114 BITS AND BITTING. 



horse bores on his bridle, and tries to acquire a new 

 point to lean on a fifth leg, in fact : he is hard- 

 mouthed. But when the animal has learned how to 

 carry itself and the rider, or acquired an artificial equi- 

 librium suited to the altered circumstances, then it no 

 longer seeks this support, and the mouth is called soft. 

 That such is really the case can be very satisfactorily 

 proved. A horse can be brought into perfect equi- 

 librium under the rider without any bridle whatever, 

 merely by using a cavesson instead ; and if a snaffle be 

 then put into its mouth, this will be found to be ex- 

 ceedingly sensitive, and it will require some days' riding 

 before it will " take the bit" as the phrase is. 



From what has been just stated, it will be easy to 

 understand how the seat of the rider comes to exercise 

 so great an influence on the horse's mouth that the 

 same horse will go light with one and heavy with 

 another rider. First of all, it is a question of equilib- 

 rium. One rider assumes a seat that favours, another 

 one that more or less seriously impedes, the efforts of 

 the horse to get into balance for horses always try to 

 do this. But, secondly, supposing the seat, so far as 

 the distribution of weight is concerned, to be identical, 

 the unsteady rider will seek a support for himself in 

 the reins, and the horse immediately bores against 

 this, and becomes a hard puller ; whilst the steady seat 

 makes a light hand and a soft mouth. 



It is, in like manner, easy to understand why not 

 only individuals, but whole breeds of horses, should be 

 found naturally light or heavy in the hand, which is 

 owing mainly to the general framework being more or 

 less favourable to equilibrium in motion mainly, but 

 not wholly, because the interior conformation of the 



