The bridle bits : a treatise on practical horsemanship
e^'» ^^B ^^^^^^^^^^^H ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^^H ^3 ^n ^^^^^^H ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^B ;^^^^^^ ^^^g ^^m J^^^^^^^^L i|^^ri ^M ^^^g ^^5 ^^^n T^^i ^'•*iYri^ g^^^hlUK^i^^^'^^'^^^ ■^^^ ^^8 ^^1 ^^k ^^ ^^ laii JOHNASFAVFRNS m ■Mk ^^^B mm y^Lg^a^ pr^^ ^*^y*i *^ A^JYi'/ Ilk' * '/y'! "'n'Vi ' vt i^fr !^i^v<v^'/piS ^^^^^^^p it'^i'f^gt^Ny^^^y '■' ^y ^fr^''iP'r r"^^ i^^ n T*^ i J Tr)*^'n ^^^3 iirr^rylyyr tfn^' 1^ i ff /f^jrnff^^a ^^^^M ^^^^^^ yji^''-^'" ir^.Vt.^J!^-^ '■^/^.jjiVr '/iK*^S^ Tt''it""^ ^^s^N^^^ TUFTS UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES z.-- Webster Family Library of Veterinary Medicine Ciinnniings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University 200 VVestboro Road North Grafton, MA 01536 FRONTISFIBCB. Th? Mouthing Bit. THE BRIDLE BITS, A TEEATISE ON" PRACTICAL HORSEMANSHIP. BY COL. J. C. BATTEESBY, LATE FIEST 2TEW YOKK (LINCOLN) CAVALRY ("THE GALLANT FIKST NEW TOEK "), CUSTEE'S division, SHEEIDAN'S COEPS, AEMY of the SHENANDOAH, TJ S. A. ILLUSTRATED. NEW YORK: 0. JUDD CO., DAVID W. JUDD, Preset. 751 BROADWAY. 1886. X^oo Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1886, by the O. JUDD CO., lu tlic Office of the Librarian ol Congress, at Washington. PUBLISHERS' PEEFACE. A long and varied experience with horses, in both 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 im^iression the author makes and inculcates — that by proj^er 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. The 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. K>« Page. Introduction 9 CHAPTER I. Horsemanship and Training. — The Mouthing? Bit; First Decree; Second Lesson in Training; Handling Rein; Wild and Tamed Horses; The Saddle-Horse ; Steps and Motions; Snalfle 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- Hoi-ses ; 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-Bridoon.— The Bridoon Bit in Action ; Cav- alry Charge — Point to the Front — Cut to the Rear ; Foreign or Eastern Bits 64 CHAPTER VI. Cavalry or Mllitar? Bit 70 CHAPTER VII. Mexican Ring Bit 76 CHAPTER VIII. Eastern Horses 80 CHAPTER IX. The Mule Bit.— The Donkey Bit 89 (7) 8 CONTENTS. CHAPTER X. Driving Bits. — The Bridoon Bit with Rings ; Portraits of Saddle, Carriage 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 in 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-Jacket ; 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 tlie 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 122 CHAPTER XVIII. Tee 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." INTEODUCTION. 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 therefore, no wonder that a general ignorance pre- (9) 10 THE BRIDLE BITS. yails 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 vear chancre 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 millious 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 ISTew 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 w^hile the latter has made gigantic strides, the former advanced slowly u^d 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, that 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 sale. 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 12 THE BRIDLE BITS. being cultivated and developed in both sexes, it is neces- sary to study and practice ^' 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 w^ho 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 op^Dortunity 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 w^hose training and skill have developed with their years. Forty years ago a clerk in a New York counting-house would have been reprimanded by his employer, and run the risk of dismissal, if he were known to keep a horso. 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, when 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 other's j^rowess, 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 awarded for gallant deeds, the 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 onslaughts and exterminating wars, wasfed by their dex- terous and incessant use, the Anglo-Saxon race is free^ 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 indei^endence of a great and a mighty emj^ire. 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 resjoective 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 tlirowing the Arab steed into all the graceful attitudes portrayed by art. Here we see pictured in all the shades and brilliant coloring of semi-barbaroiis 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 INTRODtJCTION". 15 costliness, that dangle from their bits are adorned with gold and silver ornaments, costly jewels and delicate workmanship, of which not only the rider but the horse 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- fridited, neither turneth he back from the sword ; the quiver rattleth against him, the quivering spear and tlie 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. Fig. 1.— MOUTHING BIT. CHAPTER I. HORSEMANSHIP 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 the words musician 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 (16) HORSEMANSHIP 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 tbe 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, while 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 Avitli 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 sinorle, 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 seryice required of him. As a general rule, horses that require bits of extraordinary j^ower 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 MOUTHIXG 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 chafins: or cuttins^ of the corners of his mouth by the pressure of a bad bit — bad for the purpose of mouthing. The regular mouthing bit, represented on page 16, is a large-sized, clumsy snaffle, with one joint in the center between the bars. The bars HORSEMAI^SHIP AND TRAINING. 