96 THEORY OF MOUTHING. 



naturally infer, specially applicable to the breaking in of a 

 horse which bears too much weight on the reins. We may 

 take for granted that until a horse has learned to rein- 

 back with facility and precision, he cannot be considered 

 to have a good mouth. 



The standing martingale. — The use of this martingale, 

 from a breaking point of view, is to teach the horse, if he 

 be inclined to throw up his head as a " defence " against 

 the action of the bit on the bars of the mouth, to abstain 

 from doing so. The principle by which we gain our end in 

 this respect is by making the animal associate in his mind 

 the idea of pain with the act of throwing up his head. We 

 can put this principle into practice by attaching the stand- 

 ing martingale to the rings of the snaffle, at such a length 

 that it will prevent the horse from shifting the mouthpiece 

 off the bars and on to the corners of the mouth. When he 

 finds that every time he " chucks " up his head, he gives the 

 bars of his mouth a severe shock, he will soon cease doing 

 so, even, as a rule, without a martingale. The use of 

 this gear should not, however, be dispensed with before 

 it has produced a more or less permanent effect on the 

 animal's mind. When that has taken place, he will often 

 be apparently unable to distinguish whether the martingale 

 be absent or present. In any case, I feel certain from 

 long and careful observation that the intelligence of the 

 horse is not sufficiently developed to enable him to under- 

 stand that the presence of the martingale is the cause of 

 the inflicted pain. If he were able to connect cause and 

 effect to such an extent as this, it would be impossible for 



