The instruments of Riding appertaining to a Horsse.
A Good rider must consider the hardnesse or softnesse of his Horsses mouth, that so hee may temper his bit; for a stiffe [ 30] necked horsse, is not so much to be guided by rod and Spur, as by bit, and bridle: wherefore it must sometime be hard, & sometimes gentle. The hard bits are called Lupati, because they are vnequal, and indented like to a wolues teeth, where∣vnto the Horsse being accustomed, groweth more tractable and obedient to a gentle bit. According to the saying of
Ouid: Tempore pareot equus, lentis, animosis habenis Et placido duros, accipit ore lupos. And Virgill againe speaketh to like effect: prensisque negabunt Verbera lenta pati, & duris parere lupatis [ 40] Asper equus, duris contunditur, ora lupatis.And Silius saith:
Quadrupedem flectit, non cedens virga lupatis.There is also another instrument made of yron or Wood (called Pastomis) and englished (Barnacles) which is to be put vpon the horsses Nose, to restraine his tenatious fury from biting, and kicking, especially at such time, as he is to be shod or dressed. The Indians wer wont to vse no bridles, like the Graecians and Celts, but only put vpon their horses mouth a piece of a raw Oxe skin, fastened round about, containing in it certaine yron pricks stan∣ding to the Horsses lips, putting a long a round trench through his mouth, to the edge whereof they fasten the raines, wherewithall they guide the beast. The Turkish Horsses, [ 50] and Spanish Iennets haue bits, with open circles in the middle, consisting of leather, or I∣ron, to restraine the Horsses fury. The raines are (called Habenae) because they make the horsses, Habeles, that is, tractable, and rulable, to be turned, restrained, or put forward, at our pleasure, according to the saying of Cilius;
Ferrato calce, atque effusa, largus habena, Cunctantem impellebat equum. And Virgill: Ipse ter aducta, circum caput egit habena.