The Neck^ the Head^ etc. 143 



little more than another ; nor can we always help its 

 coiling up its head and neck like a snail so long as they 

 go clean and free — which is precisely what Baucher's 

 encapuchonne carriage of the head and neck does not 

 favor ; but the higher we get both head and neck with- 

 out sacrificing cleanness and freedom of pace the 

 better, if for no other reason than that there always 

 must be something in front of the military saddle which 

 keeps the bridle-hand at a certain distance above the 

 horse's withers, close down to which the civilian rider 

 can easily place it. Carriage is, however, not the result 

 of bitting alone ; it depends, as we have already shown 

 in Part I., on a judicious svstem of saddling, packing 

 and riding, the bitting forming "/<? couronnement de 

 Vedljice^^ without which the remainder is of compara- 

 tively little use to the soldier, because he must ride 

 altogether with one hand., and he requires his whole 

 body, from the hip upward, with the exception of this 

 one hand, for the use of his weapons. 



Good bitting, saddling, packing and riding are what 

 render cavalry available and durable ; they secure effi- 

 ciency, and therefore economy ; of course they cannot en- 

 sure judicious handling of the arm, nor affect the morale 

 of the soldier beyond giving him a sense of security and 

 power, which is, however, very valuable. 



The reader will perceive, from the digression into 

 which we have been led here, that the question of bit- 

 ting cannot be considered separately from those of dis- 

 tribution of weight, carriage and action ; and it was in 

 order to avoid erroneous impressions on this very point 

 that we have thought it best to defer up to this moment 

 all mention of those peculiarities of the interior construc- 

 tion of the horse's mouth which, taken together, consti- 

 tute, so far as this organ itself is concerned, what is 

 called a hard or a soft mouth. 



There are two ways of expressing what a soft mouth 



