The Stable Handbook 



should be exercised, and in all cases I send horses 

 out with a light double bridle. If a groom has 

 heavy hands he will do less mischief in deadening 

 a horse's mouth with a curb than a snaffle. I may 

 say that when a horse pulls I always have a leather 

 guard to the curb, as one's object is not to hurt 

 but to restrain him by means of pressure. There 

 are horses, of course, that will never go so well 

 as in a snaffle, and some people like a Pelham and 

 perhaps some horses do, but I have never found a 

 horse that would not go as well in a light double 

 bridle as in a Pelham. But the longer one lives 

 and has to do with horses and riding, the more 

 one feels that one does not know all that is to be 

 known. 



In choosing a bridle there are two points which, 

 if we bear in mind, we cannot go far wrong. 

 The first is that we must be able to control the 

 horse, and the second is that the bit must not be 

 so severe that the horse is afraid to go up to its 

 bridle. In either case there can be no pleasure or 

 safety for the rider. So much is said, so many 

 things have been written about not over-bitting 

 horses, and about what can be done with light 

 handling, that people often put far too light a 

 bit on. It must be remembered that, like the 

 American mule-driver's flow of language in 

 exhorting the impenitent mule, hands are a gift 

 of nature. That we have not any particular gift 

 is always probable, and experience ought to make 

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