110 THE BRIDLE BITS. 



veterinary that the horse is delicate, that your other 

 horse don't take cold that way ? — Put a strange bit in his 

 mouth, that he is not used to, and when he runs away, 

 banof ao^ainst another team, and takes the wheels off in 

 the most approved style in imitation of the last occur- 

 rence, sue the owner of the target shot into, for damages ? 

 Before this book goes to press we would like to hear the 

 answers to these questions and give them for what they 

 are worth for the benefit of equine arts and sciences. 



In using these new-fangled tortures, that unfortunately 

 don't come under the legal head of cruelty or abuse, the 

 cultivation of the morals of the horse, through the ear, is 

 ignored, yet if an instrument were invented with a similar 

 double action as perfect as that of a horse's ear, a patent 

 would be claimed and, if issued and science advanced, great 

 benefits might follow its adoption. But, like other bless- 

 ings lavished on us by Dame Nature for our convenience, 

 we become so much accustomed to their use we fail to 

 see their advantages or to adojot a system of education 

 and practice in rendering their utility a benefit to our 

 immediate purposes. We will allow that the voice is 

 used by some men in managing horses, but the practice 

 is so rare that we look on with great interest when we see 

 a horse subservient to the voice of his driver. Were 

 the practice more general and reduced to a custom, there 

 would be nothing more singular in it than there is in 

 driving oxen by the orders that every farm hand knows 

 so well. If the same v/ords were used by everybody who 

 owned or handled horses, so that in changing drivers the 

 horse would understand what was said, there would be 

 no trouble about his management without the constant 

 use of the bridle. If this system be successful in the 

 army, where any military officer can drill any regiment, 

 and any mule driver can drive any mule team, is there any 

 valid reason why the horse, in his peculiar service, could 

 not be managed in the same way with equal facility ? If 



