PUBLISHERS' PEEFACE. 



A long and varied experience with horses, in both 

 civil and military capacities in different countries, gives 

 Colonel Battersby the ability to be of essential service 

 both to the horse and to his owner in this volume. The 

 treatise is not on bits alone, but on breaking and training 

 horses for every use to which they are respectively adapt- 

 ed, particularly to their use under the saddle and be- 

 fore the carriage. The important part played by the 

 bit in its various forms in rendering the horse the docile, 

 willing servant he is, in promoting man's profit and 

 pleasure, leads to the adoption of the title of the book. 

 It is at once specific and comprehensive. Tender consid- 

 eration and respect for the horse is the im^iression the 

 author makes and inculcates — that by proj^er mouthing, 

 training, use and treatment he can be made all the more 

 serviceable, and at the same time more agreeable to his 

 rider or driver in the performance of his work. 



The position Colonel Battersby had as Assistant In- 

 spector General in Sheridan's Cavalry Corps, and under 

 the gallant Custer and his ever successful commander, is 

 a guarantee that he may be considered authority on what 

 he says regarding cavalry bits and bridles. The charac- 

 teristics of a large number of the animals used as carriage 

 horses, as depicted by the author, together with his clear 

 explanations as to the style to be sought and the method 

 to secure it, are well worthy the attention of breeders, 

 while no horseman can peruse the volume without profit 

 to himself and essential benefit to the noble animal in 

 whose interest the book is largely written. 



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