OUlt HOESES AND THEIR BllILLES. 251 



unsteady hands, cannot keep him together with all the 

 gag-bits and safety nose-hands that ever were, or ever 

 will he invented. Let the reader suppose one of these 

 new tortures in the mouth of a horse, and attached to 

 the hands of a man who has not the least idea what 

 amount of pressure it takes to control him, or the 

 amount of excruciating pain he is inflicting upon the 

 mouth of the horse, and he will cease to wonder how 

 accidents are caused, or why horses are quiet with 

 some people, and restive with others for the hand is 

 the key to the horse's mouth, and the horse's mouth is 

 the channel through which a good horseman will convey 

 his wishes to the nohle animal, hut no horse of high 

 courage, or worth having, will submit to he continually 

 harassed and punished by a severe bit, but will eventu- 

 ally exhibit symptoms of insubordination, and perhaps 

 become vicious. 



If a man has not the ability to handle a horse lightly, 

 and at the same time keep his balance in the saddle, he 

 has no business to ride one of value and high courage. 

 It would be better for the horse and safer for the man 

 to keep his feet on terra firma. 



The more a horse's mouth is used to a severe bit, the 

 less he will care for it, as he will soon learn to neutralize 

 its effects, \>j pulling, and keeping the reins in a state of 

 tension, and thereby prevent the rider from checking or 

 wriggling the bit to punish him. The dead steady pull 

 is far less painful to him than the jaw-breaking the rider 

 would be able to inflict upon him if allowed to keep his 

 reins slack, and ready for a jerk.. 



