University ofPennsylvaiiia

Amjenberg Rare Book
and Manuscript Library

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LIBRARY

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in 2009 witii funding from

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http://www.archive.org/details/bridlebitstreaOObatt

FKOKTISFIBCB.

Tee Mouthing Bit.

THE BRIDLE BITS.

A TKEATISE ON" -^^ ^^^i'' ®^^

Hi

PRACTICAL HORSEMANSHIP.

'^

BY

COL. J. C. BATTEESBY,

LATE FIKST NEW TORK (LINCOLN) CAVALKY ("THE GALLANT FIKST NEW TOKK "),
CUSTEK'S DIVISION, SHEEIDAN'S CORPS, AKMY OF THE SHENANDOAH, U S. A.

ILLUSTRATED.

NEW YORK:

0. JUDD CO., DAVID W. JUDD, Pres't.

751 BKOADWAY.

1886.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1886, by the

O. JUUD CO.,

Ill the Office of the Librarian ol Congress, at Washington.

£3Z8

LN.' VARSITY

PENKSYUMM4IA,

LIBRAHlCJb

PUBLISHERS' PREFACE.

^ A long and varied experience with horses, in both
Vv. civil and military capacities in different countries, gives
^ Colonel Battersby the ability to be of essential service

[—;) both to the horse and to his owner in this volume. The
treatise is not on bits alone, but on breaking and training

"^ . horses for every use to which they are respectively adapt-
ed, particularly to their use under the saddle and be-
fore the carriage. The important part played by the
bit in its various forms in rendering the horse the docile,
willing servant he is, in promoting man's profit and
pleasure, leads to the adoption of the title of the book.
It is at once specific and comprehensive. Tender consid-
eration and respect for the horse is the impression the
author makes and inculcates — that by proper mouthing,
training, use and treatment he can be made all the more
serviceable, and at the same time more agreeable to his
rider or driver in the performance of his work.

Tlie position Colonel Battersby had as Assistant In-
spector General in Sheridan's Cavalry Corps, and under
the gallant Custer and his ever successful commander, is
a guarantee that he may be considered authority on what
he says regarding cavalry bits and bridles. The charac-
teristics of a large number of the animals used as carriage
horses, as depicted by the author, together with his clear
explanations as to the style to be sought and the method
to secure it, are well worthy the attention of breeders,
while no horseman can peruse the volume without profit
to himself and essential benefit to the noble animal in
whose interest the book is largely written.

^ (5)

CONTENTS.

Bxge.
Introduction 9

CHAPTER I.
Horsemanship and Training.— The Mouthinnj Bit; First Deforce;
Second Lesson in Training; Handling Rein; Wild and Tamed
Horses ; The Saddle-Horse ; Steps and Motions ; Snaffle Bit ;
Nature, Art and Science ; Difference in Horses' Ideas; Instruc-
tors' Errors in Principle 16

CHAPTER II.

English vs. Irish Riding.— Portraits of English and Irish Saddle-
Hoises ; Condition of the Rider ; Horse-leap Church ; Jumping
the Baurene ; Topping the Wall ; The Pound Wall ; The Use of
the Ears ; Using the Horse as a Watch ; Habits ; Intelligence
of the Mule ; Signs of Good and Bad Horses for the Saddle ;
Leading Horses ; The Pelham Bit 35

CHAPTER III.

The Bit-and-Bridoon for Saddle-Hoeses.— The Curb ; The Mar-
tingale 53

CHAPTER IV.
The Cavalry Bit.— Mounted Police ; Mounted Police Bit; Finger-
ing the Reins 60

CHAPTER V.
The Cavalry Bit-and-Bkidoon.— The Bridoon Bit in Action ; Cav-
alry Charge— Point to the Front— Cut to the Rear; Foreign or
Eastern Bits 54.

CHAPTER VI.
Cavalry^ or Military Bit 70

CHAPTER VII.
Mexican Ring Bit 76

CHAPTER VIII.
Eastern Horses 80

CHAPTER IX.

The Mole Bit.— The Donkey Bit 89

(7)

8 CONTENTS.

CHAPTER X,

DRiviNa Bits.— The Bridoon Bit with Rings ; Portraits of Saddle,
Carnage and Draft Horses 93

CHAPTER XI.
The Bridoon Bit with Half Guards 96

CHAPTER XII.
Bridoon Bit with Double Joint and Half Guards.— Common
Snaffle Bit ; Plain Snaffle 97

CHAPTER XIII.
The Double-Jointed Snaffle Bit.— Pantograph Snaffle ; Double-
Barred Snaffle ia Use ; Doubly Severe ; Wire Snaffle Bit 99

CHAPTER XIV.
The Bar Bit. — Packing Box Buggy 103

CHAPTER XV.
Bar Bits, Straight and Curved, with Liverpool Slide. — Posi-
tions in Running ; Straight-Jacliet ; Norman Stallions; Contra-
dictions 112

CHAPTER XVI.
Carriage Bar Bit with Curb and Bearing Rein 119

CHAPTER XVII.

The Carriage Bit-and- Bridoon.— Operation of the Bridoon ; Style
vs. Bridoon and Check Rein Abandoned ; Occupant of the Car-
riage ; Passing in Review ; Jewelry of the Turnout ; Breeding
for the Carriage; Mated, not Matched Horses; Selling Ill-
Matched Teams ; Small Per Cent, of Carriage Horses; Horses,
Carriages and Harness ; Stock to Breed From ; Flying Childers ;
Breeding the Wrong Way ; No Style or Grace in Short-Legged
Horses ; The Carriage Horse 123

CHAPTER XVllL
The Use of Blinds on Horses 130

CHAPTER XIX.
Feeding 132

CHAPTER XX.
Now A Word to the Cavalry Man 136

CHAPTER XXI.
Some Unnecessary Tortures 138

THE BRIDLE BITS.

" Be ye not as the horse and mule, which have no un-
derstanding, whose mouth must be held in with bit and
bridle."

INTRODUCTION.

Of all the instruments in general everyday use the most
indispensable and the most universally employed in all
the great operations of life, for both pleasure and profit
in every land, is the bridle bit. Apart from the farm,
truck, cart and car-horse bit, it is least understood and
most abused in all its secret and various practical ap-
plications of any instrument used. If mechanics must
serve their time to learn to handle the tools used in
their trades, why not the equestrian ? Yet there is
no implement in such general use of which the dic-
tionaries and enclyclopedias are so neglectful, and in
some respects silent, as this. "While Webster's diction-
ary explains and illustrates nearly everything from a
needle to an anchor, from an elephant to a mouse, and
from a condor to a tomtit, it neglects to illustrate a
bridle bit, and one cyclopedia gives no explanation of
the terms : snaffle bit, bar bit, bridoon bit, Pelham bit,
martingale, bearing rein, rein, saddle, bridle, harness,
etc., etc., but ignores them altogether.

It is therefr^re, no wonder that a general ignorance pre-
(9)

10 THE BRIDLE BITS.

vails of a theoretical, as well as a practical knowledge of
horsemanship, when the instruments employed in the
first principles of its arts are repudiated by a pretended
repository of general knowledge, and the people thus left
to the stable-boy instead of the library for information
on the subject. The bit has a wide field in both its
general use and its individual operations which, in the
saddle horse's mouth, is or should be magical. Every
horse we see employed has a bit in his mouth; every
race is lost and won with the bit, and under its manage-
ment millions of dollars a year change hands.

The utmost art of the maker of fancy iron jewelry is
centered in the bit and its appendages, of every stylish
equipage. The bit plays its part in all the equine feats,
interests and operations in every land, whether civilized
or barbaric, in both peace and war, and in the truck, cart,
car and agricultural interests it plays its most humble yet
important part. While in war, a nation might as well
lay down its arms as to relinquish the bit.

Aside from the use of bits in the mercantile world, in the
quartermaster general's department of the army millions
of dollars were spent for bits alone during our late re-
bellion. There were employed in the cavalry branch of
our gallant army 375,000 horses. Every horse had two
bits assigned him, and without counting the renewal of
the supply after the ordinary losses in war, this number
alone will suffice to show the demand there was for a sup-
ply for that single arm of the service, in which at the
present time there are only 20,000 bits supposed to be in
actual daily use.

Outside of this number which is used only with the
saddle, the demand for other branches of the service and
in civil life, is beyond an exact calculation, but an ap-
proximate number and value may be guessed at when we
consider that there are thirteen millions and eighty-four
thousand (13,084,000) horses and mules in the United

INTRODUCTION". 11

States and Territories ; and, as every animal in use re-
quires a bit, we may allow that 12,000,000 of animals are
employed, and that this number of bits is in actual daily
use, while the surplus in every stable would cover the whole
number of horses in the country, and if the average price
be allowed of fifty (50) cents, we have a trade value
in bridle bits alone amounting, at a low estimate, to
$6,542,000 against 6994,949,376 worth of horse and mule
flesh subservient to the bridle bit, in 1883.

To show how little the saddle and harness were used in
New York City some thirty years ago (Compared with the
present time, there were only two harness stores in the
city where a first-class outfit for a gentleman's stable es-
tablishment could be procured. These were Wood Gib-
son, corner of Broadway and Fulton street, and Trainer's,
corner of Broadway and White street.

The opening of the Central Park gave a stimulus to
both riding and driving ; but while the latter has made
gigantic strides, the former advanced slowly up to within
a year or two. When it will end is uncertain, for in the
United States the custom is to run a thing ''into the
ground," and when it becomes vulgar from common use,
it becomes unfashionable and is then dropped altogether.
Then great sacrifices are made in the sale of the material.

The only branch of equestrian amusements that we
may really expect to see last, is one in which money is to
be made. We hope, however, tliat the fashion for riding
will last until stockmen begin to feel a regular demand
for saddle horses, and that they will breed up to the style
required. At present it is ridiculous to compare the an-
imals, for 'both saddle and harness, with the advertise-
ments vaunting their "superior qualities " when they
are offered for snle. Now, however, that hunting,
racing, steeple-chasing and other sports and amateur ac-
complishments in the saddle have become so general as a
means of enjoyment, and a taste for everything equine is

13 THE BKIDLE BITS.

being cultivated and developed in both sexes, it is neces-
sary to study and j^ractice " the art and science " of horse-
manship, so long as the mania lasts ; otherwise the pros-
pect of broken necks, as the result of unskilled enthu-
siasts in equestrian performances, are likely to render the
amusement and criticism of spectators anything but
agreeable to the riders.

There is general ignorance in this country in regard to
the respective uses of the great variety of bits, as well as
in regard to the proper way of holding and fingering the
reins, the delicate use of the bit and the management of
the horse. The consequent uncertainty of performance
is inevitable with men who bravely try to imitate a kind of
horsemanship to which they were not trained in youth,
owing of course to a want of place and ojjportunity and
general daily practice in the field.

Heretofore practical horsemanship had been little
known in our more Eastern States ; having fair roads we
preferred the buggy to the saddle, but in consequence of
equestrian tastes acquired in the late war by the enor-
mous body of cavalry that the emergency created, ama-
teur riding is now more practiced as an amusement than
as a necessity. There is raw material in the young people
of both sexes in the Southern States^ of which excellent
riders are made. A country life and " dirt roads " in the
interior require the daily use of the saddle as a means of
intercommunication, and this has necessitated horseman-
ship and given an excellent seat to many Avhose training
and skill have developed with their years.

Forty years ago a clerk in a New York counting-house
would liave been reprimanded by his employer, and run
the risk of dismissal, if he Avere known to keep a horse.
Times, however, have changed and with them many
despotic restrictions and fanatical ideas, and now clubs
for every game, accomplishment and amusement that tend
to develop the muscle and the mind exist and are being

INTKODUCTION". 13

openly organized. *'Dandy" Marks was the observed of all
observers, wlien some forty years ago he used to drive down
Broadway in his tilbury and bob-tailed tandem. In this
enjoyment he had the New York City field to himself with
the exception of Doctor Hugh Caldwell, of peninsular
war fame, who knew how to sit and drive.

Now that the game of polo calls for the small, active
horse, powerful bit, and delicate and skillful handling in
sudden stops and short turns, we can fancy the dexterous
use that was made of the bit in olden times when hand to
hand encounters were common between tilting knights
and champions of rival armies, who were jealous of each
otlier's prowess, and whose honor, valor and fame
were decided by the address, skill and gallantry of the
respective contestants in the fight.

With what ancestral pride can the Lords and Com-
mons of the British Isles, at the present time, point to
the rusting armor, the blood-stained spear, the iron
gauntlet, the sword and sabre-tache, the spur, battle-
axe and breast-plate, the armorial bearings and crests
aAvarded for gallant deeds, tlie antique saddle, the fancy
shabrack, the weather-beaten bandoleer, the costly
bridle, and the gorgeous bit that are handed down from
warriors of old. Their skillful use decided the transient
fates of nations, made kings and emperors, and over-
threw and established thrones and dynasties, with their
frequent invasions, their terror and their sway; now they
rest in the silent and majestic dignity of victorious death,
as material evidences of the truth of the history that
they made. Apparently conscious of their own renown,
they prove to the sceptical mind, whose prejudiced
thoughts, mingled with silent admiration and af-
fected scorn to suit the new state of things that,
through the events which followed in the wake of bloody
onslauglits and exterminating wars, waged by their dex-
terous and incessant use, the Auglo-!Saxou race is frec^

14 THE BRIDLE BITS.

and that the titles and escutcheons that they gained for
their gallant lords, and which are secured by patents
royal to succeeding generations, are no empty heirlooms
to be lost in the lapse of time, or battled for again.
Their work is done, and they now hang in the dust and
cobwebs of ancient halls, and the nooks and corners of
castles that they won. These very castles gave shelter
to sovereigns and subjects, generals and glittering staffs,
nobles in armor, assembled armies, and brilliant gather-
ings of the beautiful and admiring fair. All this con-
tributed to the pride and power that followed in the train
of the war-horse and the bit, and the independence of a
great and a mighty empire.

It is therefore to the study and practical knowledge of
the special uses of the more modern bits, in these days of
more peaceful pursuits in private life, that we invite the
attention of the would-be horsemen who have taste and
talents for equestrian enjoyments.

We cannot refer to history without being reminded of
triumphant entries of vast armies returning from foreign
wars to cities and capitals of their respective nations,
headed by their leaders, be they sovereign or subject,
mounted on chargers of "high and lofty mien," champ-
ing on their bits dripping with foam, while the tinseled
and dazzling bridles of scarlet and gold shivered in the
breeze, to the wonder of the vulgar and the envy of the
great.

The bit long since established its virtues, both in peace
and war, and it is still called upon in a figurative way to
adorn the painter's canvas by throwing the Arab steed
into all the graceful attitudes portrayed by art. Here we
see pictured in all the shades and brilliant coloring of
semi-barbarous tribes, the Arab chief, the Eastern prince,
the Cossack of the Don, the nimble Circassian and the
Spanish grandee, mounted upon horses to match their
respective spheres. The bridles, of various degrees of

INTRODUCTION. 15

costliness, that dangle from tlieir bits are adorned with
gold and silver ornaments, costly jewels and delicate
workmanship, of which not only the rider but the liorse
seems proud, and, while wondering at its power and
romantic history, we grant the bit the symbolic palm.

Under the restraint of the bit "the horse paweth in
the valley and rejoiceth in his strength ; he goeth on to
meet the armed men ; he mocketh at fear and is not af-
frighted, neither turneth he back from the sword ; the
quiver rattleth against him, the quivering spear and the
shield." Thus anterior to and since the days of Xenophon
on the plains of Babylon, vast legions of men from remote
ages have been manoeuvred and led by generals and mon-
archs, who held the bit in one hand and the destinies of
nations in the other.

Empires and nations rise, decay and fall.

But still the bit survives and rules and -conquers all.

Fiw 1.— MOUTHING BIT.

CHAPTER I.

HOESEMANSHIP AND TRAINING.

Before proceeding with our subject it may be well to
define the words horseman and rider, so that we can bet-
ter understand their true definitions. The word horse-
man, in its original and proper sense, is the term
used to denote thorough skill in the knowledge and
management of the horse under the saddle, while the
word rider is applied to a man on horseback, and
whose skill is described by the prefix good or bad.
But at the present time in the United States the word
''horseman" is applied to a man who can ride a horse
fifty or a hundred miles on the stretch, or until he drops
dead while the rider survives. To a man who likes,
fancies, sells, buys, cleans, drives, trades or spends his
time or money with horses, while he may have no dispo-
sition or ability to get on a horse's back, this slang word,
" horseman," is applied. The terms horseman and rider
are equivalent to tlie words mu.siciaa and player, for
while any number of people can play, but a small per-
centage of them are musicians. It is unfortunate that
the word horseman, like the word city, should take such
(IG)

HOKSEMANSHIP AND TRAINING. 17

a wide and meaningless range. But in using the words
farther on, the reader will understand our meaning of
both, for with us they are by no means synonymous, any
more than speaker and orator are in the oral world.

HORSEMANSHIP.

Horsemanship is considered by some to be more of an
art than a science — that one has nothing to do but to learn
the knack of sticking on and then ram a horse at a fence,
whether he will or no, and expect a safe leap beyond all
perad venture, not considering that the source of the
bound is in the horse's brain, which must be prepared be-
fore the body. Art is manifested in matter, in operations
of the physique, while science appertains to the mind —
the invisible. The man at the helm understands the art
of steering, Avhile science and the compass tell him where
to go. Thus, in horsemanship art and science are com-
bined, and so closely connected in any critical perform-
ance that they are inseparable for success. The theory
and practice must be united, as well in the horse as in
his rider, for in equestrian feats these are the exercise
and power of mind over matter, and when theory and
practice are united and in proportion, and the material
and opportunities good, success follows.

It is a mistake to think that strength and brute force,
or hap-hazard practice, will insure success. If, to keep
the ship in her regular course and prevent her shipping
a sea, a gentle touch of the hand on the wheel will suf-
fice, what an infinitesimal touch on the reins should
suffice to guide, with the same hand, so small an animal
as a horse. Yet we often see the reins and bit handled
with the same amount of strength that would manage
the rudder of a seventy-four-gun battle-ship.

By way of distinction we designate the bridle with a
single bit and two reins, like the Pelham bridle, a double-
reined bridle, for the reason that it has only one bit, one

18 THE BRIDLE BITS.

headstall and two reins, and is therefore double-reined.
But the bridle with two bits, two headstalls and two
reins, like the bit and bridoon, is a double bridle in
three respects. It is customary to call the bit and bri-
doon a double-reined bridle, but as it has three distinct
sets we consider it a double bridle.

In referring to the bits or bridles we will designate
each name or number, as may be convenient. These
are the great and ordinary bits of the "world, and
although they are used in different ways, both double
and single, and additions are made to render them
stronger, more secure or ornamental, to suit the fancy
and special cases, they all answer the same purpose, that
of controlling the horse according to his peculiar dispo-
sition and the service required of him. As a general
rule, horses that require bits of extraordinary power or
severity are either naturally vicious or headstrong, or
were spoiled in breaking, the latter being the most pro-
lific cause.

As we cannot satisfactorily describe a bit without de-
scribing its peculiar uses and effects upon the horse, we
must allude to training, riding, driving and horseman-
ship, and the advantages of skill and proficiency in
handling the reins, and shall begin with

THE MOUTHING BIT.

This is the first and only bit that should be used with
a young horse during his first year's training or breaking
into the use of the bit, in any shape for riding or driving,
or until he is put to his future employment, be that the
saddle or harness. In breaking in a young horse the
evil most to be feared is the chafing or cutting of the
corners of his mouth by the pressure of a bad bit — bad
for the purpose of mouthing. The reguUir moutliing bit,
represented on page 16, is a large-sized, clumsy snaffle,
with one joint in the center between the bars. The bars

HORSEMANSHIP AND TRAINING. 19

are an inch thick at the guards and taper slightly to tho
joint, from which a flat oval plate of steel about an inch
and a quarter or so long is suspended by two small rings,
and from three holes in the lower edge of the plate three
iron tags hang.

The operations of this bit are as follows : The thick
bars, at the guards, is where they press the corners "of
the mouth, and being large they are not so apt to cut
and chafe the mouth as small bars are, for by constant
chafinof and breakins; of the skin at the tender and bare
part of the m.outh it becomes callous, and the horse is
apt to ignore the gentle pull of the reins ; and by the
driver's getting in the habit of pulling at the bit, he
himself becomes a puller by degrees, thinking that that
is what his driver wants him to do, for horses are often
puzzled to know what we mean, and to know how to use
the bit so as to reach their understanding is the result of
theory and practice. The tags upon the oval plate hang
upon and tickle the horse's tongue, and thus keep him
jilaving with the bit, his mouth in motion and himself on
the move. The guards are double and long to prevent the
possibility of drawing the bit through the mouth, and
thus giving the horse an advantage in a struggle with
his trainer.

The rings are large to admit of strong headstall and
reins, which are buckled on, and are so adjusted as to
be just long enough to reach and fasten on to the surcin-
gle Avhen the horse's head is in its most natural and easy
position. The reins should be fastened to the surcingle,
so as to pull straight and square for this purpose ; if the
reins are not so made, a knot should be tied on the loop
of the reins and tho loop, Ix'ing exactly in the centre,
fastened to the terret on the pad of the surcingle, so as to
keep the horse's head straight to prevent accidents and
ensure an evenly made mouth and carriage. A crupper is
used to keep the surcingle in its place, and especially so

20 THE BRIDLE ClTo.

when the reins are shortened as the mouthing progresses.
In th3 future degrees of mouthing and breaking in, in the
progress of which we are to be led or guided in the man-
agement of the pupil, when disposition and temper are a
study, a well set up horse has his mouth on a level
with the line of his back ; but while we cannot change
the natural angle of a neck, we can improve it a little as
to grace, whatever may be the angle. This is to be at-
tended to in the first lessons in mouthing. There is
nothing better calculated to expose the "lunk-head"
than the using of all sorts of contrivances to make him
hold his head up, and thus try to play carriage-horse
with a plow-horse.

FIRST DEGREE.

The colt is now patted, caressed and turned loose into
a yard or paddock where he can walk about playing with
his bit, and where he feels disposed to make friends with
any person he can reach by walking up coaxingly, ex-

Fig. 2.— SECOND LESSON IN TRAINING.

pecting or asking, in horse pantomime, to take the thing
off. We can fancy how he feels, and how charitably we
should feel towards him while he is studying his A, B, C.
In this way he learns to yield to the pressure of tlie bit,
and becomes so sensitive to the least pull of the reins
that the motion of his tail will affect the crupper and
communicate tlie touch throngli the reins to his mouth.
We are now making a moutli for a horseman, not for a
mere rider who depends on the reins for his seat. Resist-

HOESEMANSHIP AND TRAINING. 21

ance to the pnll of the rein is what the mouthing bit and
these lessons teach the colt not to try. He is like a
man in a straight-jacket — he can do nothing.

All the articles used in the tirst lesson are the mouthing
hit, crupper and surcingle, and should not be changed
until the second degree requires something else. To
facilitate the making of the mouth and obedience to the
touch of the reins on this bit, two hard rope lines, fif-
teen feet long, with handles made of double plaited rope
the thickness of a clothes-line. These should be fastened by
spring hooks to the rings of the bit and passed through
the terrets on the surcingle, and the trainer, taking the
reins in both hands, drive the colt quietly on a beaten
track that he knows ; and when used to this, after several
lessons, place a number of wagons, carts, buggies, etc..

Fig. 3.— HANDLING BEIN.

about forty feet apart, and drive him through them
quietly on a walk, making the figure 8, right and left
and back again. As the colt learns these lessons and
goes through the wagons, turning of his own accord, place
the wagons closer together, thus making the turns shorter.
When he knows what you want him to do he will like
the exercise, and expect to be petted when his daily busi-
ness is over and his head rubbed with a wisp.

Handles of reins are about two feet long, and the reins
one and a half inch in diameter ; and the lines are one-
half inch in diameter. The cavesson and lunge are used
in the third and future degrees.

