THE SADDLE ROOM 171 



they are apt to come in contact with the ground 

 in case of a fall and thus by pushing the bit up 

 into the horse's mouth cause him sudden pain 

 such as may bring about serious trouble to his 

 rider or himself or both.^ So that if a horse 

 pulls so hard that it comes to the choice of two 

 evils, it would perhaps be better to have a higher 

 port rather than a longer cheek to the bit, as the 

 lesser of the two. Capt. Hayes tells us that a 

 port must be at least 2^ inches high before it has 

 any effect upon a horse's palate, but that he 

 himself never felt any benefit from a bit with a 

 higher port than the ordinary ' Melton ' port, and 

 my experience is the same as his. Some men 

 however swear by the high port, but it is not so 

 much used as it was. 



Some years ago the Ben Morgan bit was very 

 popular, and you could scarcely enter the saddle 

 room of a hunting man without coming across 

 two or three of them. It is shaped like a half- 

 moon bit but with the curve downwards. It is 

 not a severe bit but it answers well with an 

 ordinary puller, for the mouthpiece being low 

 down in the horse's mouth causes him to reach 

 for it and so distracts his attention from pulling. 

 The drawback is that the bit tempts a horse to 

 bore, and most horses ridden regularly in it have 

 this unpleasant habit. 



^ The only fall the Caesarean mare I have spoken of ever gave any 

 of us was when my uncle was riding her on the moors. She jumped 

 into a bog over a big wall, and the long-cheeked curb in which she had 

 to be ridden, alighting on a stone, broke into three pieces and caused 

 her to hurt her rider. 



