BEIDLING. 79 



bridles and men who use tliem, why they have them 

 made in this way, and have received the following 

 two explanations : one, that the snaffle rein requires 

 to be made strong for fear it should break ; and the 

 other, that having the reins of different sizes enables 

 the rider to distinguish which rein he has got 

 hold of. 



The first reason will not hold water. Anyone 

 who has ridden a horse in fair condition out huntincr 

 will know that for the first few minutes after a fox 

 goes away he will often be pulling quite as hard at 

 the curb as at the snaffle ; besides which both reins 

 might be made as thick as the snaffle rein, which 

 disposes of that difficulty. 



To the second reason — namely, that the rider is 

 better enabled to distinguish between the reins — I 

 would answer that if a man cannot find out which 

 rein he has got hold of without having them made 

 of different sizes he had better stop at home ; and if 

 a horse's mouth is so dead that he does not show 

 which rein you are pulling at, there is no necessity 

 for knowing at all, as one rein is as good as another 

 to pull at. 



In addition to the bridles themselves, there are 

 two or three appliances connected with them which 

 are required principally with young horses, or to 

 cure horses of particular faulty habits. 



First, there is a noseband, which is a strap just 

 above the curb-bit, fastened to the bridle, and 



