EQUIPMENT AND NECESSARIES 33 



qn, and not too tight curb-chain lies in the place 

 which seems to have been made for it by nature, 

 the chin-groove. The throat-lash is just sufficiently 

 tight to play its part, i. e. to keep the bridle on. 

 The same may be said of the breastplate, its part 

 being to keep the saddle from slipping back. The 

 tout - ensemble is business-like, comfortable, and 

 becoming. 



A word about the curb-chain. The majority of 

 grooms know that it should be evenly laid, but very 

 many do not know how to hook it on correctly ; they 

 do not think, and it is very difficult to make them 

 understand, even when they are told, that to set 

 the flat, and not the edge, against the horse's chin 

 they must hook it apparently backwards. 



The photographs on the next page will explain 

 better than any words what is meant. 



Regarding the stirrups, or rather the leathers, if 

 they are not always put on the same sides, the irons 

 will not hang right {vide Figure 2, Plate III., and 

 Figure 2, Plate IV.). Should, however, the leathers 

 be new, or there be not time to change them when 

 the horse is brought out, they may be made to hang 

 at right angles to the horse by giving them several 

 twists towards his tail, stretching them downwards 

 and then letting them go. 



With some slight modifications, necessitated by 

 difference of make and shape, the foregoing remarks 

 apply to the military saddle and bridle. Moreover, 

 will not the eye, to which it has become second 

 nature to see at a glance, as the horse is brought 



D 



