38 RIDING RECOLLECTIONS. 



like a workman, must have found considerable difficulty 

 in guiding his beast the way he wanted to go. 



But with a martingale, the most insurbordinate soon 

 discover that they cannot rid themselves of control. It 

 keeps their heads down in a position that enables the 

 bit to act on the mouth, and if they must needs pull, 

 obliges them to pull against that most sensitive part 

 called the bars. There is no escape bend their necks 

 they must, and to bend their necks means to acknowledge 

 a master and do homage to the rider's will. 



It is a well-known fact, and I can attest it by my own 

 experience, that a twisted snaffle with a martingale will 

 hold a runaway when every other bridle fails ; but to 

 guide or stop an animal by the exercise of bodily 

 strength is not horsemanship, and to saw at its mouth 

 for the purpose cannot be expected to promote that 

 sympathy of desire and intention which we understand 

 by the term. 



If we look at the sporting prints of our grandfathers 

 and great-grandfathers, as delineated, early in the 

 present century, we observe that nine out of every ten 

 hunters were ridden in plain snaffle bridles, and we ask 

 ourselves if our progenitors bred more docile beasts, 

 or were these drinkers of port wine, bolder, stronger, 

 and better horsemen than their descendants. Without 



