THE LEVER, THE BIT AND CURB, ETC. 161 



means infrequent, and at which some riders and drivers 

 are very much astonished. 



Now, in fact, there is no weight to be raised in the 

 purely mechanical sense of the expression it is a ques- 

 tion of the infliction of a certain amount of pain from 

 which the horse shrinks ; and if the curb act more 

 painfully than the mouthpiece, in consequence of its 

 construction or position, we obtain the action of a 

 lever of the first order, which we should never desire. 

 Some people are indeed regardless of the amount of 

 pain they inflict on a horse, and go on increasing this 

 painful action in both directions, without, of course, 

 obtaining any real advantage, which is precisely what 

 we would desire to see put a stop to ; and in order to 

 this let us examine into the action of another kind 

 of lever. 



In a lever of the second order the power and prop 

 act or are placed at the opposite extremities of the 

 lever, the weight being between the two : the mechani- 

 cal advantage is proportioned to the relative distances 

 of the power and weight from the prop. For instance, 

 if P F, fig. 8 (&), be equal three, and WF equal one, these 

 numbers will express the relative amount of power 

 gained ; and it is to be observed that the power and the 

 weight move in the same direction in rotating round the 

 fulcrum. This is what we want for bitting : the weight 

 in this case is represented by the pressure on the bars 

 of the mouth; the curb acting thus merely as a fulcrum, 

 the horse's head follows immediately the pressure on 

 the bar in the direction of the rider's hand. 



It is very evident that the direction in which the bit 

 acts depending altogether on the relative amount of 

 painful pressure exercised by the bit and the curb, the 

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