American horse-tamers use the long reins, without the standing martingale or driving pad, and pass them through rings on a specially prepared surcingle, through the shaft tugs of ordinary single harness, or through the irons of stirrup leathers. Men who try to mouth horses in this manner, are apt to fail to teach their pupils to bend their necks to the rein, and, at the same time, to go up to the bridle; for the animal thus instructed, will always be liable to resist the action of the mouth-piece by chucking up his head and getting the mouth-piece off the bars, and on to the corners of the mouth. In breaking for harness, and, especially, for fast trotting on level ground, the necessity for teaching the horse to bend his neck, to get his hind-quarters under him, and to moderate his speed in response to a pull on the reins, is not nearly so imperative, as in educating the charger, hunter and steeple-chaser, who must have always a “spare leg,” ready for any emergency.
The principle of the specially constructed driving pad and cross-trees, is an idea of my own, which I have found of great use. By its employment, we have no need of the bearing reins, which some of the old Irish breakers were accustomed to use; for, if the horse holds his head too low down, it can be easily got up into its proper position when circling the animal, by “playing” with the outward rein, which, in this case, should rest on the driving pad. I cannot approve of rendering the neck rigid by the combined employment of martingale and bearing reins. With respect to the objections to the use of the last-mentioned appliance, see [page 55]. With skittish animals that jump about much when being mouthed, and with horses that rear, the standing martingale is of great service in preventing the rein getting over the back, and in giving the breaker command over these refractory subjects. Besides this, I find that the presence of the driving pad and rein-bearers is of great use in allowing me to shift the rein up and down as I like.
The breaker should avoid driving the horse on foot, straight in front of him, more than he can help; for, if he does so, he can hardly escape, at times, from keeping a “dead pull” on the animal’s mouth. The objectionable practice of driving “youngsters” on foot for miles along a road, as may be seen in full operation at Newmarket and other training resorts, is the fruitful cause of the dead mouths and habit of boring possessed by many race-horses. The young animal, to relieve the bars of his mouth of the constant pressure of the mouth-piece, naturally, gets his chin into his chest, in order to transfer a portion of the pull on to the crown of his head. Instead of acting in this fashion, the breaker, if he wants to take his pupil for a walk on foot, might, after having mouthed him in the manner I have described, put on the leading-rein crupper (see [page 148]), and lead him where he wished, without incurring any risk of spoiling his mouth.
The whole of this mouthing on foot, might be taught the horse in one lesson of, say, an hour’s duration. With a young animal that had never been bridled before, the instruction might be spread over two days, a couple of lessons of half-an-hour’s duration each, being given on each day. In point of fact, one or two lessons will, in almost all cases, be sufficient to teach the horse to obey the indications of the rein properly. After that, he will require only a few days’ careful riding and bending to make his mouth perfect.
If the animal prove headstrong or sulky, he should be brought under control, in the manner described in the preceding chapter.
The method of mouthing which I have described, is as applicable to “spoiled” horses, as it is to animals that have never been handled. To my thinking, one great beauty in it—apart from its immense advantage of never giving the animal the chance of getting the upper hand, which he might easily do, were the rider in the saddle—is, that the breaker who employs it, can tell at any moment how his pupil is progressing, by his touch on the reins, and can, accordingly, with well-grounded confidence, use his own judgment in regulating the amount of instruction. The man, however, who trusts to tying the horse up with side-or pillar-reins to the breaking snaffle, in order to get his mouth soft, must necessarily work, more or less, in the dark, and by rule of thumb. Instead of tying a horse up in a fixed position, and thereby cramping the action of his muscles, we retain them supple and ready to respond to our slightest touch, by keeping them in a constant state of change, from contraction to relaxation, without, however, inducing fatigue, the effect of which, on the nerves, is to cause the muscles to work in a slow and ill-regulated manner.
After having broken the horse thoroughly to the snaffle, we may, if required for special work, break him, in the same manner, to the curb, the principles of which I have described in my book on Riding on the Flat and Across Country.
When one is unprovided with a driving pad made after my pattern, one may use, as a makeshift, a saddle, through the stirrup-irons of which one may pass the reins (see [Fig. 44]); not forgetting the standing martingale, a substitute for which may be readily made by connecting the rings of the snaffle to the rings of a running martingale, by a loop of leather, or cord.
Colonel Wardrop, who commands the 12th Lancers, shewed me a method he practises, of driving horses over jumps with long ropes which pass