but certainly never over-bit the horse. I can well remember when most 

 riders habitually held on to the bridle ; — thanks to better education in the 

 equestrian art, such is now the exception, not the rule ; for it cannot be 

 expected the horse can do his work right or well, if he has to carry his rider 

 with his mouth, neither can the rider derive the pleasure he seeks, unless he 

 sits well in the saddle. If the bit does not suit the horse, he will tell his 

 master so by such means as he can — such as restlessness, generally as soon as 

 the bridle is put on, throwing his head about, yawning, going with his head 

 on one side, or carrying his head unusually high or low. I believe the horse 

 has naturally no vice ; that every description of vice found in the horse is 

 created by the treatment he receives from those in whose care he is placed. 

 But I am straying from my professed object ; I am a Loriner and ought to 

 confine myself to bridle-bits alone. I will give one or two instances (out of 

 hundreds I am acquainted with): — At the time when John Tilbury of 

 Pinner, Middlesex, kept many first-class horses, an intimate friend of his 

 whose town house was in Berner's Street, Oxford Street, and his country 

 house at Richmond Hill, had a beautiful black cab horse, he was a full sized 

 animal, of splendid symmetry and his pace not amiss, as he always took the 

 cab with his master, mistress, and tiger, without the use of whip, from one 

 house to the other within the hour. He came to me, after unsuccessfully 

 trying all the bits Mr. Tilbury had; and by Mr. Tilbury's recommendation 

 he told me the horse had worked extremely well for some considerable time, 

 but for the last six or eight months had carried his head on one side, so much 

 so that he was sure he could not see his way properly. I told him I thought 

 the horse was over bitted ; he was quite sure he was not. I shewed him an 

 old Stanhope bit. No. 85, with a very easy mouthpiece, which I offered to 

 lend him to try ; it was very old fashioned and of scarcely any value ; he 

 said, " Do you want to see my cab smashed and one or more killed?" I asked 

 him whether the horse was a kicker ; he said, " No he was not ;" then I 

 offered to get into the Cab myself and drive, but he said my life was of more 

 value to society than his, and that it would appear cowardly of him if any- 

 thing was to occur ; so after an hour or so, he consented to try the bit. I 

 put it on, he drove away, and in half an hour called to ask me to lend it to 

 him for a few days ; I told him to keep it a week or fortnight. He came in 

 about a fortnight after and asked me the price of the bit. I told him I 



