PULLING.
I have found from experience that the best kind of gear in which to hold a hard puller, who goes along with his mouth open and is so headstrong that he will not slacken speed when required, is an ordinary double bridle, a cavesson nose-band and a standing martingale. It is far better for ladies, especially out hunting, to ride animals in gear in which they are able to hold them, than to have them dashing about as they like, and proving a source of danger, not only to their riders, but to the rest of the field. A lady should never ride a hard puller when hunting; but as some of us have to put up with what we can get, it is well to fix up a difficult mount of this kind in a manner that will keep him under control.
Some clever people assert that any horse can be held with a snaffle; but I am certain that pullers can, as a rule, be much better controlled by a curb, provided that it is properly put on. I have no faith in severe bits, because the desire to pull and tear away emanates from the brain of a horse, and if we hurt his mouth by using a severe bit, we only succeed in making him more headstrong than ever. Most, if not all, young horses make frantic efforts to get away after the hounds, when they are hunted for the first few times; and, until they settle down and learn that fences require jumping and not galloping into, it is far more difficult to hold them without a standing martingale than with one. If a horse is getting out of hand, even under the restraining influence of a curb, we can generally manage to turn him with the aid of a standing martingale, and so long as we can do that, he cannot run away, as I have found when I have been placed in somewhat critical situations, with my curb ineffective in preventing a headstrong youngster from urging on his wild career under the intense excitement of his first day with hounds. The desire which a puller has to get away would probably only occur in the early part of the day when the starting rush is made, but if it were successful he would bolt among a lot of horses and be almost certain to cause an accident. A cavesson nose-band properly put on, will shut the mouth of a puller which wants to keep it open, and will thus help the rider to control him. If a lady possesses doubts as to her ability to hold her horse, she should keep well away from the field, so that she may not endanger the safety of others. It is always best to put animals which are at all likely to pull, through a regular course of cub hunting from the very beginning of the season, so that they may gradually work along from the “pottering” to the galloping stage. A course of such instruction sobers them down, and they will then give their rider far less trouble than if they are dashed off into the excitement of fox-hunting without having had good preliminary training. This is a fact which ladies should bear in mind; for I have found it work very successfully.
There is nothing like plenty of regular work for taking the nonsense out of pulling horses. Mr. Caton, a well-known American trainer of match trotters, whom I met in St. Petersburg, told me that he always sent his bad pullers to do a week or two’s work in one of the city tram-cars, for they always came back with a good deal of the “stuffing” taken out of them. Pulling is of course a very bad vice; for a pulling horse knows well enough what his rider is asking him, through the medium of the reins, but he shakes his head, or throws it up, if he can, as much as to say that he will not obey. A lady should not be alarmed if she finds her mount getting out of hand; but should, if possible, let him go for a short distance and then take a pull at him, at the same time speaking determinedly to him, and not in a frightened tone. If the brute will not obey, we must use severe measures, and in extreme cases, it is well to “saw” the bit from one side to the other, in order to hurt his mouth so much, that from very pain he must perforce yield. I believe that many bad accidents have occurred through riders becoming frightened and refraining from the use of force in stopping a hard puller, who is thus allowed to run away. I think that if people could keep their heads clear and not clutch on to the saddle and let the reins loose, or maintain a dead hold of them, which is equally ineffective, but husband their resources for determined attacks, very few horses would succeed in bolting with their riders. Of course a great deal depends on the strength of the seat of the rider; for we must sit very tight and not let our mount feel us wobbling about in the saddle. We should never forget the power of the voice as a factor in horse control, and our attempts to stop a pulling animal should always be accompanied by a sternly expressed word of command. In my travels abroad, I have ridden some extremely bad pullers which were said to bolt with men; but although I certainly had trouble with such animals, none of them succeeded in running away with me and taking me where they liked. My husband also has a similar record in this respect, so I cannot help thinking that when a rider is actually bolted with, he or she must have got frightened and confused at a critical moment and have allowed the animal to literally take the reins of authority in his teeth. It requires a good deal of physical strength to control a hard puller, and I have had my gloves and hands badly cut in wrestling with particularly headstrong brutes. On the other hand, some horses which have really nice mouths, get the name of being pullers, on account of having been ridden by “mutton-fisted” men who hang on to the reins and thus irritate them beyond control. I am reminded of a big Australian horse, about seventeen hands high, which Mr. Macklin, the Australian horse-shipper, brought to Calcutta and lent me to ride in a paper-chase there. This animal carried me perfectly, although his rough rider (more “rough” than “rider”) afterwards showed me an unjointed snaffle bent almost double, which he said had been caused by this “pulling devil of a horse”! There is a great deal of truth in the saying, that if you don’t pull at a horse, he won’t pull at you. I am sure that many horsemen, and certainly every riding member of my sex, will bear me out in stating that women manage pullers far better than do men, because they do not hang on to their mouths, in order to help them in keeping their seats. Where many women greatly err in riding confirmed pullers, is in inability to take sufficiently harsh measures which are needed for their control. I am aware that there are animals, especially race-horses, which cannot be held at all until they have gone a certain distance. The pace holds them, but such headstrong animals tire themselves unnecessarily, and generally have to “shut up” before the finish of a long distance race; for the steady plodding horse will almost invariably prove the better stayer of the two. In hunting, the pace will not always hold a horse, because hounds may check at any moment, the start to a “holloa” may prove a false alarm, and leaving out the uncertain behaviour of foxes, a sudden stoppage may be caused by an impossible fence, river, railway, or by a variety of causes which would amply prove the fallacy of the pace holding a hard puller in the hunting field. As pulling horses are the cause of frequent hunting accidents, I would specially caution my readers against riding animals which they are not able to keep in hand.
If a lady is riding a good old hunter who insists on going his own pace, she should interfere with him as little as possible, even in her desire to steady him over bad ground and at his fences; because the large majority of these animals have their own method of doing business, and can be safely trusted to take care of themselves. If they are unduly checked in galloping, they are apt to pull very hard, and greatly tire their riders. I am, of course, alluding to good-tempered, well-made hunters which go best with a rider who sits still on their backs and trusts to their experience and honour.
Concerning the best kind of bridle in which to hold a puller, I cannot do better than quote the following remarks from my husband’s book, Riding and Hunting:—“As regards the bitting of a puller, I would advise that with a double bridle the curb should be put low down in the mouth.... In all cases an unjointed snaffle is much the best form of bit. With a double bridle we have a choice between the two. We should bear in mind that the action of a curb is peculiarly liable to produce insensibility of the mouth on account of its pressure being distributed almost completely round the lower jaw, while that of the snaffle falls only on the upper surface of the jaw. Even the jointed snaffle and the chain snaffle leave the under surface of the jaw free from pressure, and consequently interfere comparatively little with the circulation and nervous supply of that part. Hence we should avoid riding even the worst puller continuously on the curb, the action of which we should alternate from time to time with that of the snaffle, so as to preserve the sensibility of the jaw. It is evident that the sensibility of the mouth is the means by which we are enabled to remain in touch with the forehand of the horse. I would here recommend the alternative, not the combined, employment of the curb and the snaffle.” Thin bits which irritate horses’ mouths often cause them to fight and pull hard; it is unfortunately no uncommon sight in the hunting field to see a tortured horse bleeding from the mouth, and yet such animals are expected to gallop and jump kindly!