34 BIDING AND TRAINING SADDLE-HORSES. 



ends is furnished with a buckle, and a tongue-strap 

 eighteen inches long, which is to be buckled through a 

 staple or D-ring on the left side of the saddle near the 

 pommel. The other end of the strap is then passed 

 through the ring, h, in front of the horse's breast, then 

 through the ring, c, under his chin, then again through 

 the breast-ring, h, and brought up to the rider's right 

 hand,/. This arrangement gives him more power to 

 draw the horse's head down to its proper position than 

 any other device in use. So long as the animal behaves 

 himself, the slackening of the ^^running-rein" leaves him 

 perfect freedom, but, when necessary, the least pull acts 

 with double force on his head and draws it in a down- 

 ward direction. 



' Whether a horse is to be used for riding or for driving, 

 there is no doubt that the use of the '^ running-rein," 

 and the nose-band bridle would offer the best means for 

 his proper training, and would do very much to prevent 

 the restiveness that is so common a result of the ordinary 

 methods, and would often prevent the trainer's loss of 

 temper, which has more effect in spoiling the disposition 

 of the animal than have his own inherited qualities. 



Even more important than the Saddle — so far as the 

 management of the horse is concerned — is ths apparatus 

 by which his movements are to be regulated and re- 

 strained : that is, the ^^Bit." The various forms of bit 

 sold by saddlers, even in the largest cities, are almost in- 

 variably faulty. They are made without much consider- 

 ation of the use to which they are to be put, and often 

 fail to produce much effect, except as a means of tortur- 

 ing the horse into a kind of sullen obedience. It is one of 



