RIDING RECOLLECTIONS 



they must needs pull, obliges them to pull against 

 that most sensitive part called the bars. There 

 is no escape — bend their necks they must, and 

 to bend their necks means to acknowledo^e a 

 master and do homage to the rider's will. 



It is a well-known fact, and I can attest it by 

 my own experience, that a twisted snaffle with a 

 martingale will hold a runaway when every other 

 bridle fails ; but to guide or stop an animal by 

 the exercise of bodily strength is not horseman- 

 ship, and to saw at its mouth for the purpose 

 cannot be expected to promote that sympathy of 

 desire and intention which we understand by the 

 term. 



If we look at the sporting prints of our grand- 

 fathers and great - grandfathers, as delineated, 

 early in the present century, we observe that 

 nine out of every ten hunters were ridden in plain 

 snaffle bridles, and we ask ourselves if our pro- 

 genitors bred more docile beasts, or were these 

 drinkers of port wine, bolder, stronger, and better 

 horsemen than their descendants. Without 

 entering on the vexed question of comparative 

 merit in hounds, hunters, pace, country, and 

 sport, at an interval of more than two generations, 

 I think I can find a reason, and it seems to me 

 simply this. 



Most of these hunting pictures are representa- 

 tions of the chase in our midland counties, notably 



36 



