,oo BITS AND BRIDLE GEAR. 



from raising his head too high. We find, however, that when 

 our best flat-race and steeple-chase jockeys and other good 

 horsemen ride with this martingale, they almost invariably 

 employ it so long, that it has little 01 no effect in keeping the 

 head down. When, as I have already described, a horse is 

 prevented from raising his head too high by a standing 

 martingale attached to the rings of the snaffle, he is punished 

 by the tension of the martingale being transmitted to the 

 mouth-piece of the snaffle, if he tries to get his head in the 

 air ; but 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 martin- 

 gale, 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 accordingly he is not forced to check 

 the horse's speed, when he wants to get his head down. 

 Some good horsemen, on finding out 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 



