SADDLES AND BRIDLES. 28o 



, assistance of the curb. Such horses should be rid- 

 den with a double bridle, so that the rider mar 

 have recourse to the curb-bit, wl^en wanting. 



There is often great nicety required in fitting a 

 horse with a bridle, if irritable in his temper, or a 

 very hard puller. If the former, he must have a 

 bit of just sufficient severity to control him, and 

 not any thing more. The one called the '' Pel- 

 ham," is well adapted to horses of this description, 

 as it partakes of the double properties of snaffle 

 and curb. With very hard pulling horses, the 

 curb to a severe bit must be used ; but the evil of 

 this is, that, after a certain time, the mouth, thus 

 acted upon, becomes " dead," as the term is, and 

 the horse is unpleasant to ride and difficult to turn. 

 To remedy this, three players should be attached 

 to the port of the bit, which, by hanging looselv 

 over the tongue, keep the mouth alive. A bridle 

 of this description, very long in the cheek, is known 

 in the hunting world as the " Clipper bit," being 

 the one in which that celebrated horseman Mr. 

 Lindow, rode a horse called the Clipper, several 

 years over Leicestershire, in which far-famed county 

 he was supposed to be the best hunter going. If 

 a horse rushes at his fences, a moderately tight 

 nose-band is useful, as also to prevent his opening 

 his mouth, and snatching at his rider's hand. The 

 less a horse opens his mouth in his work the bet- 

 ter, as it tends to make it dry ; whereas it cannot 

 be too moist for his own good. Bits very high in 

 the port are of course the most severe, owing to 

 the increased purchase ; but witli every description 