Time, patience, gentleness and regularity with the use
of these three instruments and the reins are necessary
to break in and make the mouth what it should be, es-
pecially for the saddle. Instead of this, most young
horses come to our city markets broken in with all kinds
of bits ; frequently with small sharp bits, with which colts

22 THE BRIDLE BITS.

are usually ridden by farm boys after the cows — and
when pnt in harness, and are at all fast, are trained on
the road to pull the bnggy by the bit, for which accom-
plishment they are recommended as "smart" and
" likely critters," The young horse is thus brought to
the sale stable and sold to a new master, when he has to
undergo the torture of submitting to strange voices,
hands, feed, place, smells, saddle, harness, work and bit.
But we have him fresh, perhaps, from the farm yard,
and the questions are : What is he lit for ? What bit has
he been broken with ? What bit will he bear and go best
with ? If he was handled on the farm it is likely he
never had a mouthing bit or cavesson on, and that the
man who bred or broke him never used or even saw a
mouthing bit, cavesson or lunge, or would know what
they were for if he did see them.

These are some of the risks we have to run in selecting
a young horse for a special use. A young horse is like a
girl ; he must be tried in harness before we can tell what
his future will be A girl don't remain what she is. If
she is good, she gets better aft^^r marriage. If she is bad,
she gets worse. Bad dispositioned girls seldom reform
with experience, and generally get worse and more hate-
ful under oppression or coercion, while many are beyond
the reach of kindness. If the colt has been pretty well
broken in, in the farmer's way, for general use, the work
he is to do, and the bit he is to wear for the future at that
work, should be judiciously selected and put on an
old and easy-fitting headstall, and if he takes to it and it
• suits him it should never be changed, nor he from his
adopted service. He will not make a saddle-horse to-day
and a harness-horse to-morrow. His life is too short to
learn any two things perfectly, as the means used to
train him for one occupation neutralizes his proficiency in
the other. If you select him for a saddle-horse, take care
that he is one, Tlio saddle-horse is created, not made.

HORSEMANSHIP AND TRAINING. 23

We may make his mouth and teach him to do many
tilings, so that wo can use his natural, mental and physical
(lualitications in teaching hiiu accomi)lislnnents, and to
look upon his rider as his friend and companion ; but,
while these are natural under proper treatment in this
peculiar service, he was a saddle-horse before he was
foaled. If not, he never could be made one, although he
could be used and tortured as a riding horse ; but lie
don't ''fill the bill."

In dwelling on the term saddle-horse we do so to im-
press the reader with the idea that he is a peculiar speci-
men of the species. He is the embodiment of all that is
great and grand in the equine nature — in his breeding,
shape, figure, symmetry, quality, muscle, bone, dura-
bility, mettle, endurance, temper, disposition, instincts,
style, action, intellect and pluck, all of which requii-e to
be of the first order, for he has many things to learn in
the space of some five years, when he must be able to
master his profession before he gets too stiff to please,
and to take things as they come. Yet, with all the above
qualities, he may be unsound and not worth a rap. But
if he possess all the qualities we seek, and it is intended
we shall require in him, no wonder he is associated with
angels and chariots in heaven, as represented in many
parts of the Bible, and especially in Revelations. His
work is so varied, and at times so complicated, that, fail-
ing in respect to one qualification, he would be sure to
fail in some performance at, perhaps, a critical moment
when life or death, loss or gain, depended on his per-
fection in one point and performance therewith. When
we occasionally see a born saddle-horse, or the material
for one, we follow him with a covetous eye, and wonder
if he ever went to school and if his owner knows what he
has got.

But, apart from a day with the fox or stag hounds, the
saddle-horse, for mere pleasure in the less arduous duties

24 THE BRIDLE BITS.

of an ordinary ridinf^-horse, should have all the above
qualities, which, although undeveloped, give him the
moral and physical aptitude for pleasure and general ser-
vice under the saddle, as well as tlie usual desire for the
companionship of his rider and ready obedience to his
will. The saddle-hoi'se is different from the racer, which
is bred, kept and used as a racer alone, the only object in
breeding and training him being speed. The latter is
earning his living under the pig-skin before the saddle-
horse is taken in hand to mouth and train, or is even
backed. If forty years ago our fancy time was "2:40,"
and by mere breeding and training for trotting alone we
have come down to 2:8 y^, Avhat wonderful feats are pos-
sible for the saddle-horse which has all the necessary
qualities and all required advantages in training for
both the trotter and steeple-chaser, if he be properly
bitted, mouthed, trained and ridden. For if the six-
teenth of a second makes the difference between victory
and defeat in trotting, what a difference there must be
between the certainty and uncertainty of the perform-
ance of a hunter that is properly and one that is im-
properly handled, when the future of a man's neck de-
pends on that difference ! The few accidents that occur
in a winter's hunting in the British Isles, with one hun-
dred and twenty-four (124) packs of hounds, bear ample
evidence of the perfection of the system adopted inbreed-
ing, training, and the principles and skill practiced in
riding, which is the greatest and most perfect of all the
different kinds of horsemansliip throughout the world;
for the horse and his rider must be of one mind in tak-
ing the chances that, under the most favorable circum-
stances, attend the strain that is forced upon both in
taking a leap that, in cool blood, would seem like mad-
ness.

It is an interesting coincidence, that during the last
forty years the reduction of trotting time has kept pace

HORSEMANSHIP AND TRAINING, 35

with that of the ships' voyage to and from Europe. The
trotting time has been reduced in the ratio of a second to
a day, i.e., from 2:40 in 1840 to 2:8 y^ in 1885, while the
voyages of forty days in 1840 are reduced to seven in
1886, thus gaining the advantage of thirty-three days,
and on the trotting of eight and three-quarter seconds.
In this respect the telegraph and the telephone have liad
a pretty close race, but whether the trotter will ever
exist that Avill reduce the time by two seconds and thi-ee-
quarters and thus get even with the voyages is a question
of great interest to breeders. That it will occur Ave have
no doubt, for there are many geldings of extraordinary
capacity that might have worked wonders in the stables
had they been kept as sires.

Any person possessing a taste for riding or diiving
must admire the variety and perfection of the bits manu-
factured in England, some of which are here represent-
ed. The best maker is rewarded by the patronage of the
crown, and he becomes "maker to Her Majesty." This
is his patent, and he is then patronized by the connois-
seurs— the rank, wealth and fashion of the land — and
the demand for exportation to the colonies and the
United States is enormous. To get the most out of every-
thing with the greatest facility, the very best articles are
used. This is so in the choice of saddle and harness bits.

Some parents and teachers are too apt to put inferior
instruments or tools into the hands of children, if they
put any ; and if any person objects, they say, " Oh, it is
good enough for a child ;" so, on this principle the child
is expected to succeed in doing something with a tool
that the very best workman or -professor could not use
successfully. Look at the box of tools that is given to a
little boy. There is no steel in any of them, and having
no edge they won't cut, and nobody would take the
trouble to sharpen them if they had. So the child's
efforts to follow the example of some man he saw at work.

26 THE BRIDLE BITS.

fail, and he becomes discouraged after repeated trials.
Instead of the best kind of drawing pencil and paper, in-
ferior paper, and perhaps a slide case-pencil is given him
to draw with ; and when he tries his best, with his nose
on the paper and his tongue out, he fails to represent
anything. Then, when he tells his mother that he can-
not do it, she says. ''Oh, go on ; try again." "But I
can't mamma."' " Well, then go to bed." This is sense
vs. instinct. The time comes in after-life when Ave look
back at the useless things that were put into our hands
while children, struggling to learn that which with the
very best advantages was a strain upon the child's pa-
tience and faculties, and unproductive of any advantage.

This is unfortunately often so with the young horse.
Anything in the shape of a bit or bridle is thought
good enough for a colt. vSo intelligent an animal as a
horse must, like the child, wonder why he can't do what
seems perfectly easy when done by others. The fact is
that with an inferior bit, a man fails to convey an idea to
the colt. ^Ye have a qvasi equestrian monument in our
mind's eye, to be erected to the memory of and out of re-
spect for Mr. Bergh, for his having procured a law to
protect horses, and that makes "assault and battery" in
the stable a penal offense. But his full measure of
charity for the horse will never be exhausted until he
regulates by law the width of the horse-stalls, which are
now so narrow that a poor, tired horse can't straighten
out his legs when he lies down. Mr. Bergh himself
knows, perhaps, how he suffers in a night's journey in a
train, when he can't straighten out his legs.

There is a very prolific source of abuse in chucking at
the horse's mouth with the reins to make him go on or
stop. With a severe bit, this is torture; with any bit, it
is cruelty and wrong under any circumstances, unless in
a necessary case. The horse throws his head up as if to
say, "Stop ! I will ! I will !— don't ! don't !" But the

HORSEMANSHIP AND TRAINING. 37

heartless savage chucks tlie more, to punish the horse
for, perhaps, a little impatience under the pressure of late
hours and an empty stomach that makes a horse, as well
as a man, impatient. We don't believe there is one civil
riding- master in twenty who instructs his pupils in tlic
nature and uses of the bits he gives them to handle. Are
there any ? Equestrian pupils are left to find out and learn
from others as best they may, as boys in public schools are
left to tliemselves to learn to write without regular daily
instruction. It is well they are not allowed to take their
copies home. Why ?

In parts of the world where it is considered superfluous
to devote either time, patieuc^ or kindness in breaking

Fift-. 4. — WILD.

in young horses, brute force and cruelty are resorted to,
and they soon tell on the spirit of the animal, which
never recovers from the unnatural treatment and abuse.
The Mexican lop-eared ass is an evidence of this, for
cruelty is the only word he seems to utter or represent,
with a repeated Au-eh? Au. We captured a band of wild
horses on the plains of the Pacific slope in the early days
('49) of California, and while handling a young, spirited
animal, with appropriate consideration for his surprise at
being a captive, a Chilian, who was looking on, said, on
seeing our treatment of the colt: "That is not the way
we break in horses in Chili." As we were curious to
know the course pursued there, we handed him over the
colt to break in according to his Chilian method. He
tied the colt's head, with a lasso, to a tree in his front.

28

THE BRIDLE BITS.

and tied one liind leg by the foot to a tree in his rear,
giving the colt about six feet play of both ropes. He
now took off his jacket (red leather of native tan and
grease), and taking it by the collar, beat the horse in the
head, right and left, until he (the Chilian) was as tired
of the performance as we were at seeing the brutal Chilian
plan. We stood amazed at the process, and although our
blood ooiled with indignation, we resisted the temptation
to interfere, for it is by doing wrong that we learn to do
right, and as this was an experience new to us we were
willing to sacrifice a wild horse to learn from it. The

Fis:. 5.— TAMING.

result of this beating was, as both the Chilian and we
expected, perfectly successful. The colt was tame beyond
conception from the time he was taken from the trees,
and gave no further trouble in handling ; but his spirit
in that short time v^^as broken, as the horse life was taken
out of him forever, and so perfectly subdued was he
that he walked listlessly about with his head and ears
down, heedless of what went on around him.

This, of course, was abuse in the extreme, but it serves
to show that milder acts of cruelty and rough treatment
have proportionate effects, and that a timid young horse,
while bridled up in a new position, with his mouth full
of loose iron annoying him, should be kept out of the

HORSEMANSHIP AND TRAINING. 29

hands of a man who loses temper and patience at liis
awkwardness and unintentional disobedience or mistakes.
Besides, some men witli tlie best intentions have peculiar
ideas of what is right ; and as there are men born for
every business in life, those who have dealings with the
minds and disi)ositions of animals should be selected ac-
cording to principle, and thus the right man put in the
right place. Yet in the family circle, as well as in the
stable, there are men with furious tempers who are can-
didates for love, domestic happiness and willing obedi-
ence of all around them. How common it is for an
inconsiderate, nervous " crank" to take a young, inexpe-
rienced and timid girl at her parents' hands to wife, and

Fig. 6. — TAMED.

expect her to fall into all his ways and pleasures, and
please him in all his whims and fancies. And when she
fails in trifling points, she has to submit to his irritable
disposition and sallies of temj^er, and thus, before she
has had time to know his natui'e and ways, his likes and
dislikes, and to learn to comply with a heart-felt desire
to please, her spirit becomes broken. The strain is
put on too soon, and many a good girl gets spoiled by
such men, who think the whole art and science of pleas-
ing must be embodied in their wives' dispositions, and
none in their own. The anger, selfishness and unkind
treatment of such men are out of proportion to the sup-
posed neglect or offence. It is unfortunately sometimes
so on both sides, "when Greek meets Greek."

But, fortunately for our equine companion, we find this

30 THE BRIDLE BITS.

less common in the stable than in the social circle, where
the girl or the boy at a certain age has some means of
defence from undue parental coercion and restraint, but
"wherever they go they are apt to carry in their expression
that peculiar and unmistakable hang-dog lip and cheek
as evidence of sulk and dissatisfaction incident to cuffing
and scolding, forced obedience, and consequently unhappy
homes, like the Mexican ass. Forcing compliance in
either man or beast, is done under protest of the forced,
at every step, rather than through a spirit of cheerful
compliance, fostered by that kind and gentle treatment
to which the domestic animal will always yield. The
child that is scolded, the dog that is whipped and kicked,
the woman who has an irritable, nervous crank to please,
and the horse that is chucked, are alike ruined in such
moulding of their tempers and dispositions. Persons
thus persecuted have two faces — one for the house and
the other for the street. The house face prevails, because
it is most used.

THE SADDLE-HORSE.

If the reader has a fancy for the saddle, we w^ould like
to have him understand that the saddle-horse's mouth
is, or should be, very sensitive to the guiding touch of
the reins, while it should resist the straiglit pull in being
lifted at the leap. This strain shor.ld come on the bit
from both reins equally, to insure which the reins must
be held in only one hand, and that the left, assisted, if re-
required, by tlie right or whip hand. The best bit for
this purpose is the plain snaftlc. Being simple in its
operation, it is less apt to confuse a horse than any other
bit used in riding. If held by cx2:)crt hands, it is not so
apt as others to give uncertain signals and cause the
horse to make mistakes at critical moments, when it is
out of his or his rider's power to rectify them. The
voice of the rider and not the bit should have a ireneral

HOESEMANSHIP AND TRAINING.

31

controlling influeuce, as much so in proportion as the
balance seat should support the rider in the saddle in-
steai of the reins, and it is in this that the horseman
has the advantacje.

STEPS AND MOTIONS.

Every horse has a peculiar step and motion, either easy
or rough. Under the saddle they are felt more than in
any other service. As the horse is built so are his steps

Fig. 7. — SNAFFLE BIT.

and motions, and like those of men, they cannot be ma-
terially changed, for the peculiar sliape and construction
of the frame naturally creates them ; while the riding
and the bit used may tend to make them better or worse
in the horse. The fox-trot is the gait of a spoiled horse.
This gait is created by bad riding, or by using the bit and
bridoon at the same time. With this gait it is "heads
or tails" which gets tired first — the horse or the rider.

The flat-footed man, instead of walking from his toe,
walks from the inner side of his foot ; his step is sliort,
and having no hollow in his foot, he cannot bend it and
he consequently picks up his foot before his step is quite
finished. Horses, in the same way, from either some
malformation or the use of the wrong bit, badly chosen
and worse held, have very objectionable gaits and mo-

32 THE BRIDLE BITS.

tions. We have heard pupils of both sexes profess a dis-
like to riding, for the probable reason that they were put
ou such horses to take their first lessons and became dis-
gusted. A dog-cart that goes hop-pid-de-bob would be a
bad vehicle to recommend to a novice, if we wanted his
opinion of the pleasure of driving.

A well-joroportioned horse has no naturally contracted
motions, and the facility with which he can do every-
thing encourages him in all his performances. He is
always at his rider's service with a cheerful air. He
should be ridden with a snaffle ; or, if he has on a bit-
and-bridoon, ride him in ordinary on the bridoon. He
wants to be free, and the curb is out of place with him
except on special occasions, when it serves the double
purpose of either showing ofE or gathering him up for a
canter.

HESITATING STEPS.

The difference between the step of a horse going from
his stable and that on his returning to it, is very great.
The former is hesitating and disagreeable under the sad-
dle, while the latter is most desirable and pleasant to the
rider ; yet both the rider and driver feci the reluctance
with which he steps out in the former, -while in the
latter he is like another horse — free and easy. A know-
ing owner will, for this reason, let his horse be tried by
the purchaser on his return to his stable, if he be one of
the hesitating kind.

NATURE, ART AND SCIENCE.

Nature and her daughter, Art, must unite in the phy-
sical and mental training of tlie saddle-horse. When
ready, Art calls in her sister. Science, to her aid to enable
her to perform great or critical feats by combining the
efforts of the three, and uniting, with the indispensable
power of science, the ideas of two heads on one thing.

HORSEMANSniP AND TRAINING. 33

Then the sleight-of-hand in the use of the bit and the
imperceptible motions of the rider's body and limbs, and
sound of his voice, are the qualities necessary to eques-
trian success. A saddle-iiorse is like a piano — to get
what you want out of him, you must use your legs and
arms, feet and hands, eyes and ears, mind and heart,
voice and vigor, body and soul. This is the result of
time, patience and careful study and practice for years.

DIFFERENCE IN nORSEs' IDEAS.

The difference between horses' ideas is so great that,
while one is impatient to go on, another is v;iitching for
excuses to stop, or he hesitates in his step till a hint from
the knees or touch of the spurs gives him to understand
what you want him to do. Hold the bridoon, slack the
curb-rein, give him the spurs and let him off — in a walk.
Well patronized country taverns are famous places for
buggy-horses to find excuses to practice their propensity
to stop and turn in. The advantage of this is, that a
man always knows v/liere to find his runaway horse.
These are good horses for drinking drivers ; they take
them straight home. Indecision or uncertainty in the
rider's mind or action is so instantaneously communi-
cated to the saddle-horse, that we vrould urge more care-
ful schooling of pupils by competent instructors, and
this cannot begin too early in life or in the course of in-
struction.

instructors' ERRORS IN PRINCIPLE.

With young horses some trainers, and indeed military
instructors and writers, advocate a system that creates
and nurtures doubts and uncertainties in the mind of
the horse, at a critical moment of action — a most fruit-
ful source of accidents to both horse and rider in the
hunting field. Their plan is to ride the colt up towards
the fence and then turn off from it. This is to bo re-

34 THE BRIDLE BITS.

peated with the idea of making the colt familiar with the
habit of approaching a fence quietly. The effect of this
is, that the colt is systematically trained never to be cer-
tain of what he is to do, and as great exertions of tbe
mind and muscle are necessary to take tlie leap, the colt
should unmistakably understand, long before he nears
it, that his rider intends taking it at any risk, so that he
may prepare in time with both will and muscle-power to
gather himself for the bound.

A man is not physically stronger one moment than he
is the next, but his will power is greater, which gives
force power to his mascles in action ; and to have a
horse's mind and spirit prepared for action, is as necessary
as to have the body ready and in condition and trim for
general use and special performances. We know that this
is so with ourselves, and horses are flesh and blood, body
and mind, as we are, and with the advantage of peculiar
instincts, require the same jireparation for great physical
feats ; yet how many race-horses fail by a length that
could be made np but for their being the victims of cus-
toms and fashions which it is not our design to explain in
this volume. Those men who have means to indulge in
fashions and fancy, are like the cockney who went on a visit
among country cousins that did all sorts of extraordi-
nary things, which the "green-horn" also did, because
everybody did them ; and when he hesitated he was urged
on by being told that gambling was the custom in the
country, and that "everybody did it," So when he
lost all his money and returned to the city, he Avas
laughed at by his friends, whom he told that he couldn't
helj) it, because everybody did it. If the gentlemen who
spend so much time and means on the turf, understood a
little more of horse nature and nature's laws, their "sec-
onds " in the races could be made " firsts " with very
little trouble and much less expense.

ENGLISH VS. IRISH RimNG. 35

CHAPTEE II.
ENGLISH VS. IRISH RIDING.

At one time, and it may be so still, the English rode
with a slack, while the Irish rode with a tight rein. The
former generally used the Pelham bit, while the latter
almost invariably used the snaffle. If these men changed
horses as they stood, bridles and all, they wonld run the
risk of breaking their respective necks, for although each
horse wore his own bit, the manner of holding the rein

-ENGLISH. Fig. 8. (&.)— IRISH.

being new to each, the results, as we see in hunting plates,
might vary — the horse in or on one side of the fence and
the rider on the other. Our invariable rule is, never to
face our horse, young or old, to a fence of any kind that
we know he is able to take, without making him go over
or through it at the risk of his neck or our own. Any
other course is fraught with danger on very trifling oc-
casions. Our rule is the best to make a safe and fearless
hunter and steeple-chaser.

CONDITION OF THE RIDER.

There is no time when the man and horse are safer than
when the rider has had his dram — just one '•'horn" to
give force to his intentions. The old hunter knows it,
from the dash and wild recklessness of his rider's manner

36 THE BRIDLE BITS.

and tlie unmistakable exercise of his hand and knees.
Unless it is a steamboat, a barn or a locomotive, he.
knows he has got to take it flying ; and if we can judge
from experience, equestrian feats can be performed under
such influence with greater safety than by sober careful-
ness, for confidence is imparted to the horse. He knows
from experience that there is no back out possible, and
that he can't do his work by halves, neck or nothing
being the rule on that day. A few inevitable mistakes
and falls over, in the early training, make a horse careful
in after years, and ensure a clean bound if well ridden,
to avoid a repetition of some unfortunate experience on a
similar occasion. It is better to make a bad leaj) than to
spoil the horse by going back to make another charge at
it. If he refuses, which is justifiable on some accounts,
it may be from some misconception on his part of his
rider's intentions — from the slack of the reins or relaxa-
tion of the knees — that the rider changed his mind, or he
may have found that his stride in approaching the fence
at a canter would take him either too far from or too
near the fence, and consequently refused, fearing a certain
fall on or fall over. But this is the rider's lookout, as he
should be master of the situation. His rider, however,
if a horseman, knows the cause, and taking him to it
again, squarely, goes over it flying. In such possible
complications in the heat and excitement of the moment,
when the hounds are in full cry, the snaffle, or the Pel-
ham, used on the snaffle, are the only riding bits proper
to use on those occasions.

HORSE-LEAP CHURCH.

In County West Meath, Ireland, tliere is a church
near Kilbeggan called " Horse-leap Church," It takes its
name from a great leap that was made by a horse while
out hunting witli the hounds, over a baurene (narrow
road) on either side of which there is a stone wall. The

ENGLISH VS. IRISH RIDING.

37

baurene is wide enough for a cart to pass over. The
horse took both walls and road in one leap, thus clearing
all from field to field. Although we have seen the leap,
we are not prepared to give heiglits and distances ; but
two walls and a road will give an idea of the nature of

Fig. 9.— HORSE-LEAP CHDKCH.

the feat. For practical purposes the walls would be at
least three feet high and the road twelve feet wide.

In ordinary stone-wall jumping the horse should break
off the same distance from the base that the wall is high
to insure a safe and flying leap; but in such a leap as that
referred to he should break off at least five feet from the
base of the Avail to describe a segment of a circle suffi-
ciently high to take him over the second wall. On

Fig. 10. — JUMPING THE BAURENE.

approaching high walls and other big fences the trained
hunter is given to understand that a leap is before him
and that he is to take it. The rider in the above case
rode for both walls and the horse knew it. This was no

38 THE BKIDLE BITS.

chance leap ; both intended it, else it could not have
been done. The safest riding is in taking the country
as it comes, " unsight, nnseen " — " neck or nothing." By
this, the horse is inspired with confidence; knowing that
he must take what comes, he takes equal chances with a
bokl and fearless horseman, who must be an expert rider
to ensure success — for there are some leaps, such as a foss
wall, that a mistake would render deadly to either man
or horse — but luck, on which many depend, is sometimes
friendly to the uninitiated. However, riding up to a
wall to see if there is a ditch, pile of stones, cow, flock of
sheep, or a pile of fence rails on the other side, would
spoil the best hunter in the world.

TOPPING THE WALL.

