98 THE HORSE 



when a boy, seeing a colt wearing an imported 

 " bitting gear " that held his head rigidly in a 

 strained and uncomfortable position throw himself 

 down in sheer pain and desperation, while his 

 breaker — a bull-headed Englishman, imported, like 

 the " bitting gear," and master of stables for the 

 colt's millionaire owner — looked calmly on and 

 observed, " 'E's a bit stubborn, but Vll give hup 

 bimeby." 



It is such brutal performances as this that, in 

 greater or less degree, have always disgraced the 

 profession of horsemanship and, although there 

 has undoubtedly been some improvement in such 

 matters, the strange idea is still held by many 

 otherwise sensible people that the most finely- 

 formed and delicately-organized of all our do- 

 mestic animals should be entrusted to the care of 

 the ignorant, the coarse, and the stupid. 



Now what is the process of bitting for? Sim- 

 ply to teach the horse to obey the rein and yield, 

 in a proper degree, to the pressure upon the bit. 

 To do this you need no " bitting gear," imported 

 or otherwise, and need go to no expense beyond 

 the purchase of a piece of cotton rope the size of 

 your little finger for the first lessons, and for later 

 ones a common jointed bit, rather thicker than 

 usual at the ends. 



For the first series of lessons proceed as fol- 



