136 BITS AND BITTING. 



horse's mouth ; as, if it be too wide, and a port exists, 

 every pull of the rein will be sure to bring its angles 

 into painful contact with the bars on the one side or 

 the other. 



The tongue itself is what we have next to direct our 

 attention to. This organ will be found to vary very 

 much both in thickness and texture. In some horses 

 it just fills its own canal neatly, rising towards its axis 

 in a gentle curve, whose summit is two-tenths or three- 

 tenths of an inch above the level of the bars; in 

 others it seems much too thick and fleshy for the inte- 

 rior of the mouth, and projects in all directions, Now 

 the volume of the tongue is a matter of very great 

 importance, because the action of the mouthpiece is 

 divided between this organ and the bars of the mouth ; 

 and the great nicety in bitting is practically to deter- 

 mine for each individual horse how much of the lever 

 action is to fall on the tongue, and how much on the 

 bars. 



We started with the proposition that lightness or 

 heaviness in the rider's hand depends mainly on the 

 degree of equilibrium that the horse may have attained; 

 but the reader will perceive that what is called softness 

 or hardness of mouth must depend, to a certain extent, 

 on the dimensions of the bit corresponding accurately 

 with the interior conformation of this organ. The 

 most perfectly adapted bit will not convert a raw re- 

 mount at once into a trained horse, or give him a pro- 

 per carriage and feeling all this is done gradually 

 with the snaffle ; but when the horse has once acquired 

 the carriage and the degree of feeling that may be re- 

 quired, then no pains should be spared in bitting him 

 correctly, otherwise all the previous labour is lost 



