425 



CHAPTER XIX. 

 RACING SADDLERY. 



Bridles — Martingales — Saddles — Stirrup Irons — Stirrup Leathers and Webs- 

 Lead Cloths — Weight Jackets and Belts — Adjustment f)f Racing Gear. 



BRIDLES. 



Unless in very exceptional cases, an ordinary unjointed, 

 jointed, or chain snaffle is the only kind of bit which should be 

 used with a racehorse. The thin racing snaffle teaches him to 

 pull, and the curb tends to make him raise his feet too high 

 and bend his knees too much ; in other words, to make him 

 gallop " round." With a bad puller, a double bridle might 

 be used, so that in the event of the rider not being able to 

 hold him with the bridoon, he may have the bit reins ready to 

 take up. Horses which can be held with a snaffle, gallop as a 

 rule in far better form, from a racing point of view, in it than 

 in a double bridle, even when the bridoon alone is used ; the 

 presence of the curb seeming to deter them from going boldly 

 up to their bridle. 



A double bridle is less objectionable for steeplechase riding 

 than for the flat, on account of the greater necessity there 

 is for obtaining command over the horse, and for " col- 

 lecting " him, in the former, than in the latter business. 

 When it has to be used in a race, the rider, having 

 previously ascertained the exact length of curb-chain which 

 suits his mount, should, before going to the starting post, 

 see that the proper number of links, no more and no less, are 

 taken up. 



