186 BITS AND BITTING. 



nearly in the shape of a capital S. This variety of 

 form, it should be understood, has nothing to do with 

 the action of the hit as a lever : the point of attachment 

 of the lower ring, the centre of the rivet of the mouth- 

 piece, and that of the upper ring or eye, should he in 

 one straight line, and at the same proportional dis- 

 tances from each other, in both cases alike. The real 

 object of the double curve of the lower bar of the 

 military bit is to prevent the horse from catching hold 

 of it with his lips, and then getting it between his 

 teeth, a trick many horses acquire. With the straight 

 bar recourse is had to a curb-strap in such cases, as 

 every one knows ; but it is much simpler and easier 

 for military purposes to adopt the curved bar, and there 

 is no other reason beyond whim and fashion why civil- 

 ians should not do the same. 



As to the upper ring or eye into which the headstall 

 of the bridle is fastened, this is now pretty nearly al- 

 ways really ring-shaped. .In former times it was usually 

 flattened down in various degrees from an oval to a 

 mere horizontal slit ; but since the real principles of 

 bitting have become better understood, the simple ring 

 is preferred, and will be generally found to answer all- 

 purposes perfectly, although, no doubt, there are some 

 cases where it might be convenient to use the oval- 

 shaped eye ; these are, however, very few indeed. We 

 have also hitherto considered the right and left side 

 pieces (upper and lower bar taken together) of the bit 

 as being in all cases parallel to each other, and conse- 

 quently at right angles to the mouthpiece. There are, 

 however, many horses, especially underbred ones, whose 

 heads will be found to project laterally, immediately 

 above the angles of the mouth, in a sudden instead of 



