CHAPTER XIII.

BITS AND BITTING.

A LENGTHY and exhaustive treatment of this subject would of itself require a special work, so that we will only glance at the question as applied to the average "green" horse which is purchased for harness purposes to-day.

He is generally trained "to go" in harness, and that is about all that can be said, for the bitting and mouthing are almost absolutely neglected.

Ordinarily speaking, the farmer who raises him puts him into his wagons or plow for a season's work, and is perfectly well satisfied if the animal goes in the direction designated, no matter how. The horse is then sold to a city buyer and landed in such a place as our New York "Bull's Head." Here the first consideration is a quick sale, and some heavy-handed, beefy individual is put behind him and pulls as hard as he can on the reins to " make him show," forcing him meanwhile up to the bit by the vigorous use of a whalebone whip. The result of all this is that when the horse is finally purchased he has practically no

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