What is termed " topping a wall " is by the horse strik-
ing the wall with his hind feet to send him with renewed
effort or spring beyond some object on the other side that

j

Fig. 11. — TOPPING THB WAXL.

he did not see till half over, and to do which he had not
used power enough in his spring when he rose. This is
consitlered very superior training. It is the work of the
snaffle bit, and could not be done with any other bit with
any degree of certainty. The very pretty performances
of horses in a circus are done under the influence of con-
stant training where the feats are to take place. The
same man has the horse alone, and being perfectly docile
and tractable, in cool blood and under strict obedience,
and when there is no danger or excitement, the object

ENGLISH VS. IRISH RIDING. 39

of the training is reduced to a certainty. If we contrast
this state of things with the condition of a horse tearing
across a rough country for miles— meeting fences and
rivers he never saw before, one field plowed and all mud,
the other all stones and the fence between— a double
ditch or deer-park wall— the horse winded by the heavy
canter in the mud and a fence to leave behind him or
flounder at its base, he will perceive that it is nice train-
ing to unite two minds and two bodies at the same
moment to accomplish these deeds that nature has left
to the horse alone to perform. No other animal can do
it and carry one-seventh of his own weight.

In training horses for the saddle for hunting and
steeple chasing purposes, it is necessary to do so in the
region where they are to spend their future career, so
that they shall be familiar with the peculiarities of the

Fig. 12. — THE POUND WAIiL.

fences and the nature of the country, thus insuring their
own and their rider's necks. Owing to the nature of the
country the Gal way horse is a famous wall jumper. The
favorite place for the sale of these hunters is at the fair
of Ballinasloc. There is, next to the fair green, a cattle
pound, the paved yard of which is lower by some eighteen
inches than the ground outside. If a man wants to sell
his hunter, he is asked if he can jump the pound wall.
If he can, he will be able to sell his horse, all other points
being satisfactory. If he jumps in, it is understood that
the jumping out is the necessary test to insure the sale.
Hundreds gather around to see the performance. Four
feet in, live feet six inches out, sells the horse. The jump

40 THE BEIDLE BITS.

is off a cobblestone yard. If the horse fails and his rider
is obliged to come out by the gate, he pays the keeper
regular poundage, and gets laughed at for his failure,
besides losing the sale. Some sales are made condition-
ally— so much if he jumps in, and so much if he fails to
jump out.

The recent performances of the horses Leo and Lord-of-
the-Isles at the horse shows in Madison Square Garden,
'New York, established the fact of the great mental and.
physical powers and capacity of the horse in everything
to which he is properly bred and trained. We have
heard of and seen horses take wonderful leaps over rivers,
drains, double ditches, and deer-park walls of lime and
stone, coped on top and some having broken glass bottles
sunk in the mortar while wet, all varying in width and
height from twenty to thirty feet, and from five to eight
feet ; but these feats were done in open daylight in the
field, and under the influence of the greatest excitement,
when both horse and rider were tearing away in competi-
tion with others in mad pursuit of some fair opportunity
to accomplish a deed that would henceforth mark a
period in the extraordinar}^ feats of both horse and horse-
manship. But to keep a horse like Lord-of-the-Isles tied
up for days in a four-foot stall, with but little exercise
and that under cover, and then to bring him out at night,
mount and ride him by the glare of electric lights at a
six-foot-six-inch bar fence and clear it — he weig-hins:
1,100 pounds and his rider 145 pounds — is a performance
tliat the equine world may well wonder at, and Mr.
Primrose, his owner, be proud of. Tlio horse was rid-
den with a heavy snaiHe bit, and, besides the weight of
the rider, he carried tliat of the saddle, thus making about
160 ])Ounds, not including the shoos — say in all 1,2C0
pounds. Tiio gallant Leo performed the same feat, in
the same place and at the same hour, the year before.

ENGLISH VS. lEISn RIDING. 41

THE USE OF THE EARS.

If a pair of horses, fresh from the straw yard, be
hitched to a street car and driven three or four miles,
stopping and starting on the way in obedience to the
reins when the bell rings, before they enter the stable?
again they will have learned to stop and start of their
own accord to the bell signal as well as if they were at
the work for years. The voice can be made equally
effective in many respects as the bit, and thus save the
horse many of its unnecessary tortures and annoyances,
especially so with the saddle-horse, whose actions are so
varied and often sudden as to require the use of the reins,
if not the voice, at every caprice of the rider ; but the
horseman has this secret at his command, and it tells in
his performances.

If we would study the nature and anatomy of the horse
and see how well he is provided with every necessary
faculty and means to use in our varied service, we could,
make our associations with him more agreeable to both.
His ears are so peculiarly shaped and set on that he can
throw them forward at will to hear in front, and back-
ward to hear in the rear. In these motions the ear takes
a peculiar turn, so that the inside or hollow of it is
turned towards the sound. One ear can be thrown back
to hear in the rear, while the other ear is thrown for-
ward as lie sees and hears in front. This peculiarity in
the actions of the ears was not created Avithout a purpose,
and trained horsemen and experienced drivers dispense
witli a great deal of the bit government by taking advan-
tage of the ready use of this organ, to which the horse is
ever alive, so that the case and grace of the tliorough
horseman is concealed in the apparent mystery in his
skillful management under all circumstances.

If a bird's feathers are wet it cannot easily fly ; for
the same reason, if the horse's ear be wet he cannot

42

THE BRIDLE BITS.

Lear so well, so he throws it back to keep the rain from
getting into it. The normal position of the horse's ear
when he is inactive is thrown backwards, bntwhen he is at
work it varies with circumstances. When active, or ex-
jiecting orders, it is vertical ; when he is cross it is also
thi'own back, and when listening, or looking to the front,
it is thrown forward. (See fig. 13, cuts 1 , 2, 3, 4. ) When
the saddle-horse is in action he listens attentively to the

Fig. 13. — POSITIONS OF EARS.

least sound of his rider's voice, which he expects to hear,
and therefore by giving him the habit of listening to and
obeying the voice, the use of the bit is reduced to a
minimum.

USING THE HORSE AS A "WATCH.

The horse in his natural state, when roaming in wild
bands over vast plains and through the foot hills of great
mountain ranges, makes a different use of his ears to
what he docs when domesticated — confined and worked —
v/herc all his wild feelings and natural propensities are
reduced to the requirements of an artificial and hum-
drum life, to keep pace with the tame surroundings of a
stable yard, and the unnatural confinement in even tlie
most gorgeous stable and stall, loose box or sheltered
paddock. To him the very best and unlimited domestic
home is a prison compared with the smallest privileges-
he enjoys in his native sphere. A wild band of these
untutored lords of the plain roamed in defiance of cap-
ture during many years on the vast plains in the region
of country bordering on the Yuba and Feather Rivers in
one direction, and the foot hills skirting the coast range

ENGLISH VS. IRISH RIDING. 43

of the Sierra Nevada, in California, in the other. The
leader of the band was a jet-black horse, tall and grace-
ful, with a coat that shone in the sun like a silk hat. His
formation was of the Flying (Jhilders mould and his style
equally suggestive of what he would do under the saddle.
The band was familiar with every path, gulch and Indian
trail in all that region, which was traversed by horsemen
and pack trains passing to and from the mountains, and,
although strangers to the (/^mst-civilization that followed
the discovery of gold, they soon fell in with the new
state of things and took advantage of unwary travelers
who used no precautions to picket their animals and set
a watch.

The habit of these horses was to stealthily approach an
emigrant camp v^^here saddle and pack animals were turned
out loose to graze for the night, and getting mixed up with
the wild band, each horse selecting his favorite for the
night's play would, at the sight of a man on horseback,
at the dawn of the early morning, swinging a lasso, stam-
pede and take with them, in their wild flight for the far-
away, all the fast horses and mules that fancied the
change from slavery to freedom, and thus became willing
converts to freedom's cause. These horses had been so
long frequeuters of those parts and so frequently chased,
that they became so watchful and Avary that a man on
horseback swinging a lasso was a terror to them, and they
consequently became trained to sudden flight and great
speed. There was evidently a strain of fine blood in
them that came from a superior black sire with white
hind feet (an evidence of blood, especially in the chestnut
horse), that it was said broke away from a train at the
time of the emigration to Oregon, anterior to the discov-
ery of gold in California.

Captain Binnix, of Feather River Road ranch, lost
by the wild horses a fine Kentucky mule, worth $300,
and vowed vengeance on the band, offering half the value

44 THE BRIDLE BITS.

of his mule to any man Avho would recap turo lier. As
there was pleasure and probable proGt in the enterprise,
we arranged with the caj^tain to ride oif next day in search
of the band to see what could be done. The history of
the horses and the numerous attemjjts made by different
companies to capture them was related by Binnix as we
rode over the plains, where a large herd of antelojoe
seemed surprised at our intrusion.

Towards evening we came in sight of the horses, which
were some four miles off and moving on a jiath at right
angles with our course. We both dismounted, and with
our horses and a Newfoundland dog took a direction
several points to their front, so as to meet them ratlier
than follow in their track, for the wind at the time would
be favorable to our detection. Making no usual show of
a desire to chase them we got within a mile of their
conrse, when we left our horses in charge of the dog and
ajiproached within 500 yards of them, alone. All at once
the band faced to the front, and turning short around
dashed off, enveloped in clouds of dust. On returning
to Binnix, the first thing he said was, "Well, what do
you think of it ?" AVe mounted and as we rode towards
home we came to a wet, gravelly place Avhere the water
from a gorge in the foot hills ran down into the j^lain
and meeting a concealed bar of brick clay rose to the
surface, passed over the bar, sank, and was seen no more.
The Honcut creek meanders through this part of the
plains and discharges into the Feather Eiver near the But-
tes ; but although there was not water enough at the bar
to afford a satisfactory drink, all the animals of the plain
called there and pawed holes in the wet gravel and passed
on down to the Honcut-to quench their thirst. We dng
a hole in the gravel and when it was full watered our
horses. We said to Binnix : "If you will come here this
day two weeks we will give yon your mule." He smiled,
but agrreed to come. He went home and we to Marvsville.

ENGLISH VS. IRISH RIDING, 45

111 contemplating the capture of the band there were
two courses to pursue. One was strategy in utilizing the
horse's nature to our purpose, and the other dexterity
with the lasso. We chose the former, for the latter — ■
besides being tedious in capturing at best only one at a
time — had been tried over and over again, and always
proved a failure, for the reason that the pursuing horse
carried ballast while the wild horse went "light mount-
ed," and thus their pursuer was always distanced. Tak-
ing these circumstances into consideration, we resolved
to resort to strategy, and named that day two weeks for
the accomplishment of the enterprise. The following
Tuesday, arriving on the ground with all materials nec-
essary, we set to work in hard earnest with crowbars,
sledges, axes and coils of rope. Our only companions
consisted of a friend of the genus homo, a well-trained
lassoing horse and a Newfoundland dog, tlian which
none more faithful could be found. We had not seen
the band again till the day named for the capture, but
we knew the direction in which it was every night.
Night was the time to keep informed of its location and
movements. The hearing of the horse, no matter where
he may be, is very acute, especially so when isolated from
civilization and thrown more upon his own resources to
watch and listen for himself. Guided by this rule we
combined our reason with the horse's instincts, and pick-
eting him some fifty yards off from our bivouac under a
bush, where no sound confused his hearing and by the
light of the moon avo could watch his motions, the work
of the eai)ture commenced.

We sunk live oak posts eight feet apart in a circle
enclosing a quarter of an acre of ground, and tied them
firmly together with four tiers of rope, making each rope
fast around each post, so that they shoidd not give way
ail round in case of a break at one point in receiving the
charge of the horses when they found themselves shut

46 THE BRIDLE BITS.

in. The gate had a trap latch and to it was fastened a
trap cord one hundred yards long and reacliing to the
bivouac, and being sunk in the ground could not be dis-
covered, but could be drawn by the dog.

All the Saturday night and early morning before the
day named for the capture, our watch horse gave the
usual and unmistakable signs of the proximity of the wild
horses. These signs are peculiar to the tame horse when
picketed out in a strange place. He listens, looks and
watches in the direction of the existence or approach of
other horses. On such occasions he is a better watch
than the dog ; for, while the dog is a sure and better
watch and guard to give notice of local intrusion or dan-
ger, the horse hears sounds and sees objects miles away.
" He smelleth the battle afar off."

He listens, looks in the direction of the sounds, and
while he cannot smell or see, owing to contrary winds
and distances, he can hear and feel the tread of horses in
the ground beneath his feet. His ears point in the direc-
tion of the sounds, and on the apiiroach of wild horses
he becomes unusually restive and demonstrative, walking
and turning round the more as the band approaches. By
these and other unmistakable signs we knew that the
band was not many miles away, and that the time had
come to use such means as were necessary to draw the
horses towards the place designed and prepared for their
capture. Our assistant in the enterprise was rather
sceptical respecting the success of our two weeks' hard
work and- pains, and we were repeatedly reminded that
" Binnix will be here on Sunday for his mule."

It is well known to frontiersmen that wolves can be
attracted by putting asafoetida in a rag and tying it to
tlie bit of the bridle so that the heat and saliva from tlic
horse's mouth Avill keep it moist and thus cause it to
emit an odor that attracts wolves from a great distance.
There is another odor equally effective with horses.

ENGLISH VS. IRISH HIDING. 47

Being out of rations we sent our doubting Thomas on
horseback at daylight on Sunday morning up the moun-
tains for a supply, and on his return at four o'clock
p. M., he found us lying on the grass, Binnix by our side,
and the entire band of wild horses lassoed and haltered
inside of the corrall, each horse tied to a post, while we
had the famous mule tied by herself to a stake some
twenty yards from the corral by way of a triumph and a
satisfaction in the face of all we had heard of the history
of the band and the ultimate failure of our enterprise.

There was an understanding among tlie people in the
country that half the value of the mules and tame horses
captured by the band would be paid to any person who
would deliver them up to their owners. With one ex-
ception this pledge was cheerfully respected, and we sold
the wild horses at prices ranging from twenty to two
hundred dollars. And we need not say that the gallant
black became our favorite saddle-horse.

HABITS.

Habits, good or bad, are very readily acquired by
horses. A few repetitions of the same thing will teach
them to do anything in their way of their own accord.
In this respect they are like ourselves.

" How use doth breed a habit in a man."

If this were more general, the life of the horse would
be stripped of half the terrors that are occasioned by the
unnecessary use of the bit in unskillful hands.

In England, a team of draft-horses, six or eight all in
a string, in both w\agon and plow, arc driven without
reins, as oxen are with us, and it would be a reflection
upon the instincts, tractability and intelligence of the
saddle-horse if he were suspected of being less suscepti-
ble of obedience to the voice in his capacity than the
more sluggish tenants of the back stables are in theirs.

48 THE BRIDLE BITS.

INTELLIGENCE OF THE MULE.

"When the mule in the ash-cart hears the empty barrel
put on the sidewalk, he moves on of his own accord to
the next barrel, and stops again of himself where ho
knows he is to stop ; and although anybody may see that
his father was a Jackass, unusual stupidity cannot bo
attributed to him on that account, for albeit slow and
apparently stupid, if taken in hand when young he can
be trained with greater facility tlian he gets credit for.
It is the change of masters that spoils those animals that
don't seem to know the difference between one owner and
another ; but they do, and we should blend our senses
with their instincts, "The ox knoweth his owner and
the ass his master's crib." We should, therefore, take
advantage of the natural faculties of those animals that
serve us under physical restraint, and thus dispense with
half the severity of the instruments we use to guide and
govern them.

The ox and the dog are made perfectly subordinate to
our will by voice alone, liecent exhibitions of trained
horses prove that the horse is capable of moral influence,
and that his understanding and tractability are of a
suj}erior order.

" Reasoning at every step ho treads,
Man yet mistakes liis way,
Wliile meaner beasts, wlioni instinct leads,
Are rarely known to stray."

The cat, the most intractable and disobedient of our
domestic animals, can be trained so perfectly that it will
fetch and carry as well as a dog will, and can be taken
from its home and made to perform before strangers in a
strange house. This training of a cat is very unusual,
but with judgment, skill and early training our experi-
ence has proved it can be done. Is it any wonder, there-
fore, that we plead for the horse, and suggest a more

ENGLISH VS. IRISH RIDING. 49

general use of his ears in order to relieve liis moutli from
the unnecessary severity of the bit ? Bad mouthing from
the start has been the cause of the great variety of severe
bits, some of wliich are represented among the ilhistra-
tions, and are curiosities more for their unnecessary use
and senseless variety than for the peculiarity of their
complications.

We cannot conceal our surprise at the facility with
which some men can make up their minds to part with
horses already trained to their hands and voices, and buy
strange ones that it may take years to train and know
and be known as well. The hunter that is trained to his
rider's hand, voice and ways, is valuable only to him in
these particulars ; to a strange rider he is dangerous until
both understand each other. We see teams of coach
horses purchased in the spring and sold in the fall, to be
replaced by other stock the following year. The pleasure
in driving, like that of riding, is in knowing one's horses
— knowing what they can and will do under all circum-
stances. But if the pleasure of '" coaching" consists in
driving one coach after another in a procession at a gait
regulated by law, if it was not for the name of the thing
a man might as well drive a postillion for all the art there
is displayed or necessary in driving in procession. Yet
when anything is made fashionable by custom, the slave
follows. But when the neck is in danger, and the man and
his horse must be of one mind for either success or pleas-
ure, we would recommend the retention of the trained
horse that suits the rider, who in turn must suit the
horse.

SIGNS OF GOOD AND BAD HORSES FOR THE SADDLE.

If we see a number of horses being led along a road,
one horse hangs back and allows himself to be dragged
along by the halter, while another trots up freely, ahead

50

THE BKIDLB BITS.

of the horse his leader rides. The difference in the two
dispositions, so oi^positc in their nature, is by no means
an indication of their respective abilities ; for some of

Fig. 14. — LEADING THE RIDING HORSE.

our fastest horses are naturally lazy and don't lead or go
freely, requiring the whip or spur to keep them up to
their work, while the free and high mettled are nowhere
in the race ; yet we prefer the latter for pleasure and the
former for profit. The horse that leads well, and runs

Fig. 15.— LEADING THE SADDLE HORSE.

well up to the bit, has the first element of a good and
pleasant saddle-horse, and is a good subject for the snafile
bit (fig. 7), which the beginner should learn to handle
well before he uses the

PELHAM BIT.

The Pelham riding bit has a joint between the bars,
like the snaffle, and is used with double reins. The joint,
however, is more of a hinge than a loop joint, like that

ENGLISH VS. IRISH RIDING.

51

on the snaffle. One rein that is always in hand works
the snaffle and the martingale, wliile the other rein,
which is narrow, works the curb bit and curb when nec-
essary. With the young racer the curb rein must be
fingered very tenderly, and be taken up to gather the
horse's head or check him in his speed should he try to
bolt, run away or exceed his time. If this bit has been
well tested, and suits the horse, it is a nice one for a
woman to use if she knows her horse.

The Pelham is a favorite with jockies and is essentially
a racing bit, for the above reasons ; besides, its being
single, there is less annoying iron in the horse's mouth

Fig. 16.— PELHAM BIT.

to irritate him, or interfere with his wind on the home-
stretch, than with the bit-and-bridoon. To the unneces-
sary or bad handling of the curb rein may be attributed
many defeats on the turf. The young horse, in particu-
lar, is annoyed and fretted by its injudicious use by
novices in the art of riding races or handling young,
fretful liorses. The unsteadiness of the horse, and con-
sequently numerous false starts on race courses, may
often be attributed to the use of both bits at tlie same
time — the unmistakable evidence of bad horsemanship.
Owners of race horses should see to this.

53 THE BRIDLE BITS.

The Pelham bit enables a jockey to slow his horse up,
so as not to beat his competitor more than necessary, or
to right him should he bolt. Young, high-strung horses,
two or three years old, have not had time and experience
for sufficient mouthing and training to be steady enough
to take the curb, spurs, whip and a strange rider, all at
once, to insure a fair and certain start on a course where
all is excitement around them. When the horse becomes
restive at the starting post, it may be discovered that the
curb or both reins are being used at the same time, and
the horse, fretted and annoyed beyond endurance, is
timid and afraid to start and run against the curb, the
moral effect of which he has not had time to learn, while
the physical effect of it maddens him. If we add to this
the use of the whip and spurs at the start, while he is
being held back, it will not be surprising if, when he
does start, he should bolt before he reaches the quarter
pole and run wild to his death against a fence.

There is no knowing what a colt or any horse may do
with a strange rider, with a strange smell he may detest,
strange voice he don't know or understand, strange knees,
strange hand and a strange motion on his back, and per-
haps a strange bit in his mouth. Indeed, we are disposed
to offer any excuse for his actions, misbehavior or defeat,
for his cool intelligence is confused and the •' vim" and
pluck that would serve him on the home-stretch are taken
out of him before he starts. If a man from anger and
excitement weakens and gets out of breatli while sitting
in his chair, how much is it possible that the fretting
and annoyances attending several false starts may affect
a young horse when he is getting winded on the home-
stretch— a time when an extra respiration that he had
wasted in anger and excitement, and one second he had
lost before he started, Avould take him ten inches beyond
the head and girth, a victor at the winning post ?

A boy but a few years older than the horse he rides has

THE BIT-AND-BRTDOON" FOR SADDLE HORSES. 53

many things to learn besides sitting in the saddle. In-
strnctions in and study of the nature and various powers
of the Pelhani bit and its effects on the different tempers
and dispositions of horses should be incumbent on the
professional jockey, on whose skill the reputations of
horses, their victories and large amounts are staked. The
Pelham, therefore, has all the advantages and disadvan-
tages for victory or defeat. It is a compromise between
the snaffle and the bit-and-bridoon, the subject of our
next chapter.

CHAPTEE III.

THE BIT-AND-BRIDOON FOR SADDLE HORSES,

We have no apology to offer for the man who prefers
the old fashioned bit-and-bridoon or double bridle — he
needs none. For ordinary use in the park or on the road

Fig. 17.— BIT-AND-BBLDOON.

it is the embodiment of perfection ; and although a sub-
stitute may be used to cater to the mania, for new and
changing fashions, it never can, by any device or altera-
tion, be improved upon or surpassed. It seems to us that
in putting it on a young horse for the first time, he is

54 THE BRIDLE BITS.

used to it because his predecessors and ancestors had been
adorned and ridden with it so long before. Its safety
recommends it above all others for the side-saddle, but
of course only so to the hand that can hold and finger
the reins properly.

This bridle has two distinct bits — the curb bit and the
bridoon bit. If one bit or rein should break there is one
of each left. Each bit has a separate headstall, and to
each bit there is a separate rein. A martingale is used
with this bridle, and so looped on the overlapping girth
that both girths shall fit tight to the horse. The rear
girth should be buckled first and then the fore girth run
through the martingale and buckled as tight as it can be
drawn. When skillfully handled, this bridle, without
being severe, is the nicest one we have for pleasure riding,
and while the curb bit is not strong enough to hold in a
hard-mouthed horse it is quite powerful enough for a
horse well broken to its use. If a woman has her own
well-selected saddle-horse trained to the bit-and-bridoon,
and no other, she can always enjoy her ride. We do not
recommend it for strength or security, but wo do for the
various degrees of physical and moral power it can bring
to bear on the horse — from that of a silken thread to the
full strength of the bits and reins, the latter being strong
in proportion to the strain that the bit will bear and the
horse requires. Eeversing the order of things, the
mouth has to be made to suit this bridle, for the bit-and-
bridoon bridles are generally of the same material and
strength, but varying in size, and the ordinary saddle-
horse, for either sex, must have his mouth made to suit
it, so that the hand that is lised to the bridle won't have
to change it.

Some hunters are so used to a tight snaffle rein in tak-
ing fences that, in turning them round on a road with
the tight bridoon rein, they are apt to dash over the fence
before the rider can stop them. With the side-saddle

THE BIT-AND-BRIDOON FOR SADDLE HORSES. 55

this is rather dangerous ; but to avoid it the horse should
be ridden on the curb and care taken not to use the knees
or make any of the usual motions of the body known to
the horse in earnest riding, while the turn on the road is
being made. We always ride with a tight rein, and pre-
ferring a strong puller on the snaffle, we have had some
experience in these impromptu exercises of horses' pro-
pensities to take fancy leaps without leave or license.
The bridoon rein on which the martingale hangs is less
than one inch wide, but its strength corresponds with
the power used with it in holding the horse up while
riding in ordinary, lifting him at the leap or in bearing
the strain of the martingale, if necessarily short. No arm
can break it.

