240 Modern Riding and Horse Education 



bits, and in it asserted that a great many horses 

 were set aside in our Cavalry as having lost all 

 feeling in their mouths. That they were unfit for 

 use he put down entirely to the imperfection of the 

 regulation bit. Colonel Taylor, who then com- 

 manded the Cavalry Riding Establishment at Can- 

 terbury, agreed with Segundo, and recommended 

 the following issue of 105 bits per squadron of 

 100 horses : — 



5 for very hard mouths ; 



45 for hard mouths; 



25 for good mouths; 



8 for very tender mouths; 



12 for star-gazers; 



10 for borers. 



No more severe indictment could have been 

 framed on the horsemanship and training of the 

 day, but we must not forget that the straight-legged 

 seat was then" the rule, and that more often than 

 not the horse had to balance the rider at the expense 

 of his own balance. I must again repeat that 

 the conditions were altogether different from those 

 obtaining on the Plains of America, where riding 



