1 42 THROUGH STABLE AND SADDLE-ROOM. 



to ensure that the corners of the mouth are not 

 pinched in by the shanks, and yet not wide enough 

 to allow of the bit rolling about from side to 

 side. 



I believe that in the German cavalry they use a 

 gauge to measure the mouths of the horses, so as 

 to get the exact width. Such a gauge is doubtless 

 a very useful thing to horses, but as we do not find 

 it necessary in our own cavalry, its use may be 

 dispensed with in an ordinary stable, and such very 

 accurate measurement is by no means imperative. 



There is a bit called a ' Pelham,' and it is a bit 

 which many people run down, because they assert 

 that it is neither bit nor snaffle — neither the one 

 thing nor the other — and what they say is quite true ; 

 and yet its very merit is that it is neither the 

 one nor the other, inasmuch as where a snaffle is 

 not quite strong enough for a horse, and a bit is 

 too much, a ' Pelham ' is the very thing required. 

 It is, in fact, a bit with the mouthpiece of an 

 ordinary snaffle, instead of the fixed bar of an 

 ordinary bit, the mouthpiece being jointed in the 

 middle like a snaffle, and the shanks made to use 

 with a curb-chain the same as a bit. For thorough- 

 bred horses which pull a little bit too much to be 

 pleasant to ride with a snaffle, it is the very best 

 bit I know, and a very safe one to use also ; and 



