236 HANDBOOK OF THE TURF. 



This bit is the same as the bridoon with the exception of the guards. 



It was originally used on the saddle horse, while the bridoon with 



plain rings was always used alone or in common with a carriage 



harness bit, or the ciirb bit for riding. For the light buggy horse 



and harness, and head stall without blinds, it is a most desirable 



bit. It is the king of hunting bits.— The Bridle Bits, Col. J. C. 



Batters by. 



Snaffle Lay. An old term used to describe the hold or 



clutch of a thief or highwayman who stopped horseback riders 



by laying hold of the horse's bit or snaffle. 



Snip. [Eng.] Information as to the certainty of a horse 

 winning a race. 



Soft. Out of condition ; wanting in stamina ; not fitted 

 for a race. 



Many have said that Johnston was a soft horse. Out of condition he is 

 about as helpless a horse as can be imagined; but this is not his 

 case alone. Some of the gamest horses that I ever saAV when in 

 condition, were the most helpless when out of form.— Life with the 

 Trotters, John Splan. 



Soft-hearted. Faint; faint-hearted; wanting in cour- 

 age ; the quality characteristic of a quitting horse. 



In Flanders, where the air is humid, and the pastures are moist and 

 rank, horses grow large, but they have tiat feet, inferior sinews, 

 lymphatic temperaments and soft hearts.— Road, Track and Stable, 

 H. C. Merwin. 



Sojer-toed. A horse that is a knee-knocker is said to 

 be " sojer-toed." 



Sole. That portion of the ground surface of the foot 



included between the wall, bars and frog. Its front and side 



borders, where it comes in contact with the inner surface of the 



toe and quarters of the wall, form nearly two-thirds of a circle. 



Its rear concave border is bounded on each side by the bars, 



and in the middle it is deeply grooved to receive the point of 



the frog. 



The sole binds the frog and wall together. The horn of which it is 

 made is very different from that of the wall or frog. It is formed 

 of a number of extremely hard and strong horny plates laid one 

 above the other, and curved so as to form a sort of dome surround- 

 ing both sides and the front of the frog. The sole has another 

 object besides connecting the frog and the wall. It is intended to 

 defend the sensitive parts of the interior hoof from stones, sharp 

 points of rocks, etc. When the sole becomes worn out, it has the 

 faculty of reproducing itself in a manner quite distinct from that 

 of the'wall and the frog. Instead of being rubbed away by friction 

 like the former, or throwing off little flaps like the latter, it exfo- 

 liates in flakes, a new flake being secreted above before the effete 

 one falls below.— Horse and Man, Rev. J. G. Wood. 



Soliped. According to the old classification of Cuvier, a 

 family of solid-hoofed animals, including the domestic horse. 



Sons of Horses. An Arabian half-bred horse. 



Explained by the quotation : 



The Bedouins of Arabia, in general, keep their mares, but sell many of 

 tljeir horses, aiid it is from the horses thus sold, crossed with infer- 



