BITS AND BITTING. r49 



enter as fully as I could desire into this important subject. 

 In a future volume devoted to Driving, I shall have 

 occasion to discuss it more fully. 



On page 139 are illustrated the various riding bits in 

 common use, and of these I have no hesitation in emphati- 

 cally condemning No. 4, Wood's snaffle, and No. 12, the 

 Bentinck bit. No. r, the plain snaffle, No. 2, the double- 

 mouthed snaffle, and No. 3, the Milling-mouthed snaffle, are 

 three useful bits, of which No. 2 is the most powerful. Nos. 

 5, 6 and 7 are three varieties of bit and bradoon, or bridoon ; 

 the first, of the type generally used for steeple-chasing, and 

 sometimes in flat racing ; the second, the Leicester bit, with 

 twisted bridoon, is essentially for hunting, as is the third, 

 which has a port and plain-mouthed bridoon. No. 8 is a 

 hunting bit, with slide mouth, which is sometimes fitted with 

 rollers, seven in number. All the above, with the exception 

 of No. 4 — which is only introduced as a sample of what cruel 

 artifices man can be guilty of — are used for light or medium 

 mouths. Nos. 9, 10 and 11 are three varieties of Pelham 

 bits, the two first the Lipping Hanoverian and the Lipping 

 plain-mouth respectively, the third the straight-cheeked 

 Hanoverian. The Lipping patterns, both used with one rein 

 only, are single-reined curbs, or " hard and sharps," the port 

 being jointed to the mouth-piece and the cheeks revolving 

 on the butts as in the case of the snaffle. These joints and 

 port do not deaden the mouth like the common curb bridle 

 when used alone, and, on the whole, these bits in light 

 hands are good hack bridles. For general use, always 

 reserving a good word for a true fashioned Segundo, I am 

 not in favour of single-reined curbs. No bit looks better 

 or is more effective than No. 11, the straight-cheeked Pelham, 

 always provided the hands are light. For hack-cantering 

 the modified Hanoverian Pelham, is sufficiently powerful for 



