BITS AND BITTING. 



M7 



was a very handsome one which I had made shortly pre- 

 vious. He was very pleased with the bit, and paying me 

 the high price of his carriage bit for it, said it was the 

 cheapest article he had ever bought, for with it the horse ran 

 as straight as an arrow, and that the bit and horse should 

 never be separated while he lived." The other instance, 

 and perhaps the more convincing, was in the case of a 

 gentleman, born and bred in the hunting field, but not over- 

 burdened by the cash balance 

 at his bankers', who bought 

 likely, but seemingly unman- 

 ageable horses, for, say twenty 

 guineas. By patience and kind 

 perseverance he would find 

 the right sort of bit, and, by 

 strict attention coax the horse 

 away from any and every vice 

 he found it had previously 

 contracted. Calling on Mr. 

 Latchford, in order to pur- 

 chase a No. 2 Segundo bit, he 

 related the following story : 

 " I gave twenty guineas for a 

 horse I have now sold. I 

 never [give more than twenty guineas, and when I sell, my 

 price is invariably one hundred and twenty guineas. The 

 horse I have just sold I purchased for twenty guineas, because 

 no one could ride him. First I found the bit to suit his mouth, 

 then, with kind treatment and proper exercise, I soon had 

 the best hunter in the field. A young nobleman, with three 

 or four good hunters, was very vexed that he could not keep 

 up with me. He bought my horse, which, of course, I sent 

 to his stables. The next time out the horse was no better 



THE STAMlOI'i: BIT. 



