 Bayeux tapestries. The. first time the upper arms of the curb- 

 bit, a proof of the existence of the curb-chain, appear, is in an 

 Italian fresco painting of the fourteenth century ; and the 

 first representation of the curb-chain itself, so far as I can dis- 

 cover, is in a drawing by Burckman (1473-1529). In the 

 sixteenth century there was a great variety of curb-bits. 



From the sculptures and remaining drawings of ancient 

 times, it seems that the arms of the levers were gradually 

 lengthened until they reached the exaggerated size shown in the 

 Italian frescoes of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries of our 

 jera ; they then decrease to the present dimensions. 



For saddles the Greeks used cloths, pieces of felt, or the 

 skins of wild beasts, securely girthed to give a firm seat. 

 Stirrups were unknown, and the usual custom was to vault upon 

 the back of the horse, the left hand of the rider grasping a 

 lock of the mane near the horse's ears, the right hand near the 

 withers. The mounted soldier used the spear, held in his right 

 hand, as a leaping pole in mounting ; the left hand grasping a 



