THE LEVER, THE BIT AND CURB, ETC. 181 



There is another adjustment that may be occasionally 

 employed with advantage, and which naturally finds its 

 place here. The plane of the port is usually made to 

 coincide with that of the whole bit ; in other words, if 

 we look at the instrument from either side, the port 

 will be covered by the upper bars ; but it is easy to 

 perceive that, by inclining it a little forward, we may 

 increase the tongue-freedom without making the port 

 itself higher; this, however, can only be resorted to 

 with a port of very moderate height, otherwise the roof 

 of the palate would be endangered by every pull on 

 the rein. 



Again, we have the well-known contrivance of rings, 

 which prevent horses from seizing the bit between their 

 grinders, and thereby neutralising the lever action, as 

 some will do occasionally ; they are also very useful 

 with what are called " dead mouths," and favour the 

 very desirable process of " champing the bit." These 

 rings may also be advantageously applied to the top of 

 the arch of the port, where this, either on account of 

 its absolute height, or its being inclined forwards, is 

 likely to touch the palate. "Where rings are employed 

 they must be very movable, and, to insure this, few in 

 number. 



"We have hitherto considered the mouthpiece as con- 

 sisting of one piece, but fashion has introduced a great 

 variety of jointed mouthpieces, and these are much 

 used in England. We may classify these mouthpieces 

 generally into such as, having a common snaffle-joint, 

 are capable of being deflected in every direction ; and, 

 on the other hand, such as, having a hinge-joint, can 

 only be deflected backwards and forwards relatively to 

 the plane of the bit. In both cases the deflection 



