88 



MODERN HORSE MANAGEMENT 



[CHAP. 



Depth of girth, i.e. distance from withers to 

 brisket (sternum), is large, nearly equal to dis- 

 tance of brisket above the ground. All joints 

 should be free, especially fetlocks and pasterns. 



As well as possessing the above qualifications, 

 a hunter should be very strong about the loins 

 and hocks ; his gluteal and thigh muscles must 

 be well developed, as these are used in jumping. 

 It is foolish to economise when purchasing a 

 hunter ; a cheap hunter is a danger to life. 

 P. 66, 67, 68 show types of good saddle horses. 



346. Bits and Bitting. Bridles and the fitting 

 of bits have been discussed in Chapter VI., 

 Sec. 286, but I intend here to discuss the uses 

 of bits and the general abuse of the horse's 

 mouth, due to ignorance on the part of certain 

 riders and horsebreakers. 



Every horse should be schooled and trained 

 in a thick broken bit, with ring attachment to 

 the reins, usually called a snaffle or bridoon 

 (P. 72a). A snaffle is thicker than a bridoon, 

 and has cross-pieces attached to it that prevent 

 it being drawn through the horse's mouth. A 

 racing snaffle has no cross-pieces (P. 14c). When 

 a horse during training, i.e. mouthing, etc., 

 has reached a certain stage, his head and neck 

 must be properly placed, and to do this it is 

 really necessary to use a plain curb bit. The 

 functions of the curb bit will be explained later. 

 As horses' mouths vary so much in size and 

 shape, and as their dispositions vary also, the 

 curb bit must be fitted to every individual horse. 

 A snaffle or bridoon will also vary in thickness 

 and length for different horses. Apart from 

 these variations, with very few exceptions, most 

 other types of bits are useless. 



Nearly all the varieties of complicated and 

 absurd bits put on the market are worse than 

 useless. They are made by men who know little 

 of the art of bitting, and are sold by harness 

 makers because they make large profits thereby. 

 Grooms and others encourage their use partly 

 because they sometimes receive commissions by 

 recommending them to their would-be horsy 

 masters and partly because they love a display 

 of steel in the harness-room. The horse owner 

 who says, " Come and look at my harness-room," 

 and shows one an elaborate glass case full of 

 marvellous-looking instruments of torture called 

 bits, is exposing his want of knowledge. 



347. The best kind of curb bit is the Liver- 

 pool bit (P. 33a) for driving, and the Wey- 

 mouth bit for riding, or modifications of the 

 same. The Portsmouth reversible (P. 740) is 

 a useful bit for either, especially if in bad hands, 

 as it will not easily hurt the horse. The racing 

 snaffle is the best kind of bit to ride a young 

 horse with. This is broken in the middle. 

 P. 74c shows a method of attaching the reins 

 which gives great leverage over the horse, but 

 which must make the horse very hard in the 

 mouth, and, being limited in its action, is 



therefore not to be recommended under any 

 conditions. 



If a horse is taught from the beginning by a 

 good trainer with good hands, the curb bit, 

 except for placing the head and neck, will prob- 

 ably never be required at all. That is, after the 

 head has been placed and the horse properly 

 mouthed, the snaffle can be used again. There 

 is nothing more delightful than riding a horse 

 to hounds in a plain racing snaffle. For driving 

 light harness horses a broken bit, which very 

 much resembles a snaffle, is often used (P. 36A) ; 

 or the mouth-piece may be unbroken. 



348. Many horses are made to pull, and even 

 run away, by bad hands and ignorance of 

 driving and riding. They are driven in severe 

 bits, which make them pull all the more ; it 

 takes two to pull, and I have never found a 

 horse yet that did not give in after a few days 

 when he found that he had nothing to pull 

 against. (See Chapter VI., Sec. 268.) It is the 

 playful but firm feeling that good hands impart 

 to the bars of the horse's mouth or tongue, some- 

 thing like the playful touch an expert chauffeur 

 exerts upon the clutch of a motor-car with his 

 foot, that compels the horse to give way, to cease 

 pulling, to champ the bit and to go in a collected 

 manner. Mechanical bits never have accom- 

 plished, and never will accomplish, this. The 

 private coachman, whose hands are often, as Sir 

 Robert Baden-Powell said (in the Cavalry 

 Journal), "mutton-fisted," is a strong advocate 

 of using curb bits and holding on to the horse 

 all the time. 



If a horse is going too fast, the fact of pulling 

 with a steady strain upon his mouth will not 

 stop him ; his mouth must be played with, not 

 jerked, and if this will not have any effect, 

 through the horse's mouth having been made 

 hard previously, his jaw must be drawn back 

 with determination towards his chest and imme- 

 diately released, i.e. the reins let quite loose, 

 followed by his mouth being again drawn in, 

 and so on. Almost any runaway horse, as 

 described in Sec. 266, can be stopped in this 

 way. 



849. It must be remembered that pain excites 

 a horse to motion, and this is why so many run- 

 aways have been caused by the pain inflicted 

 upon the horse by severe bits. Race-track trot- 

 ting horses are taught to go faster by the feel 

 upon the reins being increased. Pulling on the 

 reins has not much effect upon such horses when 

 it is required to stop them, but it is quite easy 

 to stop these horses by the playful method 

 described above. A horse which apparently 

 cannot be managed without brutal and useless 

 patent bits must be handed over to a competent 

 man for a few weeks, who will be able very 

 soon to accustom the horse to being ridden or 

 driven in the simplest of bits. I do not believe 

 in rubber-covered mouth-pieces. They teach 



