156 THE BITT 



effort of a first-rate horseman to produce 

 a practical, weight-distributing saddle. The 

 best and most improved forms, however, lack 

 the strength of the Mexican rigging, which the 

 Mexicans themselves reject if they can afford 

 the North American. 



The McClellan Saddle. So far as I 

 remember this model it made no pretence of 

 weight-distribution, while it was coloured 

 black, an excellent device for hiding defects in 

 leather. The saddle was much praised in the 

 United States Army, and may account for the 

 failure of mounted troops to rival the mobility 

 of range horsemen. 



The Bitt. Because our own eyes are in- 

 tended for long sight, we are apt to imagine 

 that the horse has the same habit of studying 

 the horizon. Yet when one lives with a range 

 horse one discovcfrs that he has never seen or 

 imagined any such thing as an horizon. Every- 

 thing beyond a hundred yards is blurred ; but 

 if he were in the habit of reading the newspaper 

 he would hold it about six feet from his eyes, 

 for within that distance his sight is in better 

 focus than our own. 



His eyes differ from ours in having also a 

 much wider angle of vision. One might com- 

 pare our eyes to a brace of guns in the fore 



