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with any horse. They must look forward to jumping 

 under such conditions much as we look forward to a 

 visit to the dentist. The dentist theory will ac- 

 count, too, for so many horses hating to jump in 

 cold blood that will jump readily when out hunting. 

 In their keenness and excitement they forget the pain, 

 just as we hardly notice a blow or cut received in 

 the rush and rattle of a polo match or hunt, yet 

 wince and complain at far less pain inflicted on us 

 while sitting quietly in the dentist's chair. Obvious- 

 ly, then the more severe the bit the greater the pain 

 an indifferent or bad rider can inflict, so that, un- 

 less we are such perfect horsemen that we can be cer- 

 tain of never hurting a horse's mouth unintentionally, 

 the mildest bit in which we can ride a horse should be 

 the one to select. It is fairly easy to leave a mouth 

 alone when you can canter down to a fence and take it 

 in your stride, but at a nasty cramped bottom, where 

 a clever horse slides half-way down the bank and then 

 jumps suddenly, it is another matter. In such and 

 like difficulties the mild bit has a great advantage. 



I have seen, too, even good horsemen fail and 

 touch their horses' mouths when they have to jump out 

 of a road almost from a stand. One of the clearest 

 cases I ever knew of refusing from the bit was that of 

 a certain black pony, the cleverest and laziest of his 

 kind, that belonged in turn to me and various members 

 of my family. I could not go so far as to say he was 

 fond of jumping, for all forms of exercise were repug- 

 nant to him; but I think if one could have explained 

 to him that some exercise was good for his health and 

 left the choice to him, he would have selected jumping 

 exercise. One day a lady wished to ride him over a 

 little "made course," and although assured he would 

 not pull, begged for a curb bridle to be put on him. 

 Now, he had certainly never hardened his mouth by 

 "taking hold," and at one of the fences she gave him 

 a sharp, unintentional "job" in the mouth. He would 

 not jump again for her, nor did he ever again jump 

 properly for anybody. That seemed very good proof 

 to me of what the bit misapplied can do. Of course, 

 he could have been put right with much trouble, but 

 he was an old pony when it happened, and nobody greatly 

 cared whether he jumped or not. 



