^BUCKLES. 213 



to use ; but they are most valid ones to a horse owner 

 who is obhged to study usefulness rather than show, or 

 who may not have a saddler's shop at hand, from which 

 to procure, at a moment's notice, whatever gear he may 

 require. If he had a spare easy curb bit, and wanted to 

 put it on instead of a severe one, which was already 

 attached to the bridle, or if he wished to use a chain 

 snaffle, instead of a plain smooth one, it would be most 

 inconvenient, if he had no other headstall, to be obliged 

 to have the stitches ripped up, and the headstall sewn 

 on afresh. For country or colonial work, we may often 

 want to use the headstall of a snaffle for a double bridle, 

 and vice versa. 



Double buckles on a bridle are the most useful kind, 

 as they do away w^ith the necessity of having " loops " 

 for the " billets," which is the term applied to the straps 

 that pass through the buckles (see Fig. 32, page 233). 



The headstall of a curb bit may be attached by 

 means of plated "spring billets," which look neater, can 

 be detached in an instant, and will allow greater freedom 

 to the forward action of the cheek of the bit, than it 

 would have were it connected by leather. 



Forehead Bands, Browbands, or Fronts, are gene- 

 rally made of plain leather, though some people con- 



