74 THE MERRY GEE-GEE 



and would hunt In them, and has in his 

 book snap-shot illustrations of horses 

 jumping fences In them, to prove they 

 do not Interfere with them w^hen properly- 

 adjusted. I grant all this when jumping 

 only an ordinary fence, but nevertheless 

 there are times in crossing a country — 

 when, for example, your horse has plunged 

 into an unjumpable drain, got partially 

 bogged, and a steep bank the other side — 

 when they certainly could not stretch 

 their necks and heads the requisite length 

 if the martingale was sufficiently tight 

 to be of use In other respects. I would 

 never put a curb on a young horse with 

 hounds till he knows his business fairly 

 well. Two snaffles and a running martin- 

 gale are best for some time ; a curb only 

 irritates him : let him get used to that In 

 his slow work at home. 



I have had many arguments with 



