THE CAVALRY BIT. G3 



where men are on horseback from childhood ; for, having 

 a perfectly balanced seat under all circumstances, they 

 are not dependent on reins to balance them in their own 

 or their horse's critical motions and performances. Not 

 so with the recruit, in our service and the European, who 

 enters the cavalry school at eighteen (an age at which 

 and from which no man could be made a horseman, in 

 possession of the necessary knowledge of the horse and of 

 all the arts and science that, from youth alone, can be 

 and are acquired and mastered as he advances up to that 

 age); there is too much to learn beyond the mere cavalry 

 drill and the necessary riding that attends it on ordinary 

 duty, in either peace or war. The horse, his rider and 

 the sword have been inseparable since wars began, and 

 they ever will be ; and the more perfect the horseman 

 the more dexterous he can be with his weapons. But as 

 the cavalry saddle, bridle, seat, training and duties are 

 different from those in that branch of peculiar horseman- 

 ship (in the field) that excels them all, the character of 

 the riding must necessarily be different also. 



