3 6 LETTERS TO YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 



worlds apart, and finally finds himself on bottom speed when 

 third should have seen him up the hill. I dare say " hands " 

 equally apply in flying, as they certainly do in yachting. 

 If you throw your braces over the bed post and pull at them, 

 the bed post pulls at you ; stop pulling, and so does the bed 

 post. Let us, then, consider a moment or two the bridle, 

 which is the means, or at any rate, the most important 

 means, of communication between the horse and ourselves. 

 There are bits and bridles in scores. The double bridle is 

 the one used nine times out of ten in this country and 

 therefore we will touch on this only for the present. It consists 

 of the bit and the bridoon, or snaffle and curb as they are called 

 in civilian parlance. The snaffle should be thick in the mouth 

 and usually not twisted. The curb a short-cheeked variety 

 known as the Weymouth. This bit should be also thick in the 

 mouthpiece and low in the port, i.e., that portion which is arched 

 in the middle of the mouthpiece. The leg of the bit should 

 be quite short and stumpy. Longer legs are used to get 

 greater leverage. An ordinary groom can, and often does, 

 make half a dozen mistakes in putting on a bridle, any of 

 which makes your horse unpleasant to ride and irritable. 

 The mistake few grooms ever fail to make is tightening the 

 throat latch far too much ; it should be so loose that you 

 can get a doubled-up fist in easily. It should hang down 

 almost to the angle of the jaws. If tight, it catches the horse 

 in the windpipe when he " bends " to your hand as a well 

 " nagged " horse should. Nagging is the common name for 

 training a horse to carry himself well and move properly. 

 A " nagsman " is he who teaches the horse. The four reins 

 and bridle should be sewn on to the bit and snaffle and on 

 to the bridle, not buckled. A groom may say he cannot 

 clean a bridle sewn on to the steel. If he cannot, he should 

 be a cabman, not a groom. Another failing of grooms is 

 hitching both bit and bridoon too high in the horse's mouth 

 It is a long time since I was at a cavalry riding school, but, 

 from memory, regulations said that the mouthpiece of the 

 bit should be " one inch above the tush in the mouth of a 

 horse and two inches above the corner tooth in a mare." 

 The tush is that canine-looking tooth on either side which 

 appears as if it did not belong to the horse at all. I do not 



