250 CONFESSIONS OF A HORSE DEALER. 



work cheerfully with plain easy snaffle bits in their 

 mouths, and answer to the least aid or indication of 

 their rider's hand imaginable, without gagging their 

 tender mouths with severe, deep-levered curb bridles ; 

 for this, in the hands of inexperienced riders, will keep 

 the horse in continual pain and ill-humour, consequent 

 upon their unsteady hands and seat. 



The better a horse is broken, the greater will be the 

 danger to a bad rider, because the harassing hand and 

 severe bit will render his wishes or indications unintel- 

 ligible, so that the animal will become almost frantic 

 when his mouth is checked and his sides are spurred; 

 until, finding his efforts to please his rider futile, he 

 naturally begins to take care of himself; some will com- 

 mence with rearing and plunging, others will kick or 

 buck-jump, and in that case rid themselves of their 

 tormentors ; another, who has not yet learnt these 

 antics, will try to get the sides of the bit in his teeth, 

 but is prevented by a lip-strap invented for that purpose. 

 But the older a horse grows the more fertile he becomes 

 in his inventive powers, for he will finally learn to arch 

 his neck, and rest his head upon the bit for support, and 

 thus he is enabled (if he thinks proper) to go ahead or 

 run away, in spite of any effort which an inexperienced 

 man may make to restrain him, for the harder this rider 

 pulls the better the horse likes it, because it supports 

 his head and neck. 



An experienced horseman will ride and control a 

 horse with a snaffle-bridle, when a bad rider, with heavy 



