Saddlery and Harness

The saddles of the East and of the Arabs keep their primitive shape, and they are really seats in which rather than on which the rider sits. The Mexican saddle, with its silver adornments and embossed leather, is a characteristic type. It has a very high padded pommel and a round-headed projecting cantle.

Harness.

Space forbids the discussion of the varieties of har ness for the pair-horse carriage, the four-horse coach, the farm wagon, etc., or the different kinds of ornamentation that are or have been lavished upon it. The leather collar, heavily padded, 1 passes over the head and rests firmly on the shoulders ; the hames, linked pieces of metal, fit tightly round it and are fastened at the top and bottom by the hame-straps ; they bear the traces, or straps which pass along the horse's sides and the shafts, and are attached to the whiffletree. Where the collar is dispensed with, the traces are attached to a breast-strap against which the horse works. This breast harness is much used for the lightly harnessed American trotting horses, and for military draught horses. The saddle pad is a narrow leather cushion resting on the back and girthed under the belly and held in position by the back-band and crupper, a loop strap passing under the tail. The saddle supports the shafts by straps fitted with shaft loop-holes. The reins pass from the bit through "terrets" or rings on the hames and pad. The harness on the horse's hind-quarters consists of the breeching, passing round behind the horse and helping in backing and stopping the vehicle and the hip-strap fastened to the breeching and passing over the hind-quarters. The bearing rein, or check-rein as it is often called, when used as a support to the head, or as a so-called aid to improvement of the paces, consists of a separate bridoon-bit with the reins passing through rings on the throat-band and thence slipped over a hook on the pad.

Historical Sketch.

Questions as to the epoch in the history of mankind when the horse was first trained for draught and riding are for archeologists and anthropologists to discuss (HORSE: History). With the domestication of the horse came the de velopment of the bit ; first a halter of hide bound the muzzle, then a thong slipped into the mouth, finally replaced by wood or bone. Stone age objects have been found in lake-dwellings, such as that at Robenhausen, near Zurich, which may have been bits; one is slightly curved, with two knobs grooved at either end for the reins. Bits from the bronze age and the iron age can be seen in

most museums showing that the forms have changed little. In the late iron age burial of a Gaulish chief with his chariot at Somme-Bionne were two horses' bits of the jointed snaffle type.

In ancient Greece and Rome the bit and bridle were used dur ing historic times, and allusions to riding without them refer to exhibitions of horsemanship. On Trajan's column the Numidians ride without bridles or bits, and various North African tribes trained their horses to obey their voice alone (cf. Claudian, Epig. i. 10, of the Gaulish essedarii, driving without bridle and reins). The locus classicus for the bridling and saddling of the Greek horse is Xenophon, IlEpl brim6s. The Greek name for the bridle bit and reins collectively is xaXtvos (Lat. frenum), the bit proper arOtobov, in Lat. frenium is also used of the bit itself. The headstall (Kopv4)ata) and cheek-straps (rapiiia) were richly dec orated. In Homer (II. iv. 142) the latter are ornamented with ivory plates stained with purple, and such have been found on the site of Troy (Schliemann, Ilios, 476, 631). The head-band also bore a crest (Xo4)6s, crista), and in front the (Iron tale) might be extended down the face to serve as a defence, as in the mediaeval chaufrein. This frontal was a special subject of decoration. Of the two principal types of ancient bits, the un jointed and the jointed mouthpiece, the latter is the most common form. There are also other forms of bits ; those with sharp points were called lupata (Virg. Georg. iii. 208). There is a Greek bit in the British Museum with revolving disks, a device which occurs in mediaeval bits, to give the horse something to keep turning in his mouth. The curb was also used : Xenophon distinguishes between the snaffle (XEI.os xaXtv6s) and the curb. The curb-strap or chain was termed i)roxaXtvtola or tAXtov, which, however, may mean a muzzle. A bronze bit found at Pompeii has a twisted and jointed metal mouthpiece and a plain curved bar acting as a curb-strap. The cheek-bars of the bit take a variety of forms: straight bars, circles with rays, square or oblong plaques, triangles and the swan necked or S-shaped type are all found. In medieval times compli cated and severe bits were used, and heavy bits with cruel mouth pieces and long elaborately curved cheek-bars are still used by Arabs and the riders of Central and South America.