THE LEVER, THE BIT AND CURB, ETC. 165 



ing a curb to it, when the reins are drawn the bit turns 

 right round, and its bars or branches come to lie in the 

 same line as the reins. There is no lever action what- 

 ever, because there is no prop, and a snaffle or bridoon 

 would, on account of their centre joint, be much more 

 efficient. The same thing, too, will happen if the curb 

 be very loose : the bit is then said to "fall through" 

 in fact, it is nearly useless. The opposite fault to 

 "falling through'' is when the bit "stands stiff" with- 

 out any play, the slightest pull on the reins causing 

 the horse great pain, and, most probably, just in the 

 wrong place that is to say, externally ; for this stiff- 

 ness or rigidity of the bit is very often produced by a 

 tight curb, and therefore the horse, instead of following 

 the rider's hand, pokes against it. Good bitting will 

 be equally removed from stiffness and falling through : 

 it lies between these two extremes. 



The length of the upper bar of the bit will, however, 

 of itself cause this instrument either to stand stiff or to 

 fall through, if it exceed or come short of the height of 

 the bars of the mouth, as is shown in fig. 11, where 

 d e represents this latter dimension, d b an upper 

 bar precisely equal, d c one of only half the same 

 length, and d a one double the same. When a pull 

 of the rein acts at / on the lower bar, the curb will 

 be drawn closer to, the chin, and the mouthpiece to the 

 interior of that organ ; and supposing the amount of 

 this " closing up " to be equal in all three instances, 

 the bit with a long upper bar, d a, will assume the 

 position a! d f\ It will be stiff, and the curb acting 

 upwards in the direction e a', will press on the sensi- 

 tive part of the jaw. Moreover, there will be no lever 

 action, the two arms of the lever being equal; the 



