BEIDLES. 231 



be used without a second rein. With any other, 

 however severe, the horse's mouth becomes callous, or, 

 in more technical term, "dead," from the pressure 

 always coming on the same part of it ; we may relax," 

 but cannot change the pressure. A man with such a 

 bit finds after a time the horse goes ** heavy in hand ;" 

 he takes up his curb-chain a link or two. For a time, 

 by thus increasing the severity, he finds his horse go 

 more pleasantly, that is, "lighter in hand;" but in 

 an hour the effect is lost — the mouth again becomes 

 callous — and so it would, ad wjinitum^ if he had a 

 vice in his mouth, if the pressure was always on the 

 same part. 



Next comes the Pelham. This is a bit with the 

 mouthpiece of a perfect plain or twisted snaffle, to 

 which are added two side-pieces or branches, like the 

 ordinary curb, and like that, is used with a curb-chain. 

 Of the utility of this bit much may be said for and 

 against. It is one I should not recommend to a man 

 with a heavy hand, or for a horse with a heavy head ; 

 but, at the same time, it is a most useful one in the 

 hands of a horseman for a horse whose mouth is too 



