THE SADDLE ROOM 169 



Fisher speaks highly of them and says that in 

 what they are criticised for — namely being 

 neither curb nor snaffle — lies their great merit, 

 and that they are excellent for thoroughbred 

 horses that pull a little too much for a snaffle. 

 Curiously it was with a thoroughbred horse that 

 I had my principal experience with Pelhams. 

 My uncle was great on bits and bitting and the 

 fiat went out that the horse in question was to be 

 ridden in a jointed Pelham. I rode him for 

 some time in a jointed Pelham, and I was satisfied 

 that it made his mouth dead. So one day I put 

 a heavy plain snaffle and noseband on him, and 

 got well blown up, and told that he would run 

 away with me. Luckily for me hounds found 

 and a fast forty-five minutes of which I had by no 

 means the worst put a new complexion on things. 



My advice then is have no place for a 

 Pelham in your saddle room ; your horse will 

 go all right in a snaffle if his mouth is too light 

 for a very light curb, which is scarcely likely to 

 be the case. 



The wonderful curb bits that one sees in a 

 saddler's shop are most bewildering and I am 

 not going to attempt to enumerate more than a 

 fraction of them. Chifney bits and Segundo 

 bits are scarcely ever seen now-a-days, though I 

 remember the day when I had to use the Segundo, 

 which is a bit with a high movable port and 

 movable cheeks. I never liked it and when I 

 I could choose my ovv^n bridles I always selected 

 a simple bit, a plan which I recommend to my 