The curb rein is narrow, not only because the strain
on it is slight and corresponds witli the strength of the
bit and the possible strain it is subject to, but because
both curb and bridoon reins are held in one hand and
their alternate use frequent. If the horse and rider be
mutually agreeable and they like each other, and in pass-
ing through a strange country, unknown to both, they
come to two roads branching off to the right and left, the
horse knows as well as the rider does which road his rider
intends taking. Instinct is at play, and the knowledge
is communicated from the hand through the reins to the
bit, thence to the brain. If the rider don't know which
road to take, he had better give the horse his head and let
him take his choice. If the object is to go home he won't
go astray. Phrenology is not limited to the functions of
the human brain ; it takes a wider sphere, and descends
to the lower animnls. Among our domestic animals it is
applicable and unmistakable in the dog and horse. Pecu-
liar formations of the skulls of these two friends of man
vary, and the intellectual of both can be picked out by
feeling them in the dark. And, although we can see a
faithful and intelligent dog's soul in his eye as he looks

56 THE BRIDLE BITS.

straight into ours with a love and devotion so evident in
no other beast, the intelligence and devotion of the liorse
are manifested in other ways without being so demon-
strative. I

AVonld it not be well, tlierefore, to consider the unrea-
sonableness, amounting to cruelty, of handling or holdingi
and guiding these two servants entirely by physical force?
To tie up a Newfoundland dog (the close friend, protector
and companion of man, woman and child), and keep him
in solitary confinement — while all he loves dearly as his
life are at play around the stoops and halls of the family
home, and perhaps all walk out and leave him chained
to whine, pine and cry for his liberty to join in the even-
ing stroll — is a kind of cruelty far in excess of flogging
and starvation. How many affectionate animals have
died of broken hearts, and ho^Y near does this kind of
cruelty go to the breaking of the spirit, if not the heart, of
favorite animals around us that, fearing inconsiderate
abuse, suppress their torturing grief as they fawn at our
feet and coaxingly, and in their own way, ask permission
to lick the chastening hand.

The horse, like the dog, enjoys his freedom, and if he
does not whine and cry, he neighs, and tries in other
ways to make known his wants. While he is subservient
in every respect to his owner's will, and Avould enjoy a
gallop on his own account in a grass field, he is closely
confined in a narrow stall from year to year, tied up to a
manger with a short rope or chain as if he were a Bengal
tiger ; and when he is put to his daily toil his education
is so neglected that he knows no moral restraint. He is
pulled, hauled and chucked with his mouth full of iron,
that being the only means adopted and used for his guid-
ance, with no more consideration by some men than if ho
were a saw log. The saddle-horse, however, is more
exempt than the harness horse from the usual tortures
and abuse, and needs the consideration due liis nature

THE BIT-AND-BRIDOON FOR SADDLE HORSES. 57

and his duties, of a kind and sympathetic master, who
would enjoy his rides more if there was more social in-
tercourse between them and more use made of the voice
and less of the bit.

THE CURB.

The curb should be outside of the bridoon bit, for if
iusidc of it the constant pressure of the bit on the curb
would hurt and chafe the under jaw-bone. Yet we often
see it hooked on msido, more from ignorance, perhaps,
than from any judgment or fixed ideas on the subject,
which is the excuse we offer for noticing it.

THE MARTINGALE.

When the bridoon rein is drawn straight to about one
inch above the pummel of the saddle, the rings of the
martingale should just hang easy on them when the
horse holds his head in its normal position (tig. 18). If he

Fig. 19.

ON THE CURB.

Fig. 18. — ON THE BRIDOON.

attempts to throw his head up the martingale will, at this
length, check him. In leaping, the martingale must be
lengthened and wholly powerless, else the horse may
bo thrown over the fence. As trips, falls and other ac-
cidents are always possible, the bridoon rein should be
always in hand, held firmly, yet not drawn tight, and
the horse should always feel its pressure lightly, while
the curb bit is kept in reserve for occasional use ; but on
no account, occasion or consideration should the curb

58 THE BRIDLE BITS.

and bridoon bits be used at the same time, for that is
eontrary to common sense and the first principles of the
arts and science of horsemanship. Yet, this error is a
common practice.

When the bridoon rein is tight the curb rein should
be about three inches longer, so that, should the bridoon
be suddenly drawn tighter, the curb rein will be free ; and
when the curb is needed, with the thumb and fore-finger
of the whip hand draw the curb rein through the fingers
of the left hand till it is about two inches shorter than
the bridoon rein (fig. 19). The horse is now on the curb,
his head is gathered, and he is light in hand and ready
for instant obedience and action.

To drop the curb rein and resume the bridoon, the
bridoon rein is drawn through the fingers of the left
hand by the two fore-fingers and thumb of the whip
hand ; the curb rein is then allowed to slip through the
fingers till it is slack and the jiressure is felt on the
bridoon rein again. The horse now knows he is to re-
sume his walk or trot, and takes his head. In cantering,
the curb rein is taken up to gather the horse's head and
to make him go lighter in hand. We cannot too urgently
impress the reader with the fact that the great pleasure
derived from riding is, in having a well-mouthed horse,
a perfect knowledge and command of the bridle and bits,
and the same bits and bridle, without a change, used at
all times, with the same horse.

Although we like the Pelliam bit and bridle for the
side saddle, yet for the safety of the horsewoman we
would prefer the bit-and-bridoon — fearing accidents to
the ])it and rein. Three accidents are possible to the
Pelham bridle : The bit, rein or curb might break ; there
is then no alternative, but a clean runaway in the
absence of moral control and ** trust to luck." All
horses' mouths are not made to order, and the same bit,
bridle and saddle should be used, so that the horse will

THE BIT-AND-BRIDOON FOR SADDLE HORSES. 59

feel at home, as we do ourselves in old clothes. A
woman's arm is not strong enough to contend with a
liard mouth or pulling horse, in either riding or driving.
The power, therefore, should be in the bit, and besides
having her horse, in either service, well-mouthed, she
should have the strength in the bit in proportion to a
possible necessity, so that she could use it at her option
to lighten up her horse's head and control him in any
emergency. Her horse must be so trained that the bit-
and-bridoon will be powerful enough to master him, for
this is essentially a woman's bridle, and everything
should be equal to it.

If a woman's horse becomes restive from undue use of
the curb, or any other cause, and she be not au fait in
its management, a straight runaway on an open field
or road might be less dangerous than contending with an
untrained or strange horse in a fit of capering, rearing
and plunging to get free from the curb, which should be
dropped when he shows any disposition to cut up capers,
as he is likely to do if lie shies at anything — for, un-
fortunately, it is customary to chastise liorses for this
habit, which arises from a naturally timid and cautious
disposition to keep out of danger. Of course the chas-
tising makes him worse, knowing that when he sees any-
thing to fear and shies at it, he will get whipped or
spurred. When a horse becomes restive and rears, it is
frequently from too much pressure of the curb, which he
may not like or understand, and thinking he is wanted
on his hind legs (for the curb has a tendency to cause
him to throw up his head to ease his under-jaw from the
chain) rears accordingly. As a saddle-horse may balk
from bad riding, and a harness-horse stop from bad driv-
ing, or both run away from bad handling, we must ex-
amine the bit and see where the fault is ; this the
experienced eye can see at a glance.

60

THE BIIIDLE BITS.

THE CUEB AND MAETINGALE.

The curb and martingale have no fellowship with each
other. They belong to two different bits or different
reins, for, while the curb cannot be used on the bridoon,
the martingale should not be used on the curb rein. The
use of either one needs judgment, whether put on at all,
or used at all when on. To be effective, without over-
controlling the horse, they require very nice adjusting in
regulating their controlling power, so as to be easy and
agreeable to the horse when slack, and yet be so nicely
held as to remind him they are there when required.
The whip, the curb and the spur unite in their respective
appliances to keep the horse alive to his duties and ever
ready to obey with alacrity his rider's will, whether con-
veyed by word, bit or motion of the body or limbs.

CHAPTER IV.

Fig. 20. — THE CAVALKY BIT.

THE CAVALRY BIT.

The cavalry bit, with arched bar and single rein, is
very powerful. It is used with a strong curb chain ; in
the mouth of an untrained horse and in the hands of a

THE CAVALKY BIT. 61

bad horseman it is cruelly severe. Resistance to it on
the horse's part, or undue use of it on the rider's, are
both alike wrong, and from lack of primary mouthing,
daily use and due training, the results of superficial edu-
cation are evident in every move of both horse and rider.
JS[othing in equestrian practice pleases a recruit better
than to use this bit and keep his horse on the dance all
the time, with his chin on his breast to show him off,
thinking it looks stylish. For the service our cavalry
horses have to perform, this bit is too severe when used
alone by unskilled hands. Using tlie same kind of bit
with every horse is a great error. It is well enough to
call them regulation bits, but to some horses they are
regulation tortures. Horses are not like castings — made
to order and all run in the same mould.

MOUNTED POLICE.

The New York mounted police use this kind of bit and
curb with a single rein, and be the horse hard or tend-

3L — MOtnNTED POLICE.

er-mouthed, fast or slow, sluggish or high -mettled, he
must submit to its severity. The men as a body, of
course, are not practical horsemen, nor are they subject
to regular drill to improve them in that accomplishment.
The result is that their horses are always on the curb or
dance, without any interval of relief, and are thus ren-

62 THE BRIDLE BITS.

dered incapable of some possible performance necessary
in the course of their duties.

It is necessary to have perfect control of the cavalry
liorse in action. For this purpose the bar of the cavalry
bit is arched to such a degree that when the rein is drawn
backward, the arch is pressed forward against the roof of
the mouth, and thus pries it open, while the curb chain
presses on the under-jaw, which combined action brings
the head down in subjection to the hand, or causes him
to rear. No horse could swallow this bit if nothing broke,
and he is, therefore, always under control. But there is

Fig. 22.— MOUNTED POLICE BIT.

a limit to the frequency and the degrees of this use of
such a bit, for an undue application of it keeps a nervous,
sensitive animal on the dance, fret and sweat while he is
on duty, and, besides tiring, takes out of him the vim and
tire that could be reserved for a better purpose when
required for tlic benefit of the service and not for the
vanity of the rider. Tliis bagging and yanking at tlie bit
is done, perhaps, some twenty times an hour while the
horse is under the saddle, whereas once or twice a day on
such duty might suffice, if necessary at all.

Bits such as these are used mercifully in countries

THE CAVALRY BIT. 63

where men are on horseback from childhood ; for, having
a perfectly balanced seat under all circumstances, they
are not dependent on reins to balance them in their own
or their horse's critical motions and performances. Not
so with the recruit, in our service and the European, who
enters the cavah-y school at eighteen (an age at which
ftnd from which no man could be made a liorseman, in
possession of the necessary knowledge of the horse and of
all the arts and science that, from youth alone, can be
and are acquired and mastered as he advances up to that
age); there is too much to learn beyond the mere cavalry
drill and the necessary riding that attends it on ordinary
duty, in either peace or war. The horse, his rider and
the sword have been inseparable since wars began, and
they ever will be ; and the more perfect the horseman
the more dexterous he can be with his weapons. But as
the cavalry saddle, bridle, seat, training and duties are
different from those in that branch of peculiar horseman-
ship (in the field) that excels them all, the character of
the riding must necessarily be different also.

64 THE BKIDLE BITS.

CHAPTEE V.
THE CAVALRY BIT-AND-BRIDOON".

The regulation cavalry bridle, as used iu the United
States army, has two bits, a curb, two reins and one head-

Fig. 23. — CAVALRY BIT-AND-BRIDOON.

stall. The curb bit is the same as that described in the pre-
ceding chapter. The bridoon or watering bit has no guards
and is used with the curb bit as an auxiliary when the horse
is mounted, but is used alone in going out to water. Tlie
bridoon has rings and a single loop-joint between the bars,
the same as the snaffle. It has four distinct uses : First,
that of a watering bridle ; second, for easing the mouth
from the curb bit ; third, for certain uses of weapons in
action, especially the sword ; fourth, for leaping. But
owing to the trouble it gave in changing from the use of
one bit to the other and the care of it, it was thrown away
by many men in the cavalry service during the war of
the rebellion, and then there was no relief from the

THE CAVALRY BIT-AND-BRIDOON. 65

curb bit until the men got well shook into their saddles
and learned to use it in moderation.

As the ground and country that cavalry has to cross,
manoeuvre and fight over in war time is never made to
order, the horse should be bitted to meet every emer-
gency, and as leaping with the curb bit is both uncertain
and dangerous for both man and horse, the bridoon or
its eijuivalent should be available. However carefully we
may plan and provide in peace time for certain services
in the field in war, we find that, when put to the prac-
tical test, some things are objectionable and even useless,
and therefore abandoned. The watering bridle was one
of them. It was cumbersome and took time to put on
the horse in critical moments, when suddenly attacked
on picket posts or during halts when the order was given
to ungirth, unfold blankets, take off the bridles and
"saddle uij."

THE BRIDOOlSr BIT JN" ACTION".

The watering or bridoon bit, or its equivalent, is used,
or should be, in riding forward at speed, sword in hand
to point or thrust. The curb bit in halting, falling back,
turning round, or throwing the horse on his haunches to
deliver a cut to the right rear, or in delivering the rear
cut and point, and other assaults, is used as follows in the

CAVALRY CHARGE :

As a cavalry charge frequently resolves itself into
a melee, a series of hand-to-hand encounters take place
before the soldier gets out of the fight, if he ever does.
Should the enemy's line be composed of cavalry, and it
breaks, and the pursuers with spurs pressed home and
bridoon rein in hand, bring it to bay, cuts, points, par-
ries and guards are resorted to in quick succession, in
both attack and defense, as circumstances require at each
eventful moment in the progress of the fight for life.

66 THE BRIDLE BITS.

death or victory. No sooner is a thrust made at a right
front attack (for which we are using the bridoon rein,, fig.
24), than we are assaulted on our right rear with the first
cut. To meet this onslaught we slacken the bridoon rein,
take up the curb, drop the point of our sword to the rear,

Fig. 31. — CHARGE— POINT TO THE FRONT.

guard the assault, and with a sharp and de^cterous turn
of the wrist and a slashing cut, draw the edge of the
sword across our antagonist's face, clap spurs to our
horoe and dash on, or turn for assault or defense.

The horse still on the curb, we are assaulted on our
right front, and as our antagonist's sword comes down
upon our guard (the point of our sword well turned to
the right), we draAV the left rein shorter than the right, to

Fig. 25.— CUT TO THE REAR.

turn our horse's head away from the sweep of the sword
(fig. 25), then, throwing him on his haunches, deliver
tlie right or right rear cut, parry or point, pass on, turn
short round to the right or loft, and attack him in the
rear. Our antagonist disposed of, the curb rein still in

THE CAVALRY BIT-AND-BRIDOON. 67

hand and spurs pressed home, the horse dashes on as the
victor or the vanquished to meet another foe, or rcjoiu
the ranks. The fate of empires have been decided by
cavalry charges in less time than it takes to read this
ixiragraph. Cavahy attacks are sharp, short and de-
cisive, for either victory or defeat.

The interested reader will understand that, to get a
balancing purchase to enable the swordsman to put more
power into the sword-arm in thrusting to the front, the
left hand pulls on the bridoon bit while the right hand
delivers the point, rendered all the more effective by the
velocity of the charge. Pulling the bridoon rein with all
one's might for the instant, balances the body and thus
gives the right arm corresponding power to push, which
it could not have if the body had no support from the
bridoon rein in running the antagonist through. This
lever power could not be had from the other rein, for
the severity of the curb and curb bit would not admit of
it from that source ; and the horse, instead of rushing
forward in response to the spurs, would halt and fall
back, the very reverse of the action necessary to give ad-
ditional force to the forward thrust in such a hand- to-hand
conflict, which frequently takes place in cutting down
the cavalry antagonist, capturing the standard or the de-
fenders of batteries that have got the range, and are mow-
ing down the troops of the assailant. If we reverse this
action of the arms and rest the left hand on a box the
height of our knee, what strength it gives the right arm
to lift a weight that, from want of balancing powers, we
coiilil iiol, " wind."

In pursuing a defeated army the infantry soldier turns
liis bayonet to the cavalry pursuer, who, in passing him
by, gives him a slashing rear cut, and should he fire after
his assailant the next swordsman cuts him down before
he has time to reload or fire again. But in these days of
modern improvements in fire-arms the pursuing cavalry

68 THE BRIDLE BITS.

soldier is at a disadvantage in his conflict with the in-
fantry soldier, armed with a magazine gun ; yet, under all
circumstances, men in action do the best they can, and
in this emergency the pursuing blood-thirsty cavalier
brings his bit again into requisition, and attacking a
pursued man on his left, suddenly throws his horse lov/
upon his haunches, and with the assault or rear cut hews
the man down with a single blow. The expert infantry
soldier parries the sword with his boyonet, while the ex-
pert and cool-headed swordsman lets the parry pass Id's
feint and then delivers his cut. The expci-t swordsman
takes care, Avhen he can, that his parry ends where his
most effective cut or point begins, and is delivered in the
opening made by the parry. In these critical movements
of both the horse and rider, and the necessarily dexterous
handling of the sword or lance, it will be perceived that
the bit plays the most delicate and necessary jjart, and
that without it nothing could be done.

In some cavalry schools of practice we have seen the
same pace kept up in delivering both points and cuts,
but this is contrary to the plainest rules of common sense
and the Eastern swordsman's effective practice. For, if
we cut to the rear while we are charging to the front, the
speed neutralizes the force of our cut, because we are
moving away from instead of to the object we assault —
on the same principle of rowing with or against a stream.
In rowing down stream Ave have the advantage of the
force of the current against our oars ; but, if we row
against it, the water gives way with the oars and we
lose power that we gain by the resistance of the current
against the oars in going with it. So that when the pur-
sued and pursuers are going the same way tlie halt of the
latter is indispensable for an effective cut to the rear ;
besides it is safer to entertain the antagonist till disposed
of, rather than to pass on and leave him in a condition
to keep up a magazine fusillade at the cavalry target. In

THE CAVALRY BIT-ATS'D-BRIDOON'. 69

such instances of life and death struggles by the indi-
vidual members of a squadron or two of well led cavalry,
pending great battles, the loss of armies and the fates of
empires have been decided. 'There are so many advantages
necessary to the success of cavalry charges, that it does
not always depend upon the judgment of the commander.
Tlie ground and strength of position will often favor the
numerically weaker force.

FOREIGN OR EASTERN BITS.

It may be argued that in Spanish- America, Spain, Tar-
tary, Circassia, Arabia, and Eastern countries generally,
the curb and ring bits are used singly on all occasions.
We are aware of this ; but, in the first place, the horse-
men in those countries are in the saddle from childhood
and know how to use the bit and spare the horse ; and,
secondly, while we have imported and adopted tlie bits,
we have left the riders at home. The curb bit in the
cavalry service, as in the hunting fisld, should never be
used in leaping, and as battle fields are geographically
uncertain, cavalry should be prepared to take things as
they come. But only one bit and two reins — one mild
and the other severe — on the Pelham plan, is the best
bit for the cavalry horse and the service he performs.

With the curb bit alone the horse can be manoeuvred
in any way, but he cannot be made to leap unless he
chooses, for the use of the curb defeats the effort. It
intimidates and confuses the horse when he is calculating
his distance and taking the measure of the object before
him. It attracts his attention from his work, and draw-
ing his head down con vexes his crest when it ought to be
concaved, and instead of giving him his head as he wants
and needs it for both wind and action as well as observa-
tion, he is held down and back, both of which are the
very reverse of what we want him to do ; hence the

70 THE BRIDLE BITS.

numerous acoideuts. Those who doubt the judgment of
the horse must j'ield to the fact that the most ordinary-
horse or animal of any kind puts muscular power to his
bound in proportion to the width or lieight to be leaped.
As we bid farewell to the cavalry regulation watering
bit, on campaigns, we do not do so without recommending
a substitute not unknown to the service, and one that is
calculated to answer all the requirements of both bits and
the advantage claimed in resuming its use. We must con-
sider that we cannot have everything our own way while
the horse we ride has to do the work. His ideas must be
consulted as to how, not what, is to be done. Give him
to understand by proper means what you want him to do,
and leave the performance to him. If the rider don't
know how to give his horse to understand how high or
how far he is to jump, he had better learn.

CHAPTEE YI.

CAVALRY OR MILITARY BIT.

The old cavalry or military bit, vvith rings in a line
with the bar for bridoon reins, is preferable, as regards
the rings and their purposes, to the regulation cavalry
bit now used in the United States Army. For the curb
and bridoon reins work the same bit, but witli different
powers, meanings, effects, times and results. In the use
of the rings for the bridoon reins, Ave dispense with the
watering bit on campaigns and adoi)t a steering apparatus
far better adapted for practical purposes in the field than
the bridle now in use. Oar reasons for recommending it
arc drawn from our life-long practical knowledge of horses
and horsemanship of different kinds, both civil and mili-
tary, tlms taking in a wide range of experience, alike in
America and Europe ; and we have no hesitation in say-

CAVALRY OR MILITARY BIT. 71

ing that it is easier and better for the horse, while his
rider can do more and do it better with it than with the
regulation bit as now used with the watering bit. The
groat advant;ige is in tlie two riugs for the bridoou
reins, which, when drawn, do not put any strain on the
lever and the curb that the curb rein alone works witli
such effect on the most trivial occasions, as described iu
the preceding chapter. In this bridle we have the prin-
ciples and advantages of the Pelham, thus abandoning at
certain times, for convenience, the troublesome watering
bridle, Avhich our men in the late Avar found of more use
for carrying bundles of hay and straw to their horses than
for riding with, and it is doubtful if its value in this re-
spect was equivalent to thQ trouble of carrying it.

Articles furnished cavalry soldiers are not always pat
exclusively to their legitimate uses. His hat holds alter-
nately his head, water and grain ; his blanket covers his
body and keeps it warm at night and cool by day — carries
corn in the ear and chaff and utensils to camp. His
shelter tent ("a covert from the storm and a shadow from
the heat") carries bread, sanitarj supplies and am])le
loot. His bridle serves as a halter ; his saddle bears
his body on the march and his head in the hour of re-
pose ; his surcingle binds on his saddle on the daily march
and serves as an impromptu trace in hauling boxes of
mud to chink his winter hut, while his saddle blanket,
at the last sound of the evening trumpet call, covers his
feet and keeps off the chilling midnight air. His pistol
kills a foe to-day and a friend to-morrow ; his sword hews
down men at morn and wood and bread in the bivouac at
even, and at night marks his shallow grave. By proper
instruction the recruit can soon learn to understand how
to ease his horse's mouth and still have a rein to balance
himself till he gets his seat.

Tiie argument against a substitute for the watering bit
will be that a horse can't drink with the curb bit, and

73 THE BKIDLE BITS,

that if the curb bit or rein should break or be cut he has
the bridoon to fall back on. Horses can drink all they
want with any bit. The sacrifice is so trifling, compared
with the advantages of dispensing Avith all extra encum-
brances on cami)aigns, that we consider the preference is
due the proposed change and general adoption of the sin-
gle bit witli rings at the guards on a line with the bar.
In the last winter of our civil war, scores of our cavalry
horses in CampAverill, near Winchester, Va., were with-
out blankets and halters, and were consequently tied to
stumps with the curb bridles on and bits in their mouths,
the watering bits having been thrown away. As Assist-
ant Inspector General in Sheridan's Corps, one of our
duties was to send to the War Office weekly returns of
every article on hand and everything needed. But it was
in vain we reported a lack of horse blankets and halters,
and asked for a coil of rope to make halters of. The
horses stood to their bridles fast to stumps, ate, drank,
raided and rested during all that winter without any re-
lief, irrespective of the numerous reports and requisitions
made for these and other things, the assertion of the In-
spector General of the Corps, Otis, to the contrary not-
witlistanding.

By the resumption of the old bit we would get rid of
the tortures of the curb and the tronble and annoyance
of the watering bridle, which, although but a few ounces
weight, is an encumbrance which tells on long marches
of days at a time, while it serves no purpose to relieve the
horse in any substantial waj. It does very well at stations,
i!i peace time, when men have nothing else to do but to
play at soldier m riding out to water, exercise, drill,
clean barracks and horses and take care of such things as
make up the general assortment of cavalry equipments.
But in "grim-visaged war," when an army strips for a
campaign, all surperfluous camp articles — such as tents,
baggage, cooking utensils, forges, tools, women, non-

CAVALRY OR MILITARY BIT. 73

effective men, and wagons and horses not needed — are sent
to the rear to lighten up and disencumber the army in the
field, we propose abandoning the watering bridle with
the rest, and thus obeying the mandate of a necessity and
ages of experience, place our reliance on the altered regu-
lation bridle to the Pelham plan witli two reins, as pro-
posed and shown in the foregoing cut with rings for bri-
doon reins.

