THE Old way for Trench and Martingal.

THis Way is to no purpose at all to Dress a Horse, since the end of Riding is, To go with the Bitt; for, with the Trench and Mar∣tingal, you must use both Hands, and you have not a third Hand for the Sword; but with the Bitt, your Left-Hand governs the Horse, and your Right-Hand is free for the Sword: But I will let you see, that to use the Trench and Martingal, is just so much time lost, as you Ride Horses with it, and no preparation at all for the Bitt: For first, the Trench hath no Curb, therefore they will not understand the Curb by it, because it hath none. Then Secondly, there is no Trench in the world, or Snaffle, that ever wrought upon the Bars of a Page  315 Horse, but upon his Lips, and the Weeks of his Mouth. So, what preparation is there in the Trench for the Bitt, when the Trench can neither make him understand the Curb, nor the Bars? And the Bitt Works only upon those two places, Curb, and Bars; and without those two, no Horse can be a Ready-Horse. Nay, pull down the Horses Head as much as you can with the Mar∣tingal, or the Trench, it shall never work upon his Bars; the Snaffle is the same; for the Trench is but a great Snaffle: Then for the Martingal, use it never so long, the Horse shall not be setled one jot the better when you take it off.

So now you may see how unuseful a folly the Trench and Martingal is, for the Dressing of Horses; meerly so much time lost to no purpose, and la∣bour in vain, and disordering the poor Horse; so that I wonder at the Horse-men, that had no more Wit than to use it.

It is the Bitt, with the Cavezone, and the true Art of Riding, that Makes, and Dresses Horses perfectly, and not the Trench and Martingal; no, nor the Martingal with the Bitt, if it be tied to Page  316 the Arches of the Bitt, for then the Curb never Works; no, nor the New-fashioned Martingal, that is tied to the Cavezone, for it hinders the operation of the Bitt.