RIDING RECOLLECTIONS 



this it is essential to use such a bridle as they do 

 not fear to meet, yet feel unwilling to disobey. 

 Many high - couraged horses, with sensitive 

 mouths, no uncommon combination, and often 

 united to those propelling powers in hocks and 

 quarters that are so valuable to a hunter, while 

 they scorn restraint by the mild influence of the 

 snaffle, fight tumultuously against the galling 

 restriction of a curb. For these the scion of a 

 noble family, that has produced many fine riders, 

 invented a bridle, combining, as its enemies 

 declare, the defects of both, to which he has given 

 his name. 



In England there seems a very general 

 prejudice against the Pelham, whereas in Ireland 

 we see it in constant use. Like other bridles of 

 a peculiar nature, it is adapted for peculiar horses ; 

 and I have myself had three or four excellent 

 hunters that would not be persuaded to go 

 comfortably in anything else. 



I need hardly explain the construction of a 

 Pelham. It consists of a single bit, smooth and 

 jointed, like a common snaffle, but prolonged 

 from the rings on either side to a cheek, having 

 a second rein attached, which acts, by means of 

 a curb-chain round the lower jaw, in the same 

 manner, though to a modified extent, as the curb- 

 rein of the usual hunting double-bridle, to which 

 it bears an outward resemblance, and of which it 



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