THE CAVESSON, SNAFFLE, ETC. 153 



that the noseband comes to hang below the rings of 

 the snaffle, and the two back straps are then buckled 

 together, so that the longer one comes to lie in the 

 chin-groove, as a curb would with a bit, leaving, of 

 course, a sufficient play to the horse's under jaw, with- 

 out allowing the animal to open it beyond a certain 

 distance, and thus securing perfect independence to the 

 mouthpiece, and permitting of its acting in the proper 

 place and direction. 



It must, however, be well understood that this halter 

 is not intended to be permanently employed ; its great 

 value is, that it enables us, by preventing the young 

 horse from escaping the action of a light snaffle mouth- 

 piece, to avoid the necessity for employing sharp ones : 

 in fact, all violent measures are thereby rendered un- 

 necessary during the period of training or handling ; 

 and when this is once over, we may lay aside our 

 halter, and either use the plain snaffle, or put a curbed 

 bit into the animal's mouth, which has been by this 

 very means perfectly prepared for either ; and that this 

 is a real advantage we must admit.* 



It is scarcely necessary to remark that the snaffle 

 should neither be pulled up too high in the horse's 

 mouth, nor suffered to hang down so low as to interfere 

 with the tusks or front teeth ; its proper place will be 

 about one-fourth of an inch below the angle of the 

 mouth; and in this position a plain smooth mouth- 

 piece, if aided in its action by the training-halter, will 

 be found to answer every purpose, and afford the best 



* It is but justice to confess that the writer of these lines having 

 "become acquainted with the training-halter when he was an old 

 rider, was at first incredulous as to its value, but he soon became a 

 convert. 