If expedition in saddling up be any advantage, we gain
on it by having only one instead of two bits to put on ;
and, although the time it would take in camp to put on
an extra bit be but a moment, yet that moment, when
suddenly attacked at a disadvantage at an outpost in war,
could always be turned to better account in preparing to
repel the attack of a cavalry force yelling like demons on
its approach, within fifty yards, perhaps, of the post, than
in fooling with a dispensable article that had better be at
home. It may be said by a strict disciplinarian that a
cavalry force should not be surprised ; this is true, but
surprises have taken place and always Avill while wars are
possible. A horse can drink ail he wants with even two
bits in his mouth, and to carry an extra bit all day for
the sake of its convenience to the horse in two minutes'
drinking every twenty-four hours, is certainly not an
ecpiivalent to the relief from its use and care. If the bits
were kept with a steel polish, as in the civil service, there
might be a good reason for using the bridoon bit on
fatigue duty to spare the curb bit from dirt and rust after
it was hung up clean and ready for parade ; but we see
no other valid excuse, so long as the curb bit with two
reins will answer the purpose.

Experience in war relieves an army of a vast deal of
unnecessary encumbrance, which is added to by the ap-
parent necessity for small and trifling things carried with
it as a convenience for each mdividual composing it. An
army thus encumbered is like a written speech ; it loses

74 THE BRIDLE BITS.

half its force in details, which the off-hand, extempora-
neous speech dispenses with, and exposes the facts with-
out the fogs. (See our paper on the subject to General
Milroy, December, 1883, and deposited in the Cavalry
Bureau, War Office, Washington, D. C, and subse-
quently partially acted upon in Sheridan's army, and
perhaps in other armies during the latter end of the war.)
In March, 1862, when the Army of the Potomac moved on
Eichmond, the First N"e\v York (Lincoln) Cavalry Regi-
ment took forty-eight quartermaster wagons on the
campaign. Three years afterwards, when with Sheridan
in the Valley of the Shenandoah, the regiment was
brigaded, and when the brigade moved again on Rich-
mond and on to Appomattox, it was composed of three
regiments — the First New York (Lincoln), and the First
and Third West Virginia (the Second Virginia remained
in the Valley) — there was but one wagon allowed to the
brigade, thus in stripping this veteran and experienced
army for the campaign, 190 wagons, 764 mules and 191
drivers were dispensed with, and there being none but
the amunition and necessary supply wagons to cut up
the roads and impede the progress, the army moved with
effective celerity.

But this is not all. In the spring of 1864, when the
Army of the Shenandoah was under marching orders for
the summer's campaign, an order was issued by the
commanding general, stating in detail each article to be
supplied to and carried by each man and horse in the
cavalry arm of that army. Besides sabre, carbine, pistol,
twenty rounds of pistol and forty rounds of carbine car-
tridges, tiiree day's rations and feed, the soldier's kit, or,
as they call it m the West, the "possible bag," was to
contam soap, towel, socks, comb, brush, knife and fork,
tin plate, shoe brush and blacking, and numerous other
articles of convenience that even the soldier liimself don't
like to leave behind. To test the presumed capacity of

CAVALRY OR MILITARY BIT. 75

the cavalry horse as a beast of burden, we ordered a man
weighing 175 pounds to fit himself out with a full supply
of this regulation outfit and rode with him to Adams'
express office scales in Martinsburgh, West Virginia. We
ordered the horse stripped of everything, and the man
with his accoutrements and the trajjpings of his horse
put in the scales, which balanced at 280 pounds. Of
course the three days' feed and rations for the man and
horse became less, daily, till exhausted ; but the weight
was there to start with, and with the exception of the
rations there v/as no reduction in the weights, except
that of the cartridges, in the event of an argument with
the enemy.

After many serious arguments the campaign resolved
itself into a retreat from Lynchburgh to the Ohio Eiver.
In passing through the Cumberland Mountains on the
way, the horses being overloaded, gave out, and some
four troops were shot on the road in one day. The
best horses, being unequal to the weight, were the first
to fail and be shot. We state these circumstances to
show the advantage and the disadvantage of two sys-
tems— light and heavy marching — and that there is a
point at which to stop adding to the articles in a soldier's
kit and the horse's equipments.

THE BEIDLE BITS.

CHAPTER VII.

MEXICAN RING BIT.

The illustration below represents the principle of the
Spanish ring bit as used in Mexico and all Spanish-
American countries. It far excels tlie curb in both
power and severity. The ring being inflexible, it is the
most cruel of all the bits when in unskilled hands.

Fio:. 26.— MEXICAN KING BIT.

While the curb is broad, flat and comparatively pliable,
the ring is hard and unyielding, and consequently instant
obedience is the result of the slightest touch of the rein.
The ring passes through a loop-hole in the back part of
the apex of the arch in the bar, wliile the front of the
tongue of the arch is rounded off, like the top of one's
thumb, so that when it presses on the roof of the mouth
it opens it but don't cut the bars in doing so. The ring
passes out at the upper corners of the mouth and around
the under jaw, and when the rein is drawn the arch is
thrown forward against the palate and the ring pressed
against the bones of the under jaw, where the curb

MEXICAN EING BIT. 77

presses and exercises its masterly functions, but with
double the severity of the curb. Across the middle of
the arch in the bar of the bit there is a small bar from
which hang two or three copper tags, which act on the
same principle as those on the mouthing bit and for the
same purpose.

This ring bit is used with a single rein. In handling
the lasso it is most effective. Its simplicity and con-
venience recommend it for the expeditious manner in
which it can be pat on, there being no curb or extra
parts to look up and fit on ; but we recommend it only
to the hand that is skilled in its use and well balanced
in the saddle. No novice should use it before putting an
old horseshoe in his own mouth and letting some awk-
ward fellovv^ drive him round a while with it and chuck
him now and then. That would give him an idea of
how his horse would suffer in uncultivated hands. The
ring bit is a terror to all horses subject to its control.
The best made ring bits are manufactured in England.
The cut given represents one of English manufacture,
intended for a large horse. We bought the original in
the city of Mexico and used it under protest on a favorite
horse we took there from New York. Some horses don't
take to it. It is too severe for the timid, high-strung
animal, and too cruel if used on a "Innk-head" or large
horse that would not yield to it. In our opinion the
ring bit is fit only for small horses that can be stopped
short, turned round and thrown back at will. The large
ten hundred weight horse cannot bring up such a heavy
body suddenly in answer to its severity. Such heavy
horses should be trained to its moral rather than to its
physical power, i. e., if trained to it at all.

The system of brute force pursued by horsemen in the
East is practiced on small, short-legged horses that can
manoeuvre on a limited surface. " In France," says
Capt. Nolan, "they make their chargers canter round a

78 THE BRIDLE BITS.

sixpence and pull up and turn round at speed. This they
do by tying the horse's nose down witli a standing mar-
tingale, attached to a spiked snaffle. They then fasten
a rope to the rings of the snaffle and longe the animal on
a very small circle, with a man on his back who strenu-
ously applies the whip and spurs. After a few days at
this, they practice the horse at starting off at speed and
pulling up on the spot, when their charger is ready for
the field." This training is entirely mechanical. The
horse feels no friendship towards his rider — only fear.
But this is not training. The horse's disposition to sub-
mit to moral influence is not cultivated, nor does he do
anything of his own free will — it is all brute force ; but
even with this it could not be made so effective on large,
heavy horses as on small ones.

If we observe the peculiarity of the horsemen of each
nation, we will find that the character of the riding,
feats and exercises are regulated by the breed, size and
style of the horses of the respective countries. Thus, in
Mexico the bull-fighter's horse is not only a small, thin,
active mustang, but he is blindfolded (and not unfre-
quently purposely blinded) before being taken into the
arena to face an infuriated bull, maddened by fire-crackers
fastened to darts stuck in his skin, and the sights, sounds
and smells of thousands around him, and rendered fierce
and fearless by the challenges of the red flags and the
blood of others beneath his feet. Large horses would
liavc no chance or advantage in such a contest, and when
we consider the practice of horsemen in the Eastern
countries, we find that their exportness with spears, sharp
sworJs, small, active horses and powerful bits, are due
to the peculiarity of the different breeds, for it is at the
very threshold of circumstances that every nation has its
peculiarities, as well in its practices as in its productions
and amusements.

In using the ring bit with our large saddle-horses,

MEXICAN RING BIT. 79

patient training is necessary to get them to take to and
understand it. On the retreat of the Army of the
Potomac from before Kichmoud, in 1862, we put our
Mexican ring bit on a young, higli-strung horse of fine
speed and action. He went perfectly wild. The first
thing he did was to run away with it, and in trying to
stop him the ring broke, when the horse, taking his
head, dashed into the ranks as if he expected relief from
the troop horses. He seemed maddened and acted like a
horse with a bee in his ear. On the same day, at the
battle of Savage Station, we went in search of a canteen
of water, and on returning the horse took fright again ;
and having no control of him with a broken bit, he
" swallowed " it and dashed through a quartermastei-'s tent
and stores on fire, near Savage Station, and again rushed
into the ranks. He certainly declared war against the
ring bit ; but as he was too good an animal to conquor
in such a way, and thus break his spirit and otherwise
trifle with his disposition, we humored him and never
put the bit in his mouth again.

On another occasion — in a charge on cavalry at six
o'clock in the morning of June 5th, 1864, at the battle of
Piedmont, Va., — the curb of a regulation bit broke and
he dashed through the enemy's ranks like a shot, and,
bringing him round by degrees, he rejoined the regiment.
This horse was wholly unmanageable with any bit when
he took it into his head to run away. But after we be-
came better acquainted and he began to know our voice,
we had rings put on the guards of a regulation bit, and
henceforth always used the bridoon rein, except in action,
when necessity required the curb. If we must keep such
powerful regulation bits we must have horses' mouths
made to order, for the question is not what bit will suit
the horse, but what horse will suit the bit. We used the
altered regulation bit with this horse until he became
accustomed to it, and never used any other with him to

80 THE BKIDLE BITS.

the end of the war. We rode him at three steeple-chases
and won the regimental ehaUenge cup three times, and
brought it and its gallant winner home " when the cruel
war was over."

CHAPTER VIII.

EASTERN HORSES.

Horses found their way into Europe from the East,
where they were highly prized and used for the saddle.
The smaller the horse the easier it is to handle him and
use him to a powerful bit. And as horsemanship and
swordsmanship were highly estimated accomplishments,
and inseparable in those countries in ancient times, as they
are still in many parts, the art of single combat required
the nimble action of the small horse to charge, strike,
wheel, and retire to insure victory over a less active foe,
unskilled in the game of cavalry tag.

As a test of horsemanship and training it is a common
practice in Mexico to ride the small, active mustang at
full speed against a stone wall, and rein him up to a dead
stand with his forefeet against the base of the wall. This
is certainly a great feat, and one that could not bo per-
formed by onr large saddle horses. It shows the power
of the bit and the training of the horse to its use in yield-
ing to it instantly, instead of resisting its power.

Captain Nolan, of the Fifteenth Hussars, and of Bala-
klava Light Brigade fame, contends that ''the English
horse has no superior in anything." But both Nolan and
Sir George Cox wrote more from theory than from prac-
tical knowledge or unbiased minds. Nolan says: "I
have heard it said that the English horse is not adapted,
like the Arab and others of Eastern breed, to skirmishing,

EASTERN HORSES. 81

to i^ulling up from speed c.nd turning quickly. The
better* the horse the more adapted to all feats of agility
and strength. No horse can compare with tlie English,
no horse is more easily broken in to anything and every-
thing— and there is no quality in which the English horse
does not excel, no performance in which he cannot beat
all competition." Gammon ! This is strong language and
savors of partiality rather than prejudice, for further
on he extols Eastern in preference to English horses.

The captain goes on the Irishman's principle that one
horse "is as good as another and a great deal better," for
he proceeds as follows : "An officer in India made a bet
thai he would himself ride his charger (an Arab, little
more than fourteen hands high) four hundred measured
miles in five consecutive days, and he won the match.
The horse performed his task with ease, and did not even
throw out a windgall. General Dumas relates that the
horses of the Sahara will travel during five or six days
from seventy-five to ninety miles a day, and that in
twenty-four hours they will go over from one hundred
and fifty to one hundred and eighty miles, and this over
a stony desert. Diseases of the feet and broken-wind are
almost unknown among them. What would become of
an English cavalry regiment if suddenly required to
make a few forced marches or to keep up a pursuit for a
few bundled miles ? Their want of power to carry the
weight and want of breeding makes them tire after trot-
ting a few miles on the line of march.

"Our cavalry horses are feeble; they measure high,
but do so from length of limb, which is weakness, not
power. The blood they require is not that of our weedy
race horse (an animal more akin to the greyhound and
bred for speed alone), but it is the blood of the Arab and

♦The word '• bettor" tins a wido raiiu'i-. Tlion; is no \tovi=c: of imj- breed or
country that ie not " better" for some tilings than others are, and in oiaopiiiiou
Nolan uses llio word at random.

82 THE BRIDLE BITS.

Persian to give them that comi3act form and wiry limb
that they need. The fine Irish troop horses, formerly so
sought for, arc not now (1853) to be procured in the
market. Instead of the long, low, deep-chested, short-
backed, strong-boned horse of former days, you find
nothing now bat long-legged, straight-shouldered* ani-
mals, prone to disease from the time they are foaled, and
whose legs grease after a common field day. These ani-
mals form the staple of our remounts.

" The English cavalry are not what they should be. If
brought fresh into the field of battle, the speed of the
horses and the pluck of the men would doubtless achieve
great things for the moment ; but they could not endure,
they could not follow up, they could not come again.
All other reforms in our cavalry will be useless unless
this important point be looked to. It is building a house
on the sand to organize cavalry without good horses.
Government alone could work the necessary reform by
importing stallions and mares of Eastern blood for the
purpose of breeding troop horses and chargers for the
cavalry of England. I had heard of fine horses in Rus-
sia, but I complacently said to myself, ' Whatever they
are they cannot be as good as the English.' However, 1
went to Russia, and seeing is believing. Their horse-
artillery and cavalry are far better mounted than ours ;
and their horses are immeasurably superior in those qual-
ities which constitute the true war-horse, namely, cour-
age, constitutional vigor, strength of limb and great
power of endurance under fatigue and privation."

It would certainly be very hard to reconcile these two
opinions as coming from the same writer. It goes to
show how prematurely a man can make up his mind to
become an author on the strength of his theories or par-

*N<) 8tr)ii;,'lit-slioiildc!n!<l liorse could l)e a successful racer or steepli'-chascr,
for it is one of the most iridispniisublc formations in a fast horse or jumper to
have an oblique shoulder. A 8tr;ii<,'ht shoulder moans a short elride, and racers
with short strides arc distanced and -jet run off the turf.— [Author.

EASTEEN HORSES. 83

tialitics, and thus ventilate his opinions or prejudices to
a world of men of experience, hard practical knowledge
and common sense. We cannot always rely upon opinions
based on practical knowledge in some matters, for obsei'-
vation and even actual contact with things make various
impressions, according to the disposition, experience or
education of the person, and indeed frequently gives
wrong notions, which, while they tend to puzzle the un-
initiated, are nevertheless easily unraveled by men of
natural and varied training, who have been set right
themselves by the knowledge and judgment of others as
well as those of their own. But General Dumas' 180
miles in twenty-four hours, for cavalry, would be seven
and one-half miles per hour ; that is doubtful, for there
is no horse can walk as fast as a man, and few if any
could accomplish it on a stony desert.

Nolan was a young man when he wrote his book, and
his opinion respecting the ability of the English horse to
compete with the horses of all nations in everything,
wherever found, changed as he visited other countries
and saw for himself the superiority of other breeds of
horses for services and feats that he acknowledges the
English horse could not accomplish. He might as well
tell us that a black-and-tan could as easily get into the
rat-hole as the rat, as to say that an English cavalry
horse could compete with a mustang in fighting a mad
bull, galloping round a wheel-barrow, or in traveling sixty
miles a day on prairie grass for feed. Nolan certainly
took the bit in his teeth and ran away Avith his praise of
the English horse, as he did with his subsequent de-
nouncement of the same animal. The forte of the
English cavalry horse is to go ahead and charge through
or overall opposition, but when he is required to compete
with the Arab or the mustang in their performances, he
must be remodeled and tanght subjection to a different
bit from the one he yields to now.

84 THE BRIDLE BITS.

We would not have noticed the gallant captain's re-
marks on the English horse, but for the advantage it
gives lis in drawing a line between the English breeds of
horses and those of other countries, in both their actions
and government in their resjjective and appropriate vo-
cations under the saddle. Other remarks of the captain
on this subject show that the Eastern horseman's advan-
tage over the European cavalry soklier is due to his sharp
sword and small, active horse, that is perfectly obedient
to the bit and performs in proportion to his size. The
value of the English horse is from five hundred to one
thousand dollars, while that of the mustang (that can
beat him) is fifteen dollars. Adieu, captain.

To bring a horse of a thousand pounds to a dead stand-
still from almost full speed, turn round and charge to
the rear as easily as one can a small cat of a mustang or
Arab, is sheer nonsense to assert ; and it is in such per-
formances that the English or American horse of the
cavalry standard is helpless compared with the small,
active horse who has degenerated to four or five hundred
pounds weight from its ancestor, the famous Andalusian
breed, imported by Cortes and occasionally abandoned in
the desert, where liis descendents now roam in wild
bands and supply the rancliero with fresh stock. No large
horse could be reined up suddenly without damage to
himself or something else in some shape, and it is against
cavalry composed of such horses that light cavalry is so
effective, and can be so annoying by dashing to and from
them as the gad-fly does to the horse himself. Even in
single combat the small, light horse has the advantage in
being able to attack, rushing up, delivering a blow and
then retreating at full speed, and when his })ursuer is
drawn out at full speed also, he turns short round and
lets the large horse, tllat can't stop suddenly, gallop on
to his rear. And where is the small horse by the time his
pursuer is turned round ? At his heels.

EASTERN HOUSES. 85

It is in this kind of performance that the mustang and
the small Eastern horse excels the English, which Cap-
tain Nolan proposes to improve by the importation of
stallions and mares of the Eastern breeds. But this has
been done long ago, and long before the captain was born.
The experience was favorable, for the Darly Arabian and
others were the result of such enterprises. AVe have rid-
den hunters by the famous Escape, out of Arabian blood ;
also hunters by SirErancis, who kept the Queen's County
challenge cup for five years against all comers, and in all
these performances the cross with the Arab horse told.
It was this importation of foreign blood — the Norman,
Tartar and Arab — that has made the English horse Avhat
he is under the saddle as a hunte:^, racer and steeple
chaser, and as which he is king.

The difficulty of stopping anything of great weight is
demonstrated in various ways. The projectile of a ton
weight will bury itself sixty feet in a mound of sand ; but
the hundred-ton gun from v/hich it is fired can, if ex-
posed, be captured and silenced by a charge of light
cavalry composed of mustangs, governed by ring bits
that enable the riders to manoeuvre round the battery and
cut down the gunners. Weight is power ; speed is
strength. It is on this principle that heavy cavalry is
effective, with power, in breaking infantry squares when
it is possible. One or the other must give way. Either
the cavalry must be shot down and a breastwork of dead
and dying men and horses piled up in its front, thus
fencing out the charging ranks, or the square must give
way and let the troopers in. It is in such an encounter
as this that heavy horses are effective, and in which a
powerful bit, such as the ring or curb bit, is not much
used till the work of breaking the square is done, and
the melee follows, where the unwieldy horse is at the
mercy of the bullet and the bayonet, and whether he stays
in or gets out of the square his chances are against him.

86 THE BRIDLE BITS.

Circumstances of climate and a great maritine nation
catered to the ec^uine tastes of the people of the British
Isles, for, having had intercourse through trading and
perpetual wars with foreign nations, they imported su-
perior animals and crossed them with their own, and
thus imjDroved the breeds of all kinds of animals to such
a degree that not only the formation and size are estab-
lished, but the very colors of all the varieties give them
character and excellence, so that they can be identified
as this or that breed by their flesh or color of their hair.
The superior excellence of the English horse has come
about in this way. The saddle-horse, which is bred ex-
clusively for the purpose of racing, hunting and steeple
chasing (in which he excels wherever he goes, and in
which we will venture to say he has no superior in any
clime), will not be improved as hunters and steeple
chasers by a cross with Eastern stock, if deep chests and
short legs are to characterize the improvements, or rather
the change. Equestrian sports on the British Isles are
the consequence of their having the horses to suit the
purposes of the wildest ambitions in these respects. As
a cavalry horse, to carry heavy weight and endure
fatigue on loi:g marches, he might be improved under
Eastern treatment, where the horses are out in the open
air instead of being housed up in a close stable, standing
and lying down in narrow stalls and tied by a short
halter so that tliey cannot lie down and stretch their legs
out to resi them after a day's march or hard ride. This
alone would shorten any horse's working life. The nar-
row stall in which a horse is obliged to tuck his legs in
under him, is a torture and the curse of the American
horses. With short legs and deep brisket the English
hunter would deteriorate as a hunter, for he could not
take the leaps he does now. The short-legged, thick-set
horse is tough, hardy, durable and strong, but the place
to set himself off to advantage is not in taking a five-foot
wall or five-barred iron gate.

EASTERN HORSES. 87

The deep chest and short legs for cavalry marches in
India, and taking cross country as it comes in England
and Ireland, arc very diii'erent things. Length and
power of limb in proportion to the size of the body are
necessary in taking great leaps, and for heavy riding
through plowed fields. A long leg is not a sign of weak-
ness, as Nolan has it, if the body is deep in proportion.
The difference between the build of men compared with
that of women is evidence of this. Tlie man is intended
for strength and activity ; for this, his body is short,
shoulders broad and legs long; while, on the contrary,
the woman has a long body, narrow shoulders, wide hips
and short legs. The woman sits higher than the man,
while the man stands higher than she does. Her body is
long and large to facilitate child-bearing and the pro-
duction of nourishment for her offspring ; while the
man's body is large and muscular, and placed upon long
legs to give him lever power. If, therefore, according to
Nolan's idea, long legs are a sign of weakness, the whole
structure of men must undergo a transformation to ren-
der tlieni stronger and more physically serviceable. But
we are satisfied with the English horse as he is, and
while he can jump and carry his rider over six feet six
inches we will not change his contour. To show how
fixed nature is in her laws in this respect, a man, although
half a woman, never partakes of her peculiar formation,
because, if he did, he would be rendered useless for the
purposes for which he was physically intended.

No length or size is a sign of weakness if every other part
is in proportion. For certain j)urposes we must always
sacrifice something. If these two horses exchanged
jjlaces, countries and services, both might be failures. If
we can judge of the build of the horses of the ancient
Romans by the Roman sculptures and pictures we see
copied from paintings on walls, and the numerous hiero-
glyphics on mettle and stone, the horses were small and

88 THE BRIDLE BITS.

short-legged, for the rider's legs are represented hanging
long and. limp, and their feet far below the horse's
brisket. This is the build of the Eastern horse that the
Romans imported and took to England in their numer-
ous invasions. If we can judge by these pictures there
were very inferior horses, or very inferior artists, in those
days, compared with those of the present time. But,
hiowever that may be, the horses are all represented with
their heads well bridled in with arched crests and their
chins on their necks, which indicates the nature and
power of the bit then in use. No doubt that on the fre-
quent invasions of Great Britain by the Romans, during
hundreds of years, many disabled horses were left behind,
which the Britain, with his natural propensity and pecu-
liar scientific ability was not slow to imjirove — an advantage
which, when combined with good stock to start with, and
a genial and favorable climate, contributed to the develop-
ment of the English horse as he is to-day, and his pecu-
liar abilities have given rise to the national equestrian
sports, not equaled in any other land. The English
horse is like his countryman — very well while his belly is
full, well-shod and cared for, and within convenient dis-
tance of food and water ; but that he can compete with
the mustang in lassoing bulls and bears, carrying a man
half his weight on his back some twenty leagues a day,
without shoes, food or water, fight a mad bull in a bull
ring, and run at nearly full speed against a stone Avail
and stop short without killing himself, we simply deny,
without giving any opinion on the subject, for opinions
and facts have no connection with each other.

