54 THE BRIDLE BITS. 



used to it because his predecessors and ancestors had been 

 adorned and ridden with it so long before. Its safety 

 recommends it above all others for the side-saddle, but 

 of course only so to the hand that can hold and finger 

 the reins properly. 



This bridle has two distinct bits — the curb bit and the 

 bridoon bit. If one bit or rein should break there is one 

 of each left. Each bit has a separate headstall, and to 

 each bit there is a separate rein. A martingale is used 

 with this bridle, and so looped on the overlapping girth 

 that both girths shall fit tight to the horse. The rear 

 girth should be buckled first and then the fore girth run 

 through the martingale and buckled as tight as it can be 

 drawn. When Willfully handled, this bridle, without 

 being severe, is the nicest one we have for pleasure riding, 

 and while the curb bit is not strong enough to hold in a 

 hard-mouthed horse it is quite powerful enough for a 

 horse well broken to its use. If a woman has her own 

 well-selected saddle-horse trained to the bit-and-bridoon, 

 and no other, she can always enjoy her ride. We do not 

 recommend it for strength or securit}^, but we do for the 

 various degrees of physical and moral jDOwer it can bring 

 to bear on the horse — from that of a silken thread to the 

 full strength of the bits and reins, the latter being strong 

 in proportion to the strain that the bit will bear and the 

 horse requires. Reversing the order of things, the 

 mouth has to be made to suit this bridle, for tlie bit-and- 

 bridoon bridles are generally of the same material and 

 strength, but varying in size, and the ordinary saddle- 

 horse, for either sex, must have his mouth made to suit 

 it, so that the hand that is used to the bridle won't have 

 to change it. 



Some hunters are so used to a tight snaffle rein in tak- 

 ing fences that, in turning them round on a road with 

 the tight bridoon rein, they are apt to dash over the fence 

 before the rider can stop them. With the side-saddle 



