50 THE HORSE 



hard pulling or reputedly evil-tempered animal owes 

 his bad name to the fact that his mouth, originally a 

 tender one, has been utterly ruined by injudicious 

 bitting, and cases have been known by the dozen in 

 which horses with very bad reputations have become 

 completely reformed characters through the substitu- 

 tion of snaffle for the severe bits which have been 

 previously forced upon them. After the snaffle comes 

 the Liverpool bit as a safe and moderate invention, 

 and this can be strongly recommended for general 

 purposes, whilst both the Pelham and massive elbow 

 bits find many supporters amongst driving men. 

 Such abominations as that instrument of torture the 

 Hanoverian bit, with a post of inches deep and 

 occasionally garnished with a set of barbarous keys, 

 should never be adopted by the amateur without due 

 consideration and the advice of experienced friends, 

 for though it is admitted that very exceptional cases 

 deserve very exceptional treatment, it is equally true 

 that a punishing, cruel bit is quite as likely to <io 

 harm as it is to be productive of good results. In 

 the case of hard pullers a noseband or a net will in 

 ninety-nine cases out of a hundred effect all the 

 required results, and the owners of these animals can 

 possess the satisfaction of feeling that their horses 

 are not being the victims of unnecessary punishment. 

 Bearing reins have been the subject of more 

 attacks from without than any other article of equine 

 furniture, and beyond all doubt in many instances 

 the opposition has been based on solid grounds. 

 At the same time a great deal of nonsense has been 

 written concerning bearing reins, which in some 

 cases are extremely useful, and cause very Httle 

 inconvenience, if any, to their wearers, if not buckled 

 up too short. If they are they are cruelly oppressive 

 to the horse, and few sights in the Park during the 

 season are more offensive to the humane man than 

 the spectacle of a landau pulled up on the rails and 



