BAR BITS, STRAIGHT AJ^D CURVED. 117 



iug at the same time, tend to create a sympathy for the 

 poor buggy horse that falls under such treatment prior 

 to a term of regular training under the supervision and 

 peculiar instruction of a Philadelphia lawyer. 



There are no delicate hints possible to convey to the 

 horse by a bar bit in any form. It is too clumsy, too 

 unyielding, and is fib for nothing but pulling and haul- 

 ing at a horse that has no mouth or idea of obedience 

 from ordinary training. 



But we must consider that the bar bit in its early in- 

 troduction, for a peculiar use, was preferred by many 

 '* horsemen " on the track ; it got favor in private stables 

 from mere custom, thtis becoming fashionable for all horses 

 alike ; and when fashion in the United States takes hold 

 of people, it soon becomes despotic and controls every- 

 thing, even common sense, setting judgment, prudence 

 and necessity at defiance. This was a signal for manu- 

 facturers to rush it into the market, and thus render it 

 common for any purpose in harness. One man who has 

 used the bar bit all his life, could give no reason for its 

 preference, only that ^^ they generally use it now," but 

 did not say that they generally have horses now that 

 require it. 



To show how far fashion controls in these days, we 

 may state that it is fashionable to have everything about 

 houses red — house, bricks, blinds, doors and railings. In 

 more hard common sense times, it was customarj to have 

 scrapers at the lowest step at a hall door, to scrape the 

 mud off our boots. Now it is fashionable to have none, 

 but to trail the mud up to the door-mat in the vestibule, 

 and there deposit the street dirt, which is horse manure. 

 There is no end to the senseless and growing disposition 

 to follow after and be governed by fashion in its most 

 unreasonable moods and directions, for the sake of hav- 

 ing something new. Unfortunately for the comfort of 

 the poor horse, it is the same with the bar and some 



