CHAPTER XIV 



THE MEXICAN BIT AND CURB 



What do you think of the Mexican bit, Count ? 



'Ah, madam, it is a fearful piece of machinery. Just 

 as the custom of docking descends to us from barbarous 

 times, so is the Mexican bit a remnant of the Spanish 

 Inquisition. It cuts without mercy or relief every part 

 of the animal's jaws. To place it in any horse's mouth, 

 whether tender or hard, and then to pull against it with 

 the reins, is to produce a torture rivalling the thumbscrew 

 or the rack. While these may not kill or break any bones, 

 as we all know, they have too often made many a sufferer 

 forswear his religion, or swear to secrets he never heard of.' 



Is this bit frequently used ? 



' Not nearly so much now as formerly. Possibly among 

 the ranchers in the Far West, or among the Mexicans, whose 

 ponies are hard to break, and whose hearts are quite 

 indifferent to any cruelties inflicted on animals.' 



Have you any knowledge or experience of these bits 

 personally ? 



' Some years ago I knew a man in Philadelphia from 

 whose livery stable I occasionally hired horses. One day 

 I missed from his stall a beautiful young stallion of Arab 



70 



