RIDING RECOLLECTIONS 



dignified with the name of bridles. In the 

 saddle-room of any hunting man may be found 

 at least a dozen of these, but you will probably 

 learn on inquiry, that three or four at most are 

 all he keeps in use. It must be a stud of 

 strangely - varying mouths and tempers which 

 the snaffle, gag, Pelham, and double-bridle are 

 insufficient to humour and control. 



As it seems from the oldest representations 

 known of men on horseback, to have been the 

 earliest in use, we will take the snaffle first. 



This bit, the invention of common-sense going 

 straight to its object, while lying easily on the 

 tongue and bars of a horse's mouth, and affording 

 control without pain, is perfection of its kind. It 

 causes no annoyance and consequently no alarm 

 to the unbroken colt, champing and churning 

 freely at the new plaything between his jaws ; on 

 it the highly-trained charger bears pleasantly and 

 lightly, to "change his leg," — "passage," — or 

 "shoulder in," at the slightest inflection of a 

 rider's hand ; the hunter leans against it for 

 support in deep ground ; and the race-horse 

 allows it to hold him together at nearly full speed 

 without contracting his stride, or by fighting with 

 the restriction wasting any of his gallop in the 

 air. It answers its purpose 3.dmira.h\y so long- as 

 it remains in the proper place, but not a moment 

 longer. Directly a horse by sticking out his nose 



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