The Eastern bit, therefore, while it is most effective in
handling the small, active horses for Avhich it Avas de-
signed, is powerless to take such action and feats out of
our English breed of horses, simply on account of their
size and Avcight, and the equine feats peculiar to the
British Isles and the English people. Captain Nolan

THE MULE BIT. 89

redeems himself by contradicting, without seeming to
moan it, what "he says of the English horse in comparing
him with the small Eastern animal ; but both he and Sir
George Cox are of the same equestrian school. AVhile
one considers the English horse superior to all others in
every quality, the other says " it is wrong-headedness to
shoe horses at all in any country," and refers to the per-
formances of Xenophon's on the plains of Babylon, and
a Massachusetts lunatic, in sujjport of his assertion. So
that men of broad and practical knowledge and experi-
ence in equestrian matters would consider their opinions
worthless on those two subjects.

CHAPTER IX.
THE MULE BIT.

The mule bit for cruelty is a specialty in Mexico, and
for its severity the Mexicans or Spanish race is entitled
to the palm. It is a ring bit and the arch in the bar,
with the tags suspended therefrom, is the same as the
Mexican ring bit (fig. 26) illustrated in Chapter VII. Its
extra severity consists in having a joint or hinge where
the bars join the guards, which are flat. It is used with
a single rein and one headstall. About ten inches of
chain is fastened to each end of the rein where it joins
the bit. The reins are generally made of raw-hide, and
are very strong and durable. Some are made of horse
hair.

The mule, more than any of the other saddle animals,
should be well mouthed and carefully trained to the voice,
and taught to submit more to moral influence than to the
power of this bit, for to contend with his natural resist-
ance and untutored strength and natural stubborness is
a source of perpetual warfare between him and his rider

90 THE BRIDLE BITS.

if liG be spoiled in handling. We have seen some very
well mouthed mules m Mexico. Most of them were reg-
ular saddle mules belonging to the muleteers who kept
pack trains on the roads from the interior to the coasts.
These animals were very handsome and well set up in their
carriage and style. Prior to the war of 1847 with the
United States, mules were driven a great deal to carriages
by the wealthy of the "halls of the Montezumas," and
having handsome and peculiar harness, made expressly
for carriage mules, they were by no means objectionable
as part of the equipage — for, with their long ears, well-
arclied necks and cropped manes, they attracted consid-
erable attention from visitors, as they passed in review
around the fountains on the Paseos and beneath the
shades of the Alamedas. The wealthy vied with each
other in selecting and driving the finest mules they could
obtain. The severe mule bit was disi3ensed with after
the teams became docile and familiar with the English
carriage bit, under the influence of which the mules
made a very handsome appearance.

But things and fashions don't last always, for at the
close of the war American cavalry and artillery liorses
were disposed of and found their way into cities, .where
they became substitutes for mules as carriage horses. The
mules, however, were retained by those who could afford
to keep them for theatre-going, and thus spare their
horses the chances of taking cold under exposure to the
drenching showers that fall during the nocturnal hours
in the rainy season, when all is gayeby in the Capital,
which is often knee-deep in water for tlie lack of sufficient
drainage. The cut in the mountain, although long, deep
and wide, is not low enough to draw off the filth and im-
purities of ages from the city sewers, and hence the con-
dition of things is a disgrace to the nation. We like the
Spanish-American people for their good common sense,
kind and social dispositions, personal cleanliness, and

THE MULE BIT. 91

genuine civility and courteous politeness of manner,
which seem really ingrain and national in all ranks ;
but from want of domestic convenience and proper drain-
age, their habits, in general, are simply indelicate and
abominable.

THE DONKEY BIT.

The bit used with the Mexican burro (donkey) is small,
but of the same pattern and on the same principle as the
mule bit. This discouraged beast is sometimes spared
the extra torture of the hinge, and the little patient slave,
not much larger or stronger than the man on his back,
is punched, jerked about and beaten on the rump and
head with a club to enforce obedience or to punish him
for his inability or refusal to carry his pack or submit to
the most cruel class of men on earth to animals. Roast-
ing missionaries is a mere bagatelle compared to the bar-
barity of these men towards their domestic beasts of
burden, for the cannibal has something to gain in the
prospect of a good meal, while the burrero* has everything
to lose by clubbing the strength and spirit out of the
little animal that falls to the rear in his train, being un-
able to keep up under the burden of his pack, already
too heavy for him to bear.

We were once riding up a hill near Cerro Gordo, on
the national road from Vera Cruz to Mexico. In advance
there was a freight train of one hundred burros winding
up the hill. The freight was l)ar iron, cut about eighteen
inches long for convenience in packing on the donkies.
One fine jack was loaded out of proportion to his extra
strength. The consequence was that he fell back in the
train and came under the convenient reach of the burrero's
murderous club, which, if hung up in Mr, Bergh's office,
would eclipse any of the choice selections exposed there as
samples of stable furniture for the accommodation of the

*As8 driver.

92 THE BRIDLE BITS.

equine slave in inspiring him with obedience and ability
to do his master's work and will. This Mexican savage
in human form, beat and clubbed the little burro first on
one side of his croup till he almost fell over ; then he
beat him on the other side to straighten him up again,
every blow of the club weakening him the more till at
last he fell down, and, being at the mercy of the savage,
was clubbed on the head and neck, which he vainly tried
to keep out of the way.

At this point, Avhen patience ceased to control us, and
our native blood was at fever heat, and murder seemed a
virtue to restraint, in saving this poor little helpless ani-
mal from such terrible cruelty and abuse, we drew our
sword and charged on the burrero with hostile demon-
strations, su})plemonted by language more effective than
elegant, and holding the glittering steel over his head,
impatiently demanded instant obedience before the im-
pending execution of our threats were lavished on his
miserable pate. Finding himself now in the donkey's
place, he tremblingly obeyed our order to unload the
animal and let him rise. We made him distribute part
of the cargo among the other burros, and reloading the
victim he was let go, when he ran in among the other
burros in the train and lagged behind no more. To see
that he did not, for revenge, repeat the abuse, we rode
after the train for a mile or two till the savage cooled
down. It is a curious coincidence that one resolute
American could beat fifteen of these cowards, Avhile one
of them would face a mad bull that would drive twenty
Americans out of the arena.

In traveling in Mexico one sees many opportunities
for practical outbursts of justifiable homicide. If our
very worthy and public spirited citizen, Mr. Henry Bergh,
should visit Mexico and the homes of the Aztecs, he would
repent of ever having punished a man m his native State
for abuse of a horse, and would wish that he had reserved

D HIVING BITS. 93

lialf the pains and penalties for the Mexican professionals,
who excel all competitors in this class of athletic exercise.
When the first national exhibition is held in the capital
of that fair and productive country, tha first premium
for the most approved style of cruelty Avill be justly
awarded- to one of the gallant and most accomplished
abusers of animals in that favored land.

C H A P T E R X .

DRIVING BITS.

THE BRIDOON BIT WITH RINGS.

The cut below illustrates the ordinary bridoon or water-
ino- bit used in common with cart, car, truck, wagon,

Fig. 27.— BRIDOON BIT WITH KINGS.

plow and cavalry regulation bit, and is quite mild and
harmless in its general application. It serves as a mere
check to hold and guide the horse with in ordinary work.
It can be worn with the reins thrown over the hames to
gather the truck horse's head, and set him up a little to
appear more stylish. The heavy Norman and Clydesdale
breeds, now becoming so numerous and popular in this
country, are so elegantly proportioned that this simple
bit, with single headstall, and rein thrown over the
hames, serves the purpose as well as a regular check rein
with bit and curb used on the most stylish carriage horse.
These handsome animals are so elegantly set up that they

94

THE BRIDLE BITS.

require no restraint to show them off by use of check
reiu.; nature has saved the trouble, at least in many that
we have seen.

Some horses, owing to their natural build and hang-
dog appearance and disposition, would be tortured by

Fig. 28. — SADDLE HORSE.

any attempt at such restraint as is possible with even
these simple bits, and to try to make them appear what
they are not invites pity and criticism. There is nothing
they look well in outside of a straw yard, a plow or a farm
wagon, for all attempts to brace them up for style is labor
lost ; and although high j)rices are frequently paid for
them by men who depend on the seller for Judgment and

Fig:. 29.— CARRIAGE HORSE.

praise, they are nevertheless low-priced plugs, fit only for
common hack or farm use. Central Park abounds with
them. If we want our horses to look well and appropri-
ate in harness we must select them already made for the
purpose. They must have a natural carriage to begin

THE BRIDOON BIT WITH RINGS. 95

with ; then they will look well in any bridle, without its
strain or use to set them uj^.

Figures 28, 29 and 30 represent the saddle, carriage and
draft horses, and no amount of mouthing and training
would prepare or fit them for each other's place, in ap-
jjearanco or adaptation, excepting the light, high-strung
carriage horse that would suit the saddle if naturally
adaj)ted in all respects. But to pay a high price for a
plug, stuff him with hay to fill the harness out, bang his

¥ig. 30. — DRAFT HOKSE,

tail to imitate blood, and put on the check rein and curb
to make believe carriage horse, is a voluntary piece of
self deception of the usual kind, that creates no little
amusement among the initiated.

It is with this common bridoon bit that most of our
horses are mouthed and broken in, and in the absence
of the regular mouthing bit (fig. 1) it is the next best for
the purpose. The thicker the bars the better for young
horses, for reasons given in the chapter on mouthing.

9G THE BRIDLE BITS.

Fig. 31. — BRIDOON BIT WITH HALF GUARDS.

CHAPTER XI.

THE BRIDOON BIT WITH HALF GUARDS.

The above cut represents the bridoon bit with half
guards, which renders it a compromise between the snaf-
tle and the common bridoon with rings only. This bit
is in common use with truck, car and cart horses. The
excuse given for having the half guards to prevent the bit
from being drawn through the mouth is, in our opinion,
a very weak one for its adoption. We should bo sorry to
drive the horse or hire the man Avho required and prac-
ticed such pulling as a means of guidance or control.
What could the horse be doing that would require such
haulhig ? Such a driver would be akin to the Mexican
burrero, who knows no moral law in the management of
a beast of burden.

THE BRIDOON BIT WITU DOUBLE JOINT.

1)7

CHAPTER XII.

THE BRIDOON BIT WITH DOUBLE JOINT AND HALF
GUARDS.

This bit was originally intended for use in the British
cavalry. It was proposed by Captain Nolan and recom-
mended by him to be used in connection with the curb
bit. Our objection to it for general use is owing to the
great quantity of iron that it must necessarily add to that
already in the mouth. It is the watering bit over again
with the additional objection of double joints. The curb
bit is used with it, and while the bridoon itself is a severe

Fig. 32. — BRIDOON BIT WITH DOUBLE JOINT AND HALF GUAKDS.

one and perhaps necessary with some horses, we should
be sorry to have it used in cavalry regiments as a regula-
tion bit. It is too much. The double joint stretching
alongside of the bar of the curb bit across the mouth, is
more by far than most horses require, and treating all
horses alike is at variance with good judgment.

This bridoon, when used with its fellow curb bit, is made
to slip off and on the bridle by means of hooks on the half
guards for the purpose of feeding without taking the head-
stall off the horse. We decidedly object to leaving the
headstall on while feeding, for there is nothing, not even
the feed itself, more agreeable or refreshing to the cavalry
or any other horse than to strip him of everything and let
him roll. The matted mane and forelock on his sweated

98 THE BRIDLE BITS.

head and neck should be exposed to the sun and air and
allowed to dry, and the saddle should be taken off and
his back, that is scalded by the sweat and heat of the
saddle and man on it, rubbed and dried, the blanket
opened, dried and folded anew, and then all put on again.
This is refreshing, and gives the horse renewed life and
"vigor.

THE COMMON SNAFFLE BIT.

The common single snaffle bit (see fig. 7, page 31)
for single or double buggy harness, is the same as the
bridoon with the exception of the guards, and was orig-
inally and is still used on the saddle-horse, while the
bridoon with plain rings was always used alone or in
common with a carriage hai'ness bit, or the curb bit for
riding. (See bit-and-bridoon, fig. 17.) For the light
buggy horse and harness, and headstall without blinds, it

Fig-. 33. — PLAIN SNAFFLE.

is a most desirable piece of stable furniture. Being the
king of hunting bits, it can never be disijensed with in
the well selected stock and well furnished harness room in
which so many men take pride. But from want of jirac-
tical experience and long use, amateurs don't see "why
one bit is not as good as another and a great deal better."
Figure 33 represents the position of the Joint of the
bars on the tongue. The close observer will examine the

THE DOUBLE-JOINTED SNAFFLE BIT.

99

tongue and sides of the mouth to see if the pinching
process of the single joint lias any bad or irritating elTect
on the tongue or mouth, and if the horse takes to it
cheerfully, after a little use.

Fig. 34. — DOUBLE JOINTED SNAFFLE BIT.

CHAPTEK XIII.

THE DOUBLE-JOINTED SNAFFLE BIT.

The double-jointed snaffle bit for hard pullers would
be a safe bit to use, but what effect it would have could
not be known without a trial. Some horses might like
it and go well with it, while it might irritate others and

Fig. 35.— DOUBLE-JOINTED SNAFFLE.

promote a disposition to run away with it — for, while a
bit may have certain and unmistakable properties, its
effect upon the moral of the horse may be anything but

100

THE BRIDLE BITS.

what we desire, and besides, in action it might not have
the effect desired. All we can say in its favor is, as we
say of all bits — try it. It is a compromise between the
single-Jointed snaffle and the bar bit — for, when both reins

PANTOGRAPH SNAFFLE. Fig. 37.— PANTOGRAPH IN ACTION.

are equally drawn, the bar link in the centre (which is
one-third of the iron in the mouth) is square across the
mouth, while the two wings are drawn back on the
corners of the mouth with a pressure that may tend to
either madden or subdue (fig. 35).

The double-barred snaffle, as shown in figure 36, is a
severe one and designed to master a hard puller or a horse
disposed to take the bit in his teeth and run away with

Fig. 38. — DOUBLE-BARBED SNAFFLE IN tJSB.

it. It operates in the mouth on the pantograph principle
witli double converging action (fig. 37). Its severity can
be doubled by crossing the bars, thus having the end of
the long undcr-bar join the left-hand guard below the

THE DOUBLE-JOINTED SNAFFLE BIT.

101

short bar, as in figure 39, while in figure 37 both ends of
each bar are on the ujiper or lower side, where they
join the guards and when in operation make less bulk
in the mouth, and consequently are less severe. Before
using either of these bits it should be well considered
whether or not the horse needs it.

Figure 38 represents the position of a double-barred
snaffle bit in the mouth, with the bar joints across the

Fig. 39. — DOUBLY SEVERE.

tongue. The pinching process of the draw on the bit as
it closes to the strain on the reins, is more severe than that
of the single-jointed snaffle, for the angles of the bars of
the double joint with the line of the back teeth being
less, the power to hold or swallow the bit is reduced.

THE WIRE SNAFFLE BIT.

Some of these fancy snaffles are made of twisted wire,
which, being thin, sharp and rough, are severe and cut
the mouth, rendering it callous and hard ; consequently
it causes the horse to keep a severe strain on the reins,
and whether it be single or double-jointed, and he should
swallow it, a few chucks and a saw will make an ordinary
puller let go. It is a fancy bit worthy of only a junk-
shop. But the objection we have to all extra iron in the
mouth, is that double bits of any kind interfere with the
horse's wind while at work, either in harness or under

102 THE BEIDLE BITS.

the saddle. It is likely that the inventor of the wire bit
had one or two objects in view when he made it, namely,
strength and economy, and wire to spare. Strength, in
having the greatest power in the smallest possible sub-
stance ; economy, in his bemg able to make it himself
without forging or costing anything for material — so that,
as regards its mercantile value, it could be sold, at a
profit, for three cents.

But whatever the material, when well driven with a
plain snaffle bit, having double guards and hung to a plain
headstall without blinds, the buggy horse is the most
fortunate and should be the happiest of harness horses.

¥ig. 40.— WIRE SNAFFLE BIT.

for the vehicle he draws is the lightest, his harness the
thinnest, his bit (should be) the mildest, and his work the
easiest of all. In fact he need not know he is in harness,
and if his driver be as considerate toward his favorite ab-
sorber of ice-cream, attentions and flowers, as he should
be toward his horse, we do not know but that it is the
most complete, perfect and agreeable equipage in exist-
ence. The feelings between horse and driver being mut-
ual and undivided, the voice is heard and heeded, and
is always music and a charm to "the listening ear, the
silent tongue and the faithful heart." And when we
consider that " the ox knowcth his owner and the ass his
master's crib," the horse, though not named in this con-
nection, is not exempt from his due share of the glory

THE BAR BIT. 103

and available instincts accorded him in many passages in
the scriptures — for he is spoken of in Holy Writ as being
a necessary figure in St. John's dcscri})tion of tlie glories
of another world, while he continues to hold his own in
this.

CHAPTER XIV.
THE BAK BIT.

The plain bar bit has a history of its own. In the
early days of our trotting record of "2:40," handed down
in both prose and song, it was used with strong pullers,

Fig. 41.— BAR BIT.

purposely trained to pull the buggy or the driver out of
it by the bit. For this purpose it was preferred for its
strength, and according to the disposition of the horse to
pull and have his own way, it was rendered all the more
severe by having several spiral twists Avith sharp ridges
from end to end of the bar, so that by sawing it tfie
horse should let go. In those days the trotting horse
was trained to pull the buggy by the bit more than by the
traces — which would not be much of a pull now-a-days,
Avhen the weight and size of the buggy, and comfort of
sitting in it, have been reduced in proportion. The buggy
of the present time is so narrow that, when we see two

104

THE BRIDLE BITS.

men in one, the driver and the driven, sitting side by
side, the driven is obliged to hold on to the rail behind
the driver with his inside hand to keep from falling out,
while the tails of his coat, for which there is no room on
the seat, float in the passing air like an "old clo'" sign
in a second-hand Jew shop.

No wonder that rotund widows have ceased to enjoy
themselves in buggy airings, an exercise that gave their
mothers such pleasure in good old times of spacious
rooms and ample buggy seats, which had more room for
three than the parvenu papier macJie packing boxes of
the present day have for two. The bar bit was used for

Fig. 43.— PACKING BOX BUGGY.

a three-fold purpose — that of holding the horse, steady-
ing him in the trot, and pulling the buggy. The prac-
tice has been handed down in a direct line from other
generations (patrons of the old Sjnrit of the Times of
Porter and Eichards' days') to tlie present time, and
is followed up under the influence of a greater variety of
bits with more or less success in individual cases. The
idea Avas that a horse was less apt to throw up his head
and break under the whip, while the steady draft was on
his under-jaw, if he was purposely trained to it.

The looj)S on the reins to hold on by served as substi-
tutes for traces, and the practice of setting the feet

THE BAR BIT. 105

against the bar, and holding the arms out at full length,
as we have it still, is peculiarly American, and owing to
common custom has become so general with buggy-horse
fanciers and ''fasty" women, that the majority of people
think it fashionable and just the thing, or at least make
it so by adopting it. It is ridiculous to see both men and
women leaning back with feet htird pressed against the
foot-bar, and both arms stretched out full length, as if
they were hauling in a moss-bunker fishing net. However
necessary this style may be in trials of speed on the track,
it is certainly a very unseemly and useless position for
either sex to assume in driving for pleasure and notoriety.
The excuse is that 'Mt is our way of driving, as you have
yours." Well, if that were the rule in all things, pro-
fessors in refined arts had better withdraw and allow the
clown to have his way. If the "plebe" manifesting it-
self on the horse, by having the bridle hand stretched
out over the withers, be all right because " it is our way"
of holding the reins, there is perhaps no reason why the
same rule should not hold good behind him.

Equestrian schools turn out their pupils with more
knowledge than practice. They know what to do, but
don't know how, when or where to do it. The school,
therefore, instead of being concealed, is seen in every
actiou, and the efforts to succeed attract more ridicule
than the neglect of them. If a woman's arms are weak,
she should use a powerful bit and keep her arms down.
The notoriety she gains by having them stretched out, is
not becoming or agreeable to a woman envious of refined
and retiring habits. Were we treating the subject of
horsewomanship, instead of that of the use of the bit, we
might give some valuable hints to ladies who would
rather be admired for their ease and skill in handling the
reins than of being noticed for their awkwardness and in-
efficiency in their management of the horse. The ease and
style of the horse adds to the grace of the rider, and to

106 THE BRIDLE BITS,

accomplish this we must use and handle him with grace
and skill.

AVe have no doubt but that a hard puller, if pressed to
his speed, will drive steadier with a bar bit in a steady
hand than with any other under the same circumstances,
if trained to it. But with or without rules, it is impos-
sible for a stranger to advise what to do with a spoiled
horse without trying him. Experiments wiih bits of
various powers and qualities, by an experienced person,
is the only course to pursue. But the mouth that is
trained to pull the buggy by the bit, is spoiled for a
woman's hand, and should not be entrusted to her skill
alone. Sometimes one runaway is enough for a life-time.
There is nothing more uncertain than the end of a good
runaway, 95 percent, of which accidents are the result of
ignorance or carelessness of the driver ; he is not likely to
have presence of mind to observe rules, or to know what
or how to do in the fright and excitement of a dynamite
dash for life. When a horse is before wheels nothing, if
possible, should be left to chance. It is bad enough to
risk the bit and reins, the strength of which is sometimes
the only barrier between a whole family and death. But
to risk women and children with a bad or inexperienced
driver, or an uncertain or strange horse, or a bit that
won't hold him, is placing too much reliance on luck.
We were once in a Long Island train of cars, when a
horse in a buggy, on a road at right angles witli tlie rail-
road, ran away, and meeting the locomotive on the track
it cut the horse loose from the buggy and tlie whole train
ran between it and the horse, and while the former was
broken in pieces, the horse and the girl escaped. She
had the wrong bit.

The use of the mouthing bit (fig. 1) is to gradually
teach the horse submission to all ordinary bits, without
using force, for when we ride or drive out for pleasure,
we do not propose to contend with our horse in a trial of

THE BAR BIT. 107

muscular strength ; and in the event of a defeat on our
part, run foul of another team, or be dashed against a
lamp-post and left dead or seated among the splinters of
a wrecked vehicle with broken bones. These are all pos-
sibilities, and such catastrophies are not infrequent.
They can be traced to one or two causes : The driver,
being a stranger, tlie horse takes fright, and not know-
ing the voice, or the driver not knowing what to say that
the horse understands to be controlled, takes flight ; or,
second, the mouth being hard and the bit or the arm
powerless to hold him in before he gets under full head-
way, the horse becomes his own master. A few Avinters
ago an occurrence like this took place in Brooklyn. A
lady was in a carriage ou her way to the Fulton Ferry.
On crossing Myrtle Avenue near the City Hall, the horses
took fright and ran down the hill to the East River and
plunged into the slip, where the horses, carriage and pas-
senger went to the bottom, the ice closing over them,

The heavy smell of some men is very objectionable to
some horses, and they kick at and run away Avith them
without any apparent cause. We should, therefore, have
reins and bit fit and ready for any emergency, and not
expose lives to the risk of the common expression, " Oh,
there's no danger." But as that don't stop runaway
horses, repair the broken vehicle, nor restore life or limb,
we recommend timely preventives. There's always dan-
ger on wheels, either in meeting or following others, and
although the best driver cannot always foresee the danger
from other horses running away, he can always prevent
accidents or control his own in a dash or attempt at a
runaway.

