GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 115 



mouth has always a certain influence, and this is 

 scarcely identical in any two horses, even as merely 

 regards those points that have a direct bearing on the 

 working of the bit; and, moreover, because temper 

 and even sex have also to do with it.* 



It is abundantly evident, from the foregoing remarks, 

 that the question of bits and bitting cannot be solved 

 without reference to the whole theory of riding and 

 draught ; in fact, it forms a very important part of 

 both, which must serve as an apology for the contents 

 of this introductory chapter. Indeed we must go a 

 step further in this direction, and call the reader's 

 attention to another item. What has been said on 

 the subject of the lever action of the neck will suffice 

 to indicate that the direction in which the pull of the 

 reins is made to act on the centre of motion, through 

 the medium of the head, must necessarily determine 

 both the direction and intensity of the lever action 

 transmitted in succession to the other parts of the ani- 

 mal's frame. It is in consequence of this that by 

 merely elevating or depressing the hands, employing a 

 certain amount of pressure with the rider's legs, and 

 throwing his weight backwards or forwards, that it 

 becomes possible to make the horse alter the conditions 

 of his own equilibrium, by bringing his hind legs more 

 under him, or the contrary. In like manner it is pos- 

 sible, supposing the pull to be horizontal which is, 



* It will be necessary to go into further detail on this point in a 

 subsequent chapter. In the meanwhile, we cannot refrain from 

 observing how absurd it is to attempt rigid uniformity in the pat- 

 terns of bits used by cavalry, or, as is not unfrequently done, con- 

 tinuing through a long series of years the use of a bit originally 

 destined for a very different kind of horse from that found in the 

 ranks at the present day. 



