84 BRIDLES. 



the moment he brings his head down and bends his 

 neck, cessation of the painful pressure will reward him 

 for his obedience. This automatic means of dispensing- 

 punishment and reward is so accurate in its working, 

 that a horse soon learns the lesson set before him. But 

 with a running martingale, the rider, in order to reward 

 the horse for bringing his head into proper position, 

 would have to slacken out the reins with a promptness 

 that would be seldom attainable, and with an entire 

 disregard of control over the animal. In fact, with a 

 running martingale, adjusted so as to prevent the horse 

 from getting his head too high, the reins would have to 

 perform the dual office of keeping down the head, and 

 of regulating the speed, which duties could seldom be 

 successfully combined. With a standing martingale, 

 however, the rider can safely relinquish the adjustment 

 of the height of the animal's head to the martingale, 

 and consequently he is not forced to check the horse's 

 speed, when he wants to get his head down. Some 

 good horsemen, on finding that the running martingale 

 did not perform its supposed office efficiently, have 

 discarded it altogether, and thenceforth have trusted to 

 their hands to act as their martingale. In this they 

 were right not to use a running martingale to keep a 

 horse's head down ; but they were wrong in thinking 

 that keeping the head down was the only, or even the 

 principal, use of this article of gear. If we closely 

 examine its action, we shall find that the great value of 

 this martingale is to aid the rider in turning a horse by 

 keeping his neck straight, when cantering or galloping, 