A gentleman who has been an owner of horses all his
life was kind enough to show us his favorite buggy horse,
of which he was very proud, for in temper, disjiosition
and style he was all that a man could expect in one horse,
and the only faults Ave had to find with him (in our mind)

108 THE BRIDLE BITS.

were two — ODe, his makers, and the other, his feeders. But
as it is very difficult to fiud horses and owners perfect,
we are not disposed to find fault. Our friend took the
trouble to put on a new style of bit and nose band with
crest strap (fig. 43), in which he said liis horse went well,
and he thought it was an improvement and peculiarly
adapted to his horse's mouth and temper. This kind of
torture is getting quite fashionable now, even on spans of
buggy horses, whether needed or not ; but of course horses
must be made to look alike by having the harness uniform
ill appearance. But the advantage he claimed was contrary
to our ideas of bitting a buggy horse. His taking to it

Fig. 43. — CREST STRAP BIT.

was the deception. The horse knew and loved his owner,
and consequently submitted cheerfully to anything he
did. We know what influence we have over every living
thing that loves us, and what power and control we have
over their wills, actions and destinies ; but, by submitting,
it is not always admitting that our infiuences are right
and used to the advantage of the influenced. And in
this connection our friend's horse was willing to submit
to anything, and he might as avcII, for the same reason
that the culprit submits to tlie hanging process.

Such mutual knowledge and friendship as exists be-
tween a man and his horse should suggest the possibility
of diminishing instead of adding instruments of torture

THE BAR BIT. 109

and restraint, especially Avlien the additions are attended
with unnecessary complications in the mouth, and the
forced position and carriage of his head and neck that
are another's, not his. What areear s and eyes given
horses for if not to make use of them, and spare them as
much as possible the necessity of instrumental manage-
ment ? Why go to the expense or trouble of having a
veterinary surgeon's certificate that your intended pur-
chase is sound in sight, wind and limb, if, when you use
the horse, you put blinds on him to blind him ? — Put him
in a narrow stall so that when he lies down, tired after a
hard drive and in a cold sweat, he is obliged to bend his

Fig. 41— CREST STRAP STTtE.

knees and tuck his feet up under his brisket and let his
legs cool in a crooked position and thus give him sprung
knees ? — Tie and curb him up in a position foreign to
his formation and then drive him off his wind ? — Save
oats and fill him up with hay to show off your harness ? —
Drive him to the stable in a lather of sweat and lot him
stand there and dry as best he may ? — Cut his tail off and
then hire a small boy with an impromptu cat-o'-nine-
tails to brush the flies off and keep him from running
away and save the auctioneer's guarantee ? — Stuff him
with hay and run him off his wind ? — Drive your best
girl out and leave your horse in a sweat, tied to a fence
till he chills, while you enjoy your hot drinks and favor-
ite's smiles by a good fire, and then complain to the

110 THE BETDLE BITS.

veterinary that the horse is delicate, that your other
horse don't take cold that way ? — Put a strange bit in his
mouth, that he is not used to, and when he runs away,
bang against another team, and talces the wheels off in
the most approved style in imitation of the last occur-
rence, sue the owner of the target shot into, for damages ?
Before this book goes to press we would like to hear the
answers to these questions and give them for w^hat they
are worth for the benefit of equine arts and sciences.

In using these new-fangled tortures, that unfortunately
don't come under the legal head of cruelty or abuse, the
cultivation of the morals of the horse, through the ear, is
ignored, yet if an instrument were invented with a similar
double action as perfect as that of a horse's ear, a patent
would be claimed and, if issued and science advanced, great
benefits might follow its adoption. But, like other bless-
ings lavished on us by Dame Nature for our convenience,
we become so much accustomed to their use we fail to
see their advantages or to adojit a system of education
and practice in rendering their utility a benefit to our
immediate purposes. We will allow that the voice is
used by some men in managing horses, but the practice
is so rare that we look on with great interest when we see
a horse subservient to the voice of his driver. Were
the practice more general and reduced to a custom, there
would be nothing more singular in it than there is in
driving oxen by tlie orders that every farm hand knows
so well. If the same words were used by everybody who
owned or handled horses, so that in changing drivers the
horse would understand what was said, there would be
no trouble about his management without the constant
use of the bridle. If this system bo successful in the
army, where any military officer can drill any regiment,
and any mule driver can drive any mule team, is there any
valid reason why the horse, in his peculiar service, could
not be managed in the same way with equal facility ? If

THE BAR BIT. HI

the voice is familiar to a horse, lie readily obeys a partial
whisper. It cannot be denied, therefore, that an animal
like the horse, so intelligent and ready to serve with the
greatest patience, could be relieved of a great deal of un-
necessary pulling and hauling, if the sense of the owner
were of as high an order as the instincts of his horse,
to enable him to take advantage of his hearing faculty.

Before dismissing this subject, we would remind the
reader that the hearing of animals of a timid nature, such
as the hare, deer, antelope, kangaroo, etc. (that have no
offensive or defensive means, and whose only safety is in
flight), is very acute. All animals having their ears
close together are timid, with acute sense of hearing.
The horse is one of this class, and it is surprising to
know how he can discern the articulation of a familiar
voice at almost the lowest whisper. The loud voice, that
can be heard 500 yards off, is unnecessary and confusing
to horses, but it is all of a piece with the mistaken idea
of bawling at the slightly deaf and to persons speaking
another language. The louder the voice the more diffi-
cult for some to understand what is said, for the articu-
lation is smothered up in sound. The Indian can hear
the grass grow, yet the practice is to bawl at him as if
noise was equal to an interpreter. If the uninitiated only
knew how low and gentle is their natural colloquial tone,
and how low it is in their tribal councils, they would be
surprised to find that a whisper would suffice, and this
would equally serve the horse. Even to each other, most
people speak too loud or pitch the key too high. The
Spanish language as spoken by the Mexican Indians is very
sweet and agreeable, but that by the Cubans is horrible.
The ox is guided, controlled and used entirely by tlie
voice, and it is surprising to see how he understands
several different and contrary orders given at the same
time, patiently listening for more while he obeys the
first.

112

THE BEIDLE BITS.

CHAPTER XV.

BAR BITS, STRAIGHT AND CURVED, WITH LIVER-
POOL SLIDE.

These bits, figures 45 and 46, with straight and curved
bars, are on the Liverpool slide principle and operate on
the Jointless Pelham plan, but differ in construction.
The advantage claimed for this kind of bar bit, with the
slide, is that the bar, where the guards pass through the
end of it, plays or slips up and down with a fall of about
half an incli, which eases the mouth, when the reins are

Flii. 45.— LIVEKPOOl. BIT.

Fii;-. 40.— LIVERPOOL SLIDE.

slackened, by letting the bit slip down from the pressure
on tlie corners of the mouth. This improvement, by way
of relief, is reasonable, but the amount of ease it might
afford would depend on the horse's stylo and carriage.
If a horse carries a very high head the ]iull on the reins
would be downwards and the bar, instead of being drawn
upward, would be drawn downward; and unless there was
a check rein used there would be very little strain on the
reins in onlinury driving to affect the slide.

TJie check rein at A Avould draw tlic bit uj) on the
slide, while the rein at B would draw it up or down,

BAU BITS, STRAIGHT AND CURVED. 113

according to the way the horse's neck is set on his shoul-
ders. If he be a poke, the strain is great on the upward
tendency of the bar, while, if he carries his head in the
air, there is no strain at all upwards, but rather down-
wards by the reins. The lower the head, therefore, the
greater tlie strain — the higher, the less. The virtue of
the slide depends wholly on the horse's style and the
character of his action ; and to use it indiscriminately,
whether suitable or not, because everybody does it, is an
evidence of a want of experience and judgment, and a
liberty with common sense. We would say, however,
that if a crowbar were used as a bit there would be some
" patent " contrivance invented to ease the horse's mouth
from any possible tortures it inflicted, and we would be
decidedly in favor of the contrivance. It is on the prin-
ciple of attack and defence in gunnery — so far the
defence has it ; we wish it were so with the poor, sub-
missive horse.

For general use this bar bit has no other desirable
feature besides the action of the slide for the horse it
suits, and pulling the vehicle by it instead of by the
traces, which by some horse fanciers is considered an
accomplishment. The tendency there is in this age to
get up something new to gain financially by novelty what
cannot be gained by superiority, is very great, and in the
equestrian sphere it is patronized by both the ignorajit
and uninitiated, who, having no experience of their own,
use certain bits because everybody else docs. To satisfy
the patrons of new inventions it is a pity that horses
could not have more heads, so that the owner of only one
horse could encourage the inventive genius and patronize
the manufacturers as they come out svith their novel con-
trivances. As a new kind of horse cannof be invented
beyond the first cross between tlie mare and the jack, we
have contrivances and ignorance enough to make differ-
ent kinds of dispositions, tempers and mouths. No

114 THE BRIDLE BITS.

doubt we will be denounced by some liorse-head-gear
inventors or fanciers, but we expect this ; and, caring
more for the horse than we do for his persecutors, we
shall continue to defend him and take his part by declar-
ing war against so much unnecessary interference with
his mouth, till it is made of cast-iron — then we will give
up the contest.

When men, dogs, deer, fowls, all animated creation
and horses, fly or go out of a Avalk, they stretch their
heads and necks out in proportion to their speed, and as
much in a line with each other as possible, to ensure as
straight and as direct a passage for air to their lungs as
their speed requires — while the horse, from Avhom so
much speed is exacted, is tied and bound up neck and
crop to such a degree that to put him on his speed would
be impossible without running him oif his wind before he
went a mile.

The illustrations (fig. 47) from 1 to 6, show the natural
positions of the necks, heads and tails under speed. The

Fig. 47.— POSITIONS IN RUNNING.

animals with their heads and tails stretched out at full
length have use for both thus held while on the run.
'I'he tails act as rudders to guide or steer and steady
them, and the faster they go, as in sailing, the less action
of the tail or rudder is necessary, and in case of a short
turn it is, by some, switched to the right or left with a
circular sweep to facilitate tlie sudden reverse of action
of the l)ody to b;i,lanco under the strain. Tt will be said
that so small a tail as some animals have could not affect
any motion of so large an animal, but watch the triflmg
motion of the tail or lin of the fish that governs the fish's

THE BAR BITS, STKAIGHT AND CURVED. 115

motion and speed in a direct or circular motion. The
greyhound is the most perfect and positive example
among our domestic animals of this use of the tail,
which with him is long, as in all mammal animals of
prey, requiring sudden reverse of action when under
speed on a direct course.

The instinct of the hare, whose greatest and most
deadly enemy is the greyhound, teaches it when hard
pressed to turn suddenly round, Avhile the hound, being
heavier and not expecting the sudden change of course,
is unable to turn so short or check his speed, and thus

Fig. 48. STRAIT-JACKETS. Fig. 49.

passes on while the hare is making time in another direc-
tion. See the fancy head-gear and steering apparatus,
as represented in figures 48 aiid 49 ; they are little short
of an cfiuino strait-jacket that inventors prepare for
horses of certain tendencies that certainly have instinctive
appreciations of the cruelty of the driver, and a necessity
f .)r perfect submission to the inevitable ignorance of what
he needs to perform his duties long and well.

The fine bred Norman stallion, for getting carriage
horses, represented in figure 50, not being put on any
sjiced faster than a walk would l)ear all this lacing and
binding up to a fancy position while at work, because he
needs no extra supply of wind in his lungs while at his

116 THE BRIDLE BITS.

work, but if he were tied up and put on a trot or
canter the little he had would soon give out. Figure 49
shows the style of horse that the crest strap is put on
and as may be seen in buggy driving, and how it tends
to make bad worse. The horse's head is already set on
wrong, which characterizes him as a poi^e, and while his
nose is naturally stuck out and thrown upwards as if to
sniff the fresh air, his crest, which should be convexed,
is concaved, and consequently the head and neck are the
very reverse of what they ought to be. But this fancy
torture and Tomfoolery will have its day. Is there any
sense in putting the crest strap and its accompanying bit
on such a horse ? One bit pulling his month up towards

Fig. 50.— NOKMAN 8TAI.1,I0N.

his eyes and the other towards points of his shoulders,
thus at right angles. The freaks and peculiarities of
nature cannot be ignored, and we are bound to heed her
suggestions, study and adopt her plans and observe her
laws. But the course that some persons take in this
direction is as much at variance with reason as is the
hobby that they ride.

CONTRADICTIONS.

Driving reins to pull back, check rein to })ull up, mar-
tingale to pull down, crest and race strap to hold the
pose out, curb to hold it in, and all these varieties work-

BAR BITS, STRAIGnT AND CURVED. 117

ing at the same time, tend to create a sympathy for the
poor buggy horse that falls under sueli treatment prior
to a term" of regular training under the supervision and
peculiar instruction of a Philadelphia lawyer.

There are no delicate hints possible to convey to the
horse by a bar bit in any form. It is too clumsy, too
unyielding, and is fit for nothing but pulling and haul-
ing at a horse that has no mouth or idea of obedience
from ordinary training.

But we must consider that the bar bit in its early m-
troduction, for a peculiar use, was preferred by many
" horsemen " on the track ; it got favor in private stables
from mere custom, thus becoming fashionable for all horses
alike ; and when fashion in the United States takes hold
of people, it soon becomes despotic and controls every-
thing, even common sense, setting judgment, prudence
and necessity at defiance. This was a signal for manu-
facturers to rush it into the market, and thus render it
common for any purpose in harness. One man who has
used the bar bit all his life, could give no reason for its
preference, only that ''they generally use it now," but
did not say that they generally have horses now that

require it.

To show how far fashion controls in these days, we
may state that it is fashionable to have everything about
houses red— house, bricks, blinds, doors and railings. In
more hard common sense times, it was customarj to have
scrapers at the lowest step at a hall door, to scrape the
mud off our boots. Now it is fashionable to have none,
but to trail the mud up to the door-mat in the vestibule,
and there deposit the street dirt, which is horse manure.
There is no end to the senseless and growing disposition
to follow after and be governed by fashion in its most
unreasonable moods and directions, for the sake of hav-
ing something new. Unfortunately for the comfort of
the poor horse, it is the same with tlie bar and some

118 THE BRIDLE BITS.

other bits sadly on the increase. Every advocate of a
new st}'le can give a very plausible reason for using his
favorite torture with a horse. He drives his own horse
"with some newfangled contrivance, and this is held as a
sufficient proof of its excellence. The horse learns to
submit to it and seems pleased. Why ? Because lie is a
creature of circumstances and is glad it is no worse. His
very nature and life is slavery and submission to his
driver's will and caprice ; and, as from friendly familiarity
he knows and likes him, he submits tamely to anything
and everything he requires him to do and endure. It is
this abiding love for and faith in some men that blind
and self-willed girls entertain, as they find to their sorrow
when tDo late ; but the horse has no alternative but to
submit to physical if not to moral force.

If the horse has gone well with one bit, another is
sometimes added, and when he learns to go gently with
that, it is praised up as having peculiar virtues, that no
doubt are in the horse, not in it. But innovations,
changes and alterations, under the title of " modern im-
provements," are not always improvements, though they
are now all the go, and the actual benefit to the horse
and the pleasure and convenience of the driver are often
sacrificed to this national rage after something new in
fashion and change, not unfrequently for the worse. It
is this that tends to spoil horses, for whose management
all the neighbors have an infallible remedy. As the ex-
perienced Scotchman once said : "Everybody con min-
age a baud weefe but the mon's goot er." The best cure
for a spoiled horse is to ask a reasonable price, and for
"the baud weefe" a divorce seems to be the most
eScctive.

CARRIAGE BAR BIT.

119

CHAPTER XVI.
CARRIAGE BAR BIT WITH CURB AND BEARING REIN.

This bit with the plain bar, as represented in figure 51,
is generally used on the carriage, cab and coupe horse in-
discriminately. But if used with a check rein, buckled
on at A, and the rein at B, C, D or E, while the curb and
cheek strap are fast at i^and >', there are more confusing
guides and restraints than a fine mouth should be sub-
jected to — for there is a contrary action here that con-

G

Fig. 51. — CARKIAGE BAK BIT.

fuses any horse of ordinary intelligence, and instead of
replying to delicate touches, that the rein alone should
convey, he throws himself aimlessly on the mercy of the
driver and waits to be pulled about by strength of hands
rather than by magic touches or appeals to his intelli-
gence. If the check rein be used on a bit Avith the
Liverpool slide, the slide cannot act, for the check is
supposed to be always on the strain, and this would keep
the bit always tight up against the corners of the mouth.
The check, therefore, should never be used on this bit,
i. e., if the slide is intended to operate.

120 . THE BRIDLE BITS.

The curb at F, the check at A, and the rein at B, C,
D or E, neutralize each other's action in proportion to
the way the horse carries his head, and the slot the rein
is in ; consequently a hard pull, instead of a mere hint,
is necessary and to which the horse should not be trained.
Two reins pulling together at the same time and from
different directions on the same bit is not only at vari-
ance with all rules of equestrian skill and equine manage-
ment, but is a violation of principle in either moral or
physical guidance, and, in the government of men or
families, mutiny is the consequence. There is only one
helm necessary to steer the ship, and, indeed, less force
than is used in holding some horses. Almost every man
we see behind from one to four horses uses both hands
with the reins. This, with a single horse, causes an im-
perceptible sawing or unsteady action of the bit in the
mouth, occasioned by the motion of the body as the
vehicle jolts, which, although perhaps not known to the
driver, nevertheless exists, and is so keenly felt by tlie
sensitive mouth that it keeps the horse on the watch all
the time to know what it means and Avhat he is to do
next. It may be argued that a horse should not have
such a sensitive mouth ; this as you please — you can take
your choice.

If the reins are on 0, D or E, they work the curb, so
that there are three different operations of the bit going
on at the same time on the mouth — namely, the curb, the
check rein and the driving rein. We will allow that to
get up style in the horse these three are necessary, and if
so, the horse should be trained to the most delicate hint
from either one. The constant strain of the check rein
at the rings that the rein is fast to, operates like a twitch
on some horses not well set up for harness ; it dissipates
the sensitiveness of the mouth, and a delicate touch of
the reins is not so keenly felt, and a check or hard pull
follows. These en-ors in driving are on the same prin-

CARRIAGE BAR BIT. 121

ciple of using both curb and bridoon at the same time
Avith the saddle-horse, and tins by men of intelligence in
other respects. Most, and, indeed, all men are fools in
something, and tlie fools in this respect at the present
time can be counted by the score. It would be interest-
ing to know what ideas such riders and drivers have of
the separate uses of such bits, and the moral effects of
their operations on the horse, either separately or to-
gether.

The man who used to play a half dozen different kinds
of musical instruments together at the same time is dead,
but the men who use three or four different kinds of
steering gear on a horse at the same time are not, and
many such riders have broken their own or their horses'
necks since Brown broke his on the Beacon course some
forty years ago, when the horse, mistaking the action of
the bit for what it didn't mean, stopped short at the first
hurdle, and threw Brown headlong over his head and
hurdle, too, and broke his neck. We have plenty of
Browns. The bad management of the bits is a most
fruitful source of this kind of accident to novices in the
art of ridini? who would be horsemen.

132

THE BRIDLE BITS.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE CARRIAGE BIT-AND-BRIDOON.

There are several styles of the carriage bit, but all tend
to operate in the same way for ilie same purpose with
more or less effect. Each l)it (as illustrated in fig. 52) is
made with different degrees of power in itself while oper-
ating together. By having the reins buckled on the

Fig. 53. — CARRIAGE BIT-AND-BRIDOON.

upper or lower slot in the guards the severity of the curb
is regulated to suit the mouth. The arch in the bar is
more for the play of the tongue than for action on the
palate, as shown in the cavalry bit. But the tendency
now is to use this bit on the carriage horse with a plain
bar without the arch or lever, which, being so slight, has
no power. When the bridoon is used with this bit the
check rein is jiut on the bridoon, and thus the bit is
relieved of so many conti-ary actions, as represented in
the carriage bit on the Pelham plan. This bridoon bit
is used on the carriage horse with a check rein only, and
is not used in any way in guiding the horse.

THE CARRIAGE BIT-AND-BRIDOON. 133

OPERATION OF THE BRIDOON.

The operation of tlie bridoon with its reins is to bridle
the horse up and give him a stylish carriage and hand-
some appearance in keeping with the carriage and har-
ness and the intention of the owner, who may have spent
from $1,000 to 16,000 on the turnout.

STYLE VS. BRIDOON AND CHECK REIN ABANDONED.

Some chicken-hearted men have abandoned the use of
the bridoon and check rein on the ground of sparing the
horse the restraint it puts on him while in harness. But
the horse that it is put on is generally a carriage horse
used for pleasure, and that, perhaps, during only two or
three hours daily. As he is not driven at a speed faster
than a jog-trot in the streets and parks, where style is as
nece&sary^as the airing itself, and the entire equipage is
supposed to be as ornamental as useful, the carriage horse
can as well submit to a little restraint, for that short time,
as can the coachman who drives him and is squeezed into
a pair of skin-tight buckskin breeches, English cattle
dealer's " tops," a stand-up collar, white choker, and
stiffened into a straight up-and-down position— as if seated
in a garrote— all of which indicate a certain degree of
stiffness and shoddy uneasiness that is check enough for
that part of the equipment, and certainly to us unenvi-
able, but strange to say does not excite any degree of
philanthropy in his favor.

OCCUPANT OF THE CARRIAGE.

When we take into consideration the adopted position
and feelings, if not airs, of the madame who may be a
novice in the art of lounging in a carriage for display,
she may be under like restraint with the horses and
driver, and perhaps of the three— the horses, the driver

134 THE BRIDLE BITS.

and the driven — all having their respective parts to play,
the horses suffer least.

PASSING IlSr KEVIEW.

In fact all three must be educated and trained from
early youth to perform their respective parts with that
natural ease peculiar to those whose familiarity with
their stations, habits and parts, renders tl^eir positions
and their movements easy, and makes them admired alike
for their embellishments and their grace, so that in pass-
ing in review before those whose admiration, if not won-
der, they would challenge or desire to excite, they may
do so with the consciousness of the ease and dignity of
those whose sphere in life they desire to represent.

JEWELET OF THE TURNOUT.

But the master part of this gorgeous turnout and
passing show is the style, carriage and management of
the bits, and their adaptability to the horses and the
occasion. The bit and its appendages are the jewelry of
the day on exhibition, and this cannot be done to perfec-
tion Avithout the horses to match.

BREEDING FOR THE CARRIAGE.

Peculiar breeding for the carriage is as necessary as for
the track, field or race course, and those who discard the
bearing rein on account of its severity had better select
horses to suit their purpose without it ; and if they are
not judges, let them find some person who is, and if the
horses are naturally well set np Avith a good forehand
they may Avear, Init not use, the bearing rein, thus spar-
ing their owner's feelings.

MATED, NOT MATCHED HORSES.

Horses that are put together as a team because they
are the same heicfht and color or look alike, and have

THE CARUIAGE BIT-AND-BKIJ)OON. 135

been driven with different and various bits yet don't go
well together, are numerous and ought to be divorced.
This may be because, although they are mates they are
not matches, and while one is worth 1500 the mate is not
worth $50. If horses are not well matched in every re-
spect, especially in the mouthing, they must be driven
with different bits, and the length of the inner or outer
rein regulated according to the disposition of one or the
other of the team to pull with or against each other, and
thus fall into "lugging,"

SELLING ILL-MATCHED TEAMS.

Selling the better horse first, at auction, to get a big
price to start with, so as to regulate the price of the mate,
is a common trick, and it frequently '' takes," for which
the purchasers pay dearly.

SMALL PER CENT. OF CARRIAGE HORSES.

Only about five per cent, of the horses Ave see before
carriages in the parks are born carriage horses ; and as
for the rest, give us the carriage and harness and we will
say nothing about the horses for that purpose.

HORSES, CARRIAGES AND HARNESS.

The carriages and harness are a credit to the respective
artizans, but the horses reflect discredit on the owners.
In fact the supply is iiot equal to the demand ; and it
seems to us unaccountable that, notwithstanding the high
prices that men are willing to pay, horses are not properly
bred for the carriage, so that the objectionable severity
of the bearing rein might be reduced to a minimum and
the desired style ensured. Truck and cart horses have
the bearing rein thrown loosely on the hames — not for
style, but merely to keep the horse from reaching down
to nibble at things. Some of the Norman and Clydesdale

126 THE BRIDLE BITS.

breeds, now becoming so numerous in- our cities, have a
fine carriage, and, like a well-proportioned man, don't re-
quire any artificial means to set them up.

STOCK TO BREED FROM.

