174 BITS AND BITTING. 



it will be well to have a cloth case to run over it, which 

 may be taken off after use each time. 



It is not possible to give an exact dimension in 

 inches for the length of the curb ; a little reflection 

 will show that it must always bear some special pro- 

 portion to the width of the horse's mouth and the 

 height of the bars, the latter of these quantities being 

 nearly constant, whilst the former one is variable, as 

 has been shown above. We must here anticipate, to a 

 certain extent, the contents of the next paragraph. In 

 order to render the action of the curb as painless as 

 possible, it is absolutely necessary that it should press 

 upon the greatest extent of surface that can be made 

 available for the purpose, for which reason, of course, 

 we require this instrument itself to be flat, and as broad 

 as the chin-groove will allow. If the mouthpiece have 

 exactly the same width as the mouth, the curb will 

 wrap close round the chin, pressing equably over a 

 large surface ; but if, on the contrary, it be too wide, the 

 curb will trend away right and left ; and if the excess 

 of width amount to half an inch or an inch, it will 

 bear altogether on one spot and get up a sore,* although 

 it is really longer than it should be. 



It will be found that the proper length for the 

 curb is about one-fourth more than the width of the 

 mouth, the curb-hooks not being included in this ; 

 or, if we take these into account, the total of the curb 

 and the two hooks will be once and a half the same 

 dimension. 



The curb-hooks form an important item in the ar- 



* The author once found some thirty or forty horses in one squad- 

 ron each with a little round ulcer on the chin in consequence of the 

 bits being too wide. 



