510 SADDLERY AND HARNESS. 



in requisition to bring the muzzle into its proper situation. When the 

 lipa are subjected to perpetual pressure it can hardly be anticipated that 

 the steed can obey the slightest movement of the rider's hand. Most 

 people are vexed when obliged to tug and haul every time it is desired 

 the animal should deviate from the direct course. 



Once the spring stirrup was hailed as a marvelous invention and an 

 indispensable part of every good saddle. This was designed to release 

 the foot of a rider who had lost his seat. Such things were very pretty 

 toys. They acted beautifully in the chamber when first taken out of 

 paper, but, when exposed to use, these elegant precautions soon got out 

 of order. Dirt would work into the joint and would interfere with the 

 mechanism, which thus became useless at the very time its services were 

 likely to be required. After a hard gallop the joint could not be other- 

 wise than clogged, especially when the run was across country. There- 

 fore the spring stirrup has been displaced in public estimation by the 

 spring bar. This last is the newer and the less costly provision, the 

 spring being attached to the bar which supports the stirrup leather. 



SPKING BAR FOR. THE STIRRUP LEATHER AND SPRING STIRRUP. BOTH BEING EXHIBITED DURING EEST 

 AND WHEN IN ACTION. 



The situation where the machinery is lodged protects it from dirt, from 

 wet, or from dust, being doubly sheltered from all such intrusion. It is 

 covered by the skirt of the saddle, and is likewise shielded by the thigh 

 of the rider. The article thus placed is removed from the operation of 

 that objection which has thrown the spring stirrup into disuse. The 

 purpose of both inventions is equal, being exactly similar. When the 

 rider was unseated, the stirrup was intended to yield before the drag of 

 the imprisoned foot. When the horseman is thrown, the smallest trac- 

 tion does occasion the spring bar to act, and the leather is released, the 

 limb forcing the stirrup iron and the leather to quit their relative situa- 

 tions. 



The stirrup iron was formerly made of various shapes, each of which 

 was imagined to possess some special advantage. At present, however, 

 the public appear to disregard peculiarities of form in such articles, and 

 to pay no attention to those contortions concerning which our forefathers 

 were so extremely precise. It is now considered quite sufficient if the 