These are the animals to breed carriage horses from
by proper crossings, and as men take pride in selecting
handsome harness and showy bits they mu'*t depend on
fine horses to set them off, and these are the breeds to
draw from. The carriage horse should have his nose
above the line of his back, and if well proportioned and.
well set up mares of these breeds were crossed with such

Fig. 53. — I'LYING CIlILUEKri.

horses as Flying Child ers, the first generation would
have a style that would direct the breeder in his selection
of the sire for the next crossing.

A carriage horse must have size to set off handsome
harness to advantage. Everything must be in proportion.
To cover up a small horse with large harness and heavy
bits and headstall is as bad taste as that of a little man
or woman wearing a big hat to make up for deficiency
in the size or height of the body. Such a person looks
like a decayed ass — his head is the biggest part of him.

BREEDING THE WRONG WAY.

We are breeding the wrong way — downward and back-
ward instead of upward and forward — for the carriage.

THE CARKIAGE BIT-AND-BKIDOOiq'. 127

'NO STYLE OR GRACE IN SHORT-LEGGED HORSES.

There is no style or easy action in the fat, big-bellied,
short-legged, bob-tailed cob for harness, and when we stroll
through a first-class harness establishment and see the
handsome English and home-made outfits for botli riding
and driving, we regret not knowing where to find horses
worthy of their gorgeous perfections. No doubt there
are fine carriage horses, but they are few and far between.
Instead of breeding for them, they come more by chance
in breeding other stock than by design, as is evident in the
various points of their formation. Thousands drift into
the cities that should never leave the farm or the " dirt "
roads of a back country. From the stock we have we
could breed to suit any service, and the carriage could be
suited as well as the plow. The hunter that carries 225
pounds is bred for tlie purpose, and he brings his price.

The necessary points in a carriage horse can l)e bred
for and produced as well as for tlie extra size of the most
desirable roasting pieces of mutton or beef, but perhaps it
requires the foresight, the patience, science and perse-
verance of an Englishman to accomplish this. The
English have brought breeding of all domestic animals
to a state of perfection. Every shape, point and size that
they have developed designedly have their unmistakable
uses and values. And as the English for hundreds of
years had been groping in the dark, bringing all sorts of
domestic animals from various parts of tlie world as
means to certain ends, in which they have most certainly
succeeded beyond Lhe wildest expectations of their enter-
prising progenitors, we should not boast of success, con-
sidering that we are working in the light and on the
material that tl)ey gave us.

Englishmen of the present day have grown out of the
ignorance, manners and habits of a barbarous race, clad
in skins of wild animals, fighting their way through

128 THE BRIDLE BITS.

more powerful and more civilized nations with bows and
arrows and the primitive weapons of the dark ages to
establish a government and a nation with laws worthy of
civilized man, while we in America have grown out of
the highest state of cultivated civilization that came over
and was landed on our shores by every vessel from the
iirst voyage of the "May Flower" to the last of the
"Oregon." There is a vast difference, therefore, between
the difficulties and the progress of the last two thousand
years and the last two hundred. We have nothing to do
but improve upon and sail the boat tliat England and
other nations built, and as we have all the material nec-
essary for every enterprise, and imported artizans to do
the work, we have nothing to do but to take their hints
and improve on our mother's precepts, example and skill.
Let this principle be adopted in the breeding regions of
the West, and eight or ten years hence our carriages
will be as admirably adorned with suitable horse-flesh as
our tracks are now.

THE CARRIAGE HORSE.

The carriage horse, as represented in figure 29, can be
so formed and set up by Judicious breeding that there
would be no necessity for restraint ffom the bearing
rein, for his head is now where the bearing rein would
have it in its most exacting requirements ; and thus a
horse can be made to order to suit the harness instead of
tlie reverse, "i'lie harness is all right, but the horses are
not. It awaits the advent of a worthy wearer. It is the
" lunk-head " with dull eye, big belly full of hay to fill
out the harness, banged tail to make believe thorough-
bred, clieck rein diawn to excess to deceive the uniniti-
ated and affect carriage horse airs, and his tongue hang-
ing out at the side of his mouth, that is entitled to our
sympathy — for, instead of being in front of a plow or farm
wagon, he is the wrong horse in the wrong place, and

THE CAREIAGE BIT-AND-BRIDOON. 139

quite as remarkable to us as the sun-burned farm hand in
his cow-hide boots is in a fashionable city thoroughfare.
Surely, breeders who understand how to select the stock
would find it a profitable business to breed a dozen spun
of carriage horses yearly that would bring from one
thousand to three thousand dollars a sjian when trained,
and cost no more to get and keep than so many "lunk-
heads ? "

Before this book goes to press there will be sold at auction
some eight hundred New York stage horses from which
could be selected remarkably fine and desirable mares for
breeding purposes. These mares have stood the batter
(wear and tear) of stage work for years, and besides their
beautiful and symmetrical proportions, they have proved
their thorough soundness and capacity for endurance on
time and stones, in their having come out of the ordeal
of the most severe work that horses can be put to. There
they are ; they need no guarantee. The first and second
cross between such mares and a Norman, and secondly a
thoroughbred, well-selected racer, would be an animal
calculated to encourage the bit and harness-makers in
producing the most elaborate specimens of their respec-
tive arts, and the numerous bits that we now prize so
highly would each be suited in a style of carriage horse
that does not adorn the park equipage of the present
time to any very great extent.

The lolling beauty of the gay and opulent home, whose
owner needs equine judgment, perhaps, more than finan-
cial means to indulge his wife or daughter in the command
of a handsome equipage, is well deserving, as a right, to
such a favor. Her position and surroundings in society
cannot be set off to appropriate advantage, her home em-
bellished and her person adorned to a suitable degree of per-
fection in conjunction with her social position, without the
opportunities that such an indulgence generally supijlies.
The costly dress, gorgeous jewelry and elegant furniture

130 THE BKIDLE BITS.

of a brilliant and costly home are well enough in an indoor,
narrow sphere, but in passing in review before the outer
world she must be mistress of a carriage drawn by hand-
some horses, chosen and kejat in a style and condition
commensurate with her character and rank. To cater to
this demand is, therefore, the duty of the breeder. The
equestrian sports, pleasures, necessities and fancies pecu-
liar to every nation have developed horses to suit their
respective demands. In England and Ireland hunting
developed the breeds of horses that have supplied this
country, the Continent and the colonies with the best
saddle-horses the world can produce. And although the
the Tartar and the Arab can Justly claim a share in the
production of the great steeple-chaser, they furnished
only a minimum of the ingredients while other nations
contributed their respective shares ; but the Britain put
them together, and the steeple-chaser is the production
of this master-hand in the science of breeding from rough
materials to the highest degree of perfection.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE USE OF BLINDS ON HORSES.

The custom of putting blinds on horses indiscrimi-
nately is a great error. Carriage horses look well in
showy head-gear, and handsome blinds are a great im-
provement to the style and general appearance of real,
well set up carriage horses. But for buggy, cart, car,
stage, wagon, truck and general travel they are wholly
unnecessary, and as regards safety they arc a detriment
rather than an advantage. What do surface car horses
want with blinds ? Horses, like ourselves, want to see
■where they are going, and the horse that shies proves that

THE USE OF BLINDS OK HORSES. 131

he wants to keep out of danger by the very fact of his
shying.

We must consider that a horse leading an artificial life,
like ourselves walking in the dark in a strange place,
don't see what is around him if he has blinds on and
is, therefore, naturally timid and careful. If a horse is
too careful and takes too wide a circuit in shying, it is
with the best intentions from his instincts. But because
he does it a little too much, and more than his driver
sees necessary, he should not be abused but spoken to
softly and kindly, and thus encouraged, for he means no
wrong. The stupid "lunk-head" will go so close to a
hole that one wheel will fall into it, while the horse of
intelligence will keep well away from it, but not having
studied geometry he does not know the exact length of
the axles and the distance necessary to keep from the
danger. Man, himself, don't keep away from danger at
all times, though he has the advantage of sense and
reason supplied him.

The " lunk-head " is called ''a family horse " that don't
care where he goes and depends on his driver to look out
for danger, or he expects to be pulled and hauled about
and guided by the reins which supply him with all the
sense he wants, while the intelligent horse that wants to
see for himself is called a ''shyer" that does care, and
while he often over-does it he as often gets cursed at and
whipped. When horses stop with some drivers they are
petted and coaxed till they start ; then they are v/hipped,
chucked and beaten as if (to them) for going on. If they
are to be petted for what they should not do, and whipped
for what they should do, how are horses to understand
it?

A shying horse and a sulky, balky horse are different.
Shying is not a vice ; it is more a habit than a fault,
knowing that he does not mean it. There are times
when a shying horse would save life if he'd only shy at

133 THE BRIDLE BITS.

the right time and place. Our course is to chastise or
correct a horse, if necessary, for doing wrong, and en-
courage him for doing right. If he be whipped for
stopping, the whipping should cease when he goes on,
and not till then.

To give a horse the advantage of seeing around him we
would use a headstall without blinds. But. we would
make an exception of the carriage horse, for we want
him for style, park show and excusable vanity, and to
indulge this very harmless ambition we will admit that
the carriage and coupe horse, for this reason, should
have on blinds and let the the driver look out for danger.

CHAPTER XIX.

FEEDING.

As the pleasure of riding or driving depends upon the
willing response to a gentle touch of the reins, if properly
held — in one hand — and the effective touch of the reins
depends upon the life and spirit of the horse, which
should be light and airy to render him all the lighter in
hand, feeding in both time, quantity and quality is a
A'cry important consideration, for on this depends the
degree and extent of his usefulness, as he can thereby be
rendered high-spirited or lubberly, light or heav^y in
hand, willing or unwilling to move on or to reply to the
])it, wliip, word or spur. We deem it, therefore, neces-
sary in connection with the use of the bit, to say a few
words to the reader on this subject before we part.

The mistaken ideas that some persons have about feed-
ing themselves or others, or their horses, is the excuse we

FEEDING. 133

offer for introducing a subject at the close that may seem
foreign to the title of this book. But in the use and
management of horses these two subjects interlace, and
we cannot touch upon one without involving the sym-
pathy of the other. Aside from the physical handling of
the horse there is the vital subject of feeding, and the
proper course to pursue to put the most life and
strength into him and obtain the greatest amount of
work or speed out of him with the least possible wear and
tear. This is a subject that involves the attention and
skill of marine engineers in the building and running
of steamships. It is a subject which only a small per-
centage of livers understand in their own cases. The
commonest sanitary rules are violated at every meal.
There is too much reliance placed upon theory and fancy
taste, and too little on judgment or reason in the daily
necessity of eating. The mother allows her infant to
nurse until the overloaded stomach rebels and throws up
the surphis. Like the boiling caldron it must either
boil over or burst, and because nature comes to the relief
of the child we are told that she tells the mother what
to do. But while thousands of tiny and untimely graves
bear evidence of the truth of this theory, the mothers of
one generation after another are willing to test the virus
of this cause of death and consequent grief.

We dwell upon this subject in the interest of the horse
because we see the evidence on every hand of the gross
errors committed in the family home as well as in the
stable, and the comparison that can be drawn between
two horses that are differently fed should be known best
to the person interested in their use. The carefully fed
Irish hunter, that takes the country as it comes from
morning till night, is fed on three-year-old potato-oats
and three-year-old hay to harden him and give him wind,
and if he be a steeple-chaser the ownership of the chal-
lenge cup depends upon his wind as much as on his

134 THE BRIDLE BITS.

superiority in other respect;?. These horses are so full of
life and spirit that they become vicious in their stalls ;
no stranger would venture up beside one of them with-
out asking the groom, "Does this horse kick ? " But
this comes from the temper, spirit and high-strung dis-
positions and force that such hard and invigorating food
creates, and which are necessary for these horses to en-
able them to perform such wonderful feats in the course
of the severe and peculiar work they have to perform.

The objection to the Norman and Clydesdale breeds is
in their disposition to fatten, and the evil that follows
their importation to this country is the ambition of their
owners to feed them to excess, as if for beef and not for
work was the object in keeping them. If fattening these
horses to such a degree strengthened their feet in pro-
portion to -the extra flesh they carry, there would be
some reasonable excuse. But, on the contrary, it weak-
ens the feet, and besides wearing them out in advance of
the natural wear and tear of the rest of the horse, it is a
loss to the owner — for the fat horse, being lazy, is conse-
quently slower than the properly well-fed, slim and
lively animal, that is ambitious to get over the ground.
One load more or less per day makes a difference in the
truckman's financial receipts ; but to look well, as he con-
siders it, rather than do well is the error and where the
leak comes in.

As regards the appearance of small, short-legged
Clydesdales, we admire them as wonderful on account of
their extraordinary roundness and weight of flesh, and
their apparent unconsciousness that the only difference
between one of them and a Berkshire is that one is a
horse and the other is a pig. As work horses, the
greatest advantage we see in some of them is that they
keep on little and live out in a straw yard all winter
without suffering. Notwithstanding, we value them as
a mere ingredient necessary in crossing to produce a

FEEDING. 135

better and a more useful sort of horse with more lever
power. For this purpose they are invaluable.

When the prize fighter is trained and prepared for a
contest in which the greatest activity, strength and en-
durance are necessary, he is stripped of all surplus bile
and fat ; but tliese men pursue a different course and
sacrifice their interest to gratify their fancy. We never
trusted another with the feeding of our horses Avithout
our personal supervision. A being akin to the man who
starves himself all day> and thus loses his appetite for his
dinner at night and takes dinner pills to create an arti-
ficial one, is not to be trusted with the feeding of other
men's horses. Animals in their natural state go to sleep
after meals. The wolf eats enough to last him two or
three days, and during the hours of repose he is drowsy
and stupid — not because he had his meal, but because he
ate too much at once. Over-feeding horses has the same
effect, and a horse in that state, whether he be saddle or
truck horse, does everything reluctantly except go to
sleep.

We know how fashionable women dread the approach
of obesity, and with what trouble and sacrifices they try
to get rid of it. But the Dutchman who puts more in
his horse's manger than he can eat don't look at obesity
in that light. We once rode beside a novice in the art
of hunting, and at noon, when his horse gave out, he
said he ''could not understand why he should tire so
soon for the groom said he got loose in the stable and
had his head in the oat-bin all night."

136 THE BRIDLE BITS.

CHAPTER XX.

NOW A WORD TO THE CAVALRY MAN.

The cavalry student can learn by the light of his oil
lamp in a garret-room the theory of marching, manceu-
yring and fighting a cavalry regiment without ever having
seen a horse, but it requires the skill and knowledge of
a practical man of long experience to keep cavalry effec-
tive in the field. This is one of the great problems in war.
To manoeuvre and fight cavalry we must have it, and it re-
quires the vigilant eye of an experienced superintending
official familiar with the various dispositions, tempers,
conditions and constitutions of horses, to properly care
for them and to see that his orders are obeyed by the men.

Caring for and feeding all horses alike is a vital error,
especially when massed in a cavalry cami? exposed to
every change of weather, and where the orderly sergeant
has the authority to detail a man on raid duty while the
horse is not fit to go out. Cavahy thus dwindles away.
Horses, like ourselves, have appetites for light and heavy
feeds at particular hours — one at dawn and another at
noon — and properly kept horses are fed accordingly. Thus
two horses requiring different hours for feeding, if not dif-
ferent food, are not fit to go together as a span. They
are mates but not matches, in constitution at least. If
they don't replenish their strength together, they should
not bo made to exhaust it together.

In the absence of a commissioned veterinary surgeon to
a regiment, with higher authority than the captains and
commander over the care of the horses, thousands died,
were shot or left behind on raids in our late Avar. We
did not see that West Point officers knew more or cnred
more about the individual care of cavalry horses than the
men who rode them. Their orders were more in the
way of military positions, regulations and discipline, than

NOW A WORD TO THE CAVALRY MAN. 137

sucli sanitary necessities and rules in the care of the
horses as would keep them sound in the camp and effec-
tive in the field. Causes of the dwindling away of cav-
alry in war can be counted by the score, and for one
cause on the battle-field there are five in camp and on
the march, and where there is no surgeon witli authority
the waste goes on.

On Hunter's raid in June, 1864, from Martinsburgh to
Lynchburgh, and on his retreat through the mountains
to the Ohio river, the best horses were ridden till ex-
hausted and then ordered shot by the rear guard. The
necessity for those orders might have been avoided.
There was no i3rovision made to save the cavalry, but
there was ample to destroy it. Hunter commanded. In
camp or on detached service the colonel of a regiment
is responsible. In an army on a campaign, the general
or officer in command is responsible.

It was very short-sighted economy to appoint a chaplain
to a regiment and ignore a veterinary surgeon — the most
necessary man next to the quartermaster. Occasionally
grooms who could bleed, wash a horse's feet or give him
a ball, were employed at 175 per month, but these men
had no standing, commission or authority over the orders
of the orderly sergeant to *' turn out." On going on a
raid of three or four days, grain was issued, and it was
a common practice or order to feed sparingly at every
meal so as to have something left for the last day. Thus
the horse was hard- worked, stinted in his food the while,
and made to carry food on his back that ought to be in
his belly. Horses will do more and keep better if fully fed
during the three days and go without any food on the
fourth, than to be stinted, reduced and weakened by de-
grees during the entire four days' march. No horse will
lose flesh on one day's fasting, but he will on four days
stinting of food while hard-worked. Work and stint
your horse and you become the raven's quartermaster.

138 THE BEIDLE BITS.

CHAPTER XXI.
SOME UNNECESSARY TORTURES.

Many of the bits illustrated in this volume are ingeni-
ous contrivances, while they are certainly rendered un-
necessary tortures by spoiling the mouth in the primary
stages of the training. Some of them are calculated to
break the colt's spirit, owing to their effect being through
brute force, thus crushing and subduing the spirit of the
pupil instead of taming it with his consent. The sub-
dued horse, for instance, is tied fast by his halter and
cannot get away, but if loosed he gallops off and is men-
tally and physically free ; while the tamed horse is left
untied and to gallop and sport about the field with his
head and tail in the air, he is physically but not mentally
free, for when his keeper whistles or calls him he as
cheerfully comes back as he went. This is taming vs.
subduing.

An exhibition of physical vs. moral power over the horse
is simply evidence of the difference between art and sci-
ence in his management. We prefer the latter ; for the
time taken to effect the former depends upon the extent
of the power that the law will allow to be applied. The
expert in any art or science is manifest in the ease and
apparent unconcern with which he performs or accom-
plishes his object ; and this is seen in taming, riding or
driving tlie horse, as in everything else. But in subduing
a horse Avith such means as are adopted now-a-days is
certainly outside of justice if inside the law. In all our
familiarity with the horse we never saw any that required
them or could be better managed with them than with
instruments of less complications and severity. Of course

SOME UNNECESSARY TORTURES.

139

horses will, if they must, go with them or any kind in a sort
of way ; but they don't make the mouth, and what sense
there is in making some of them, or what could make a
mouth to require tliem, would be developed only in the
horse's history. We give them, however, as samples (and
could multiply them by the score) to show what it is pos-
sible to get up, and the difference between what can and

NSW STYLE OF MOUTHING BIT.

what should be used in reason — from the regular mouth-
ing bit for the colt to the bit necessary for the spoiled
horse or one of riper years.

Before firing our parting shot we will have a few words
with the reader, as we take our stirrup-cup, about the
samples of bits illustrated herewith. Figures 54 and 55
look very pretty. They are substitutes for the regular

Fig. 55. — NEW STYLE OF MOUTHING BIT FOR A COLT.

mouthing bit (fig. 1), and were invented and pushed into
the trade as "modern improvements." The men who
heard of but never saw a proper mouthing bit are apt to
use them. They tend to sliow to what extent people will
go to run or rum a good thing that may be useful and

140 THE BRIDLE BITS.

effective to a certain extent in proportion to its capaci-
ty— neither more nor less tlian it shonld be.

The harmony in the effect of all we put on or do, in
training a young horse, should he in proportion — as are
the peculiar colors in a painting that make it effective
and pleasing to the eye. The weight, strength and power
of each part in a machine must harmonize to be effective
and durable. To please a man's feelings, as well as his
fancy, the tailor must make his whole suit to fit easy ;
and his hat and boots must be in character with the work
he does or dress-clothes he wears. To please and manage
the horse effectively everything on him must fit easy and
with uniform pressure — for a hole less or more on a
buckle, or the position of the saddle one inch more or
less (thus shifting the weight where he feels it is uncom-
fortable), makes a great difference in the ease with which
he does his work, all day.

"We know how hard, if not impossible, it is to have our
hat put on by another person to suit us. Yet the horse
has his headstall put on with his forelock and mane all
tangled up, as if anything, in any way, was good enough
for a horse. He is quite as difficult to suit in the fit of
his headstall and harness as we are in our clothes, and
the capacity of his bit must be taken into consideration
and suited to his disposition. But the tendency is to
overdo a good thing. In fashion and dress it is run to
excess, and certainly often to the detriment of the wearer,
who, for fashion's sake, changes the whole character and
grace of the person. The bustle of the present time is
enlarged beyond the license and to a degree amounting
to indelicacy, thus designedly drawing attention to a jiart
of the ])erson that neither the observer nor observed would
like to name by any term by which the medical faculty
knows or conceals it. We know how desirable and pleas-
ing a little dash of scarlet or red is in a picture. On this
overdone jirinciple we see brick houses, already all red,

SOME UNNECESSAKY TOETUUES. 141

Avith blinds, railings, sashes and doors all indiscriminately
painted red, thus destroying the effect that a little red
would have with green ; but this would be utilizing a
color that the red was intended to supplant, and thus
fashion takes its despotic course and is carried even into
tlie horse's mouth.

This is on the principle of the Scotchman's plan to
create an appetite. He heard that eating a pigeon before
dinner would give him one ; so, to make sure, he ate
twelve, and when his hostess (who gave a large entertain-
ment in his behalf) saw he did not enjoy his dinner and
asked if he was ill, he told her the means he had used to
create an appetite for the occasion on the supposition
that if one pigeon would give him an appetite twelve
would give him a better one. It is the same with fashions.
They run into nearly everything. The extreme either
way is the rule, and these inventors who, thinking that,
if three tags suspended from the plate on the mouthing
bit is an advantage in tickling the tongue, nine and ten,
as above represented, would be better still. But the in-
ventor has, perhaps, forgotten that figure 55 is made
to use with a curb, and that a colt should not have a
curb put on him under any circumstances, for it is at
least from one to two years in advance of its time.

Figures 54 and 55 represent samples of some of the
choice mouthing bits of the present time in the United
States. Notwithstanding the universal and long stand-
ing success in training horses for the most severe and
critical performances in the past, it is strange that the
objectionable features of the old mouthing bit were not
discovered long ago, before it was found that fashion and
folly called earnestly for new things, and that any shape
or contrivance with cut, color, character, shape or style
would sell at a profit if well advertised. We recommend
them to the hardware trade or any dupe interested in
horse-flesh who has a colt to spoil.

143 THE BRIDLE BITS.

Figure 56 has a shifting motion across the mouth from
side to side, as one or the other rein is drawn, and, act-
ing like a gag, is very annoying to the horse. Figure 57,
the expansion snaffle, has only one action, as both reins

Fig. 56. — saiFTiNG bit.

are drawn — that of opening in the centre of the bar ; and,
when one rein is drawn, its effect in the mouth is so tor-
menting as to make a horse mad enough to do anything.
Figure 58 is of a piece with others. Its power depends
on which ring the reins are buckled on. The lower down
the ring is that is used, the gi-eater the power over the

Fij?- 57.— EXPANSION SNAFFLE.

horse — for- the whole bit being inflexible, the strain on the
lowest ring throws the arched bar hard against the palate
and thus forces the mouth open. Figure 59 represents
the best made and handsomest bit of its class we ever

SOME UNNECESSARY TORTURES.

143

saw. It is a credit to the manufacturer, and as a cavalry
bit, so far as its power goes, it has no superior for the
horse and hand it would suit.

Fig. 58. — FORGET-ME-NOT.

If, by anything we have said in this volume denuncia-
tory of the use of any bit, we may injure its manufacture
or sale, Ave have done so in the interest of the horse and

Fig. 59. — A FINE CAVALRY BIT.

his owner, and not in our own, nor to the intentional
prejudice of any individual.

JUST PUBLISHED.
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How to Handbl [ducate Yicious Horses

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