88 Saddle and Bridle. 



does not injure them as it does cloth, and water 

 at once cleanses them. But plain dark trousers, 

 cut a mere trifle longer than you wear them on 

 the street, and strapped under the feet, are ex- 

 cellent to ride in. If cut just right they are 

 the neatest of all gear for park riding in good 

 weather. The simpler your dress the better. 

 Gentlemen to-day dress in boots when riding 

 with ladies, and fashion, of course, justifies their 

 use now as it did fifty years ago. But within half 

 that term, in England, a man who would ride in 

 boots with a pretty horsebreaker considered trou- 

 sers de rigeur, if he was going to the Park with 

 his wife or daughters. 



To saddle and bridle your horse, you must 

 know your own needs and his disposition and 

 mouth. But the English saddle and a bit and 

 bridoon bridle, such as you have, are the sim- 

 plest, and meet most wants, providing they fit 

 the back and mouth. 



We do not have to suit such varying tempers 

 and mouths in this country as they do abroad. 

 Our horses are singularly tractable. It is rather 

 a stunning thing to be mounted on the fashion- 

 able type of horse who " won't stand a curb, you 

 know," — and there are some such, — but, as a 

 fact, ninety-nine American horses out of one 

 hundred will work well in a port and bridoon 

 bridle properly adjusted. 



