64 REMARKS ON SADDLERY. 



head^ and it should be cut as nearly level as possible. 

 None, I may say, can dispute my first remark, and 

 none who have ridden with the leaping-head will 

 ever after be without it. 



There are those who say no, to the off-head being 

 cut away, " for should a lady become nervous, she 

 could not steady herself so well as if the head had 

 been left on;'' here I fully agree, but beg to say 

 in reply, that before a lady attempts the road or 

 anywhere where she might be placed in such a 

 critical position, she must have her nerves so 

 strengthened through her equestrian education, that 

 she need not look to the off-head of her saddle for 

 safety ; her 'point d'appui is the leaping-head. 

 When holding on by the off-head, the lady of 

 course loses the use of one hand. Next, her horse 

 may go where he pleases, for she cannot get her 

 hands down to have a good pull at his mouth. 

 Then, in hunting, the poor lady's wrists are ever- 

 lastingly bruised by the off-head, to say nothing of 

 the danger of their being broken by it. 



BRIDLES. 



There is a great variety of bridles. Generally 

 speaking, the plainer the bridle the better, more 

 especially for hunting and hacking ; for the former, 



