THE CAVALRY BIT. 



61 



bad horseman it is cruelly severe. Eesistauce to it on 

 the horse's part, or undue use of it on the rider's, are 

 both alike wrong, and from lack of primary mouthing, 

 daily use and due training, the results of superficial edu- 

 cation are evident in every move of both horse and rider. 

 Nothing in equestrian practice pleases a recruit better 

 than to use this bit and keep his horse on the dance all 

 the time, with his chin on his breast to show him off, 

 thinking it looks stylish. For the service our cavalry 

 horses have to perform, this bit is too severe when used 

 alone by unskilled hands. Using the same kind of bit 

 with every horse is a great error. It is well enough to 

 call them regulation bits, but to some horses they are 

 regulation tortures. Horses are not like castings — made 

 to order and all run in the same mould. 



MOUKTED POLICE. 



The New York mounted police use this kind of bit and 

 curb with a single rein, and be the horse hard or tend- 



lig. SL — MOUNTED pou:cE. 



er-mouthed, fast or slow, sluggish or high-mettled, he 

 must submit to its severity. The men as a body, of 

 course, are not practical horsemen, nor are they subject 

 to regular drill to improve them in that accomplishment. 

 The result is that their horses are always on the curb or 

 dance, without any interval of relief, and are thus ren- 



