SADDLERY AND HARNESS. 49 



horse always gets to lean on the hand in them. For a 

 puller they are a great mistake. Never have a curb-chain 

 too tight ; there is nothing so calculated to upset a horse's 

 temper as this, and small blame to him for it. 



For gag-bits of any kind I have no fancy whatever. Bevond 

 crumpling up the corners of the mouth, and causing an 

 immense amount of irritation to the temper, they have very 

 small effect, and I never knew a puller stopped by one yet. 

 The principle of the thing seems all wrong, and the pull 

 does not come from the right place, the bearing being from 

 the top of the head. A net or band of leather over the 

 lower part of the nose is much more effective for hard- 

 mouthed horses, as it keeps the mouth closed, whilst the pull 

 is thus rendered of far more use. Care should be taken, 

 however, with this nose-band attaching to the bit, that the 

 latter does not cut the sides of the lips. 



Breastplates should be worn in every long day with hounds, 

 &c., or where any great amount of galloping is done. With 

 one of these, the girths need not be so tightly buckled, and 

 it effectually keeps a saddle in its place. 



For a horse that throws its head about, a martingale must 

 be resorted to. (N.B. — I say this with a certain amount of 

 warmth, as only recently, a four-year-old on whom I had 

 forgotten to place this useful appliance, threw its head up, 

 jumping a fence, and loosened two ^f my front teeth !) Rings 

 on the reins, sliding about just behind the jaw, are just as 

 effective as, and may be used instead of, the martingale ; 

 in leaping they are to be preferred, as a martingale has been 

 known to materially assist in pulling a horse into his fences. 

 The rings not being fastened down to anything, go with 

 the motion of the head, and therefore cannot cause harm 

 in this way. 



Q-irths made of webbing — white, blue, or brown — are 

 ordinarily used, but I never rode with anything I liked 

 better than those of raw hide, made in five or six small 

 strands, '•' Don't you find they wring a horse ? " is a question 

 that has been addressed to me a hundred times at least ; 

 and my answer is, that I have used them constantly for 

 twelve years, and, perhaps, on fifty different horses, and 

 never wrung one yet. They are easy to clean. All you have 

 to do is to put them into a pail of water to get the mud off, 

 and then wipe them dry. They wear for ever (I have used 



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