THE USE OF THE BRIDLE 



cable if by no other means I could make him 

 understand that he must submit to my will, 

 hoping always eventually to substitute for it a 

 silken thread. 



All bridles, by whatever names they may be 

 called, are but the contrivances of a government 

 that depends for authority on concealment of its 

 weakness. Hard hands will inevitably make 

 hard pullers, but to the animal intellect a force 

 still untested is a force not lightly to be defied. 

 The loose rein argues confidence, and even the 

 brute understands that confidence is an attribute 

 of power. 



Change your bridle over and over again, till 

 you find one that suits your hand, rather, I should 

 say, that suits your horse's mouth. Do not, 

 however, be too well satisfied with a first essay. 

 He may go delightfully to-day in a bit that he 

 will learn how to counteract by to - morrow. 

 Nevertheless, a long step has been made in the 

 right direction when he has carried you pleasantly 

 if only for an hour. Should that period have 

 been passed in following hounds, it is worth a 

 whole week's education under less exciting con- 

 ditions. A horse becomes best acquainted with 

 his rider in' those situations that call forth most 

 care and circumspection from both. 



Broken ground, fords, morasses, dark nights, 

 all tend to mutual good understanding, but forty 



49 



