The Stable Handbook 



tried all sorts of girths, but come back always to 

 the Fitzwilliam. Some people provide a cheap 

 saddle for exercising in. I prefer that a horse 

 should always go out in the saddle he is accus- 

 tomed to and that has been stuffed to fit him. 



Then we come to Bits and Bridles. These 

 come together naturally, since the bits should 

 always be sewn on to the bridles. There are two 

 forms of the bit and bridle which the ingenuity 

 of inventors have varied into many shapes — 

 the snaffle and the bit and bridoon or double 

 bridle. There are many variations, but I have 

 come to the conclusion that if I cannot ride a horse 

 either in a snaffle or a double bridle, with a longer 

 or shorter cheek according to the horse's make 

 and temperament, I cannot ride him at all, and I 

 think that most of my readers will come to agree 

 with me as a general rule. There are two excep- 

 tions to this rule. For some horses a gag is 

 useful, and for others a bridle, recommended to 

 me for a rash horse, that is just too much for one to 

 hold comfortably. It was, I believe, invented by Mr 

 Stokes, of Market Harborough, and the one I have 

 was made for me by Mr Jeffreys Clark of the 

 same place. I have found this answer very well, 

 but both the gag and the bridle to which I refer 

 require light hands. I always try to ride my 

 horses in as light a double bridle as possible, and 

 generally find that after a time most of them go 

 comfortably in it. Another plan that I have often 

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