BITTING. 483 



handkerchief passed around a post. ' Pull at it,' says the master. ' Does it 

 pull at you now?' ( Yes, sir,' answered the servant, grinning. 'Slack it 

 off then. Does it pull at you now? ' * No, sir.' ' Well then, you double- 

 distilled fool, can't you see that your horses are like that post. If you don't 

 pull at them, they won't pull at you.' " Captain M. E. Harworth, " Road 

 Strappings" p. n. 



There is a saying that if a horse cannot be held with a 

 snaffle he cannot be held with any form of bit. The truth 

 of this statement depends in what manner it is interpreted. 

 If an expert driver cannot, under favorable conditions, hold 

 a horse with this simple form of bit, it is very doubtful if 

 any severe forms would render the horse safe for general use; 

 but on the other hand it is well known that certain forms of 

 severe bits not only make a horse travel more collectedly, 

 but render him light mouthed, providing the rider or driver 

 is a good horseman and has light hands. The majority of 

 coachmen employ severe types of bits because the degree of 

 severity of the bit is generally supposed to indicate the 

 extent of the servant's proficiency, and the contortions of the 

 irritated or tortured animal are mistaken for natural showy 

 action and high spirits. Another explanation for the aver- 

 age servant's predilection for such bits may be found in the 

 fact that he has so deadened the horse's mouth by heavy 

 handling that a sharp bit is required in order to hold 

 the horse. For the types of bits recommended by the writer 

 see Chapter X. 



" It is a somewhat noteworthy fact that when a horse owner drives him- 

 self in a buggy or a phaeton a severe bit is seldom seen ; but directly we 

 turn to landaus and broughams, and to all vehicles driven by coachmen in 

 livery, we find high ports and horses driven very frequently on the bottom 

 bar." London Live Stock Journal. 



