HORSEMANSHIP. 



bolters, runaways, pullers, dead mouths, et hoc genus onme. 

 The purchaser can be provided with anything from the plain 

 hunting (Fig. i) and the easy "Mulling" mouthed snaffle 

 (Fig. 3), the saw-faced, double-jointed instrument of torture 

 known as Woods' snaffle (Fig. 4) to the Chifney (Fig. 14) 

 with its enormous leverage, or the powerful combined double 

 snaffle, " The Champion," of ^Messrs. Champion and Wilton. 

 New patents are being constantly applied for, claiming to 

 be the best bits in the world ; and that these cranks, fads, or 

 notions are, in the words of the advertisers, of course" con- 

 structed on purely scientific principles " goes without saying. 



It is not only the horse's mouth that the rider has to con- 

 trol : he has high courage, and often temper — the latter in 

 nine cases out of ten the outcome of bad and stupid treat- 

 ment — defective setting on and carriage of the head, and 

 peculiarities of action to deal with. Few, if any of us, have 

 given such practical and careful attention to this important 

 subject of Bits and Bitting as did the late Don Juan Secundo, 

 a brilliant exponent of the haute ecole, and the inventor of a 

 bit bearing his name. The Segundo bit was held in high 

 esteem by that prince of loriners, the late !Mr. Benjamin 

 Latchford, of St. Martin's Lane. 



This Spanish centaur made the horse's mouth his special 

 and close study for a period of many years, bringing super- 

 lative horsemanship, exquisite hands, rare intelligence, and 

 a fine temper, to bear on the handling of this little under- 

 stood organ. Attentive investigation and mechanical genius 

 enabled him to determine, on fixed principles, the precise 

 form and method after which each part of the bit should be 

 shaped and put together so as to accommodate itself to each 

 class of mouth, thus rendering the horse easy and pleasant 

 to ride, and the bit, though mild, thoroughly eftectual. To 

 determine these principles he first of all studied the anatomy 



