252 A HUNTING CATECHISM 



desperation, he summons up all his courage 

 and, setting his jaws against it, pulls for all he is 

 worth. By degrees the mouth gets hardened and 

 deadened, and it will require much time, and 

 great patience, to get him to carry his own head, 

 and not hang on the riders' hands. A horse that 

 bores, with his nose between his toes when 

 galloping is best ridden in a gag-snaffle, for the 

 peculiar action of this seems to make him raise 

 his head, and go collectedly. It is needless to 

 say a horse carrying his head so low is awkwardly 

 circumstanced for jumping a high fence. Un- 

 doubtedly there is no bit like a smooth, plain, 

 thick snaffle, but it must be associated with the 

 finest of hands. The ordinary rider who pulls 

 and hauls at a horse's mouth to convey his wishes 

 and steadies himself with the reins when jumping 

 will soon find that a free-going animal will 

 require a very hard tug, before he can turn it, 

 or stop it with a snaffle. It is not suggested 

 that, even with first-rate hands, a horse will go 

 pleasantly at once in a snaffle that is accustomed 

 to the severer discipline of a curb bridle ; but he 

 will gradually acquire a tenderness of mouth, 

 responsive to the slightest indication, that can 

 never be attained to the same degree with, any 

 sort of curb. The chief aim to be kept in view 

 is never to put any pressure upon the bit without 

 a definite object. The horse then learns to 

 thoroughly understand his rider's wishes and, 

 if a generous animal, will do his best to obey 

 them. If a rider is constantly giving unmeaning 

 touches and jerks to his mouth, the horse gives it 

 up in despair, and has to be hauled at to make 

 him obey by main force, when he really has not 

 understood what was required of him. 