19 are an inch thick at the guards and taper slightly to the 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 chafing and breaking of the skin at the tender and bare part of the mouth 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 playing 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 when 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 the loop, being 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 BKIDLE BITo. when the reins are shortened as the mouthing progresses. In the 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 usins: 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 coaxingl}^ ex- Fig. 2. — SECOND LESSON IK TRAINING. pecting or asking, in horse pantomime, to take the thing off. ^Ye 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 the bit, and becomes so sensitive to the least pull of the reins that the motion of his tail will affect the crupper and communicate the touch through the reins to his mouth. We are now making a mouth for a horseman, not for a mere rider who depends on the reins for his seat. Resist- HORSEMANSHIP AND TRAINING. 21 ance to the pull 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 first lesson are the mouthing bit, 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 KEEN. 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 put in liarness, and are at all fast, are trained on the road to pull the bno^o^y bv 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 yoices, 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 ht 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 moutliing 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 selectins^ a young horse for a special use. A young horse is like a girl ; he must be tried in harness befoi'e 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 giiis 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 easv-fittins^ 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 perfecth^ 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. The saddle-horse is created, not made. HORSEMANSHIP AND TRAINING. 23 We may make his mouth and teach him to do many things, so that we can use his natural, mental and physical (qualifications in teaching him accomplishments, 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 he 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 require lo 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 Eevelations. 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 folio \\^ 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 ^4 THE BRIDLE BITS. of an ordinary ridin^-liorse, 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 the usual desire for the companionship of his rider and ready obedience to his will. The saddle-horse 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 2:8y^, what 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 h un- dred and twenty-four (124) packs of hounds, bear amjDle evidence of the perfection of the system adopted in breed- 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 UORSEMANSniP AND TRAINING. 25 with that of tlie ships' voyage to and from Europe. The trotting time has been reduced in the ratio of a second to a day, Le., 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 telej^hone have had a pretty close race, but whether the trotter will ever exist that will reduce the time by two seconds and three- quarters and thus get even with the voyages is a question of great interest to breeders. That it will occur we have no doubt, for there are many geldings of extraordinary capacity that miglit have worked wonders in the stables had they been kejjt as sires. Any person possessing a taste for riding or driving 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 j^atronage 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, *^0h, go on ; try again." '^But I can't mamma." '^ Well, then go to bed." This is sense Ts. instinct. The time comes in after-life when we 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. So 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. We have a quasi 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 laAv 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 liimseK 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 crueltv and Avroiis^ under anv 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 HOKSEMANSUIP AKD TRAINING. 27 heartless savage chucks the 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 beheve there is one civil riding master in twenty who instructs his pupils in the 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 tbemseh^es to learn to write without regular daily instruction. It is well they are not allowed to take tlieir copies home. Why ? In parts of the world where it is considered superfluous to devote either time, patienc^ or kindness in breaking Fif2;. 4. — WILD. in young horses, brute force and cruelty are resorted to, and they soon tell on the sjDirit 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, wdth 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, Ave 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 hind 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 tlie head, right and left, until he (the Chilian) was as tired of the performance as we were at seeing the Lrutal Chilian plan. We stood amazed at the process, and although our blood ooiled with indigT.ation, we resisted the temptation to interfere, for it is by doing wrong that we learn to do right, and as this wac an experience new to us we were willing to sacrifice a wild horse to learn from it. The 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 was broken, as the horse life was taken out of him forcA'er, 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 mililer 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 nORSEMANSniP AKD TRAINING. 29 hands of a man who loses temper and patience at his awkwardness and unintentional disobedience or mistakes. 