110 THE PRACTICAL HORSE KEEPER. 



horses that pull very hard, and which are apt at times to take 

 charge of their rider ; as well as for horses that are given to 

 running out at their fences. A friend used one in India for 

 some considerable time on a favourite horse used for steeple- 

 chasing; he was very ready to run out; but with this bit 

 the rider was always able to keep him straight at his fences, 

 and after a time he got out of the habit of running out, and 

 the use of so severe a bit was discontinued. 



A bit much favoured in Ireland is a chain snaffle, of 

 which a very high opinion has been expressed for hunters, 

 either for those which are given to running up to their bits or 

 light-mouthed horses. That is, provided it is used by men 

 who have got some idea of hands. As the chain snaffle can be 

 made either the lightest or the most severe bit of the snaffle 

 kind, it certainly is the lightest for a horse to carry, and were 

 it more used it would become the most popular bit for hunters 

 in Ireland. 



The universal opinion about bits in Ireland is that if a 

 horse can be got to go at all in a snaffle of any kind, it is 

 injudicious to use a bit requiring a curb — the supposed reason 

 Toeing that any bit with a curb deprives a horse of that freedom 

 about the head requisite for jumping banks, etc., safely. There 

 is another kind of chain bit, made of large links with a flat, 

 broad, solid link in the centre, which makes a severe bit for 

 hard pullers, and which is very effective for horses with hard 

 mouths. But if a horse is given to turning off at his fences, 

 nothing is so effectual in keeping him straight as a bit and 

 hridoon, or, better still, a "secundo." 



A very essential requisite in every man, in order to become 

 a good horseman and rider, is the quality known as " good 

 hands;" without this, most bits on awkward horses are ineffec- 

 tive. Good hands with almost any kind of bit, providing the 

 horse gets a good amount of work, will generally have the 

 effect of making him go quietly in time ; of course, there are 



