THE USE OF THE BRIDLE 



can shift this pressure to his lips and teeth, it 

 affords no more control than a halter. With 

 head up, and mouth open, he can go how and 

 where he will. In such a predicament only an 

 experienced horseman has the skill to give him 

 such an amount of liberty without licence as 

 cajoles him into dropping again to his bridle, 

 before he breaks away. Once off at speed, with 

 the conviction that he is master, however ludicrous 

 in appearance, the affair is serious enough in fact. 



Many centuries elapsed, and a good deal of 

 unpleasant riding must have been endured, before 

 the snaffle was supplemented with a martingale. 

 Judging from the Elgin Marbles, this useful 

 invention seems to have been wholly unknown to 

 the Greeks. Though the men's figures are 

 perfect in seat and attitude through the whole of 

 that spirited frieze which adorned the Parthenon, 

 not one of their horses carries its head in the 

 right place. The ancient Greek seems to have 

 relied on strength rather than cunning, in his 

 dealings with the noble animal, and though he 

 sat down on it like a workman, must have found 

 considerable difficulty in guiding his beast the way 

 he wanted to go. 



But with a martingale, the most insubordinate 

 soon discover that they cannot rid themselves of 

 control. It keeps their heads down in a position 

 that enables the bit to act on the mouth, and if 



35 



