ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. U^ 



or lowerino: the little finorer, because the distance between 

 the snaffle-rein is only half what it was, and therefore the 

 mode of turning by pressure upon the neck is doubly de- 

 sirable; and hence its constant adoption in all cases where 

 double reine'l bridles are used, as in the field and on the 

 road. Sometimes to obviate this objection, the snaffle- 

 reins are placed as in the single-reined bridle, outside the 

 little finger, and then the curb is hooked over the ring 

 finger, between the snaffle-reins, so as to allow of the full 

 manipulation of the mouth by the hand, without bearing 

 upon the neck. But the objection to this is that the curb 

 cannot be shortened without releasing the snaffle, and 

 therefore the horse must either be ridden on the curb 

 alone, while this process is being effected, or his head 

 must be loorsed altogether ; whereas in the other mode, his 

 mouth is still under control of the snaffle all the tune that 

 the curb is being let out or taken in. 



THE ORDINARY PACER. 

 The walk is a perfecth^ natural pace to the horse, but it 

 is somewhat altered by use, being quicker and smarter than 

 before breaking, and with the hind legs more brought under 

 the body, in the perfect roadster. In this pace the head 

 should not be too confined, and yet the rider should not 

 entirely leave it uncontrolled ; the finest possible touch is 

 enough, so that on any trip the hand is at once informed of 

 it by the drop of the head, when by a sudden jerk of the 

 bridle, not too forcible, it rouses the horse and prevents his 

 falling. It is not that he is kept up by pulling the rein, 

 but that he is aroused by it and made to exert himself; for 

 many horses seem regardless of falls, and would be down 

 twenty times a day if they were not stimulated by the heel 

 and bit. Confinement of the head in the walk is absolutely 



