TAKING MEASURE FOE THE BIT, ETC. 195 



Von Weyrother, formerly chief of the school of equi- 

 tation at Vienna, invented a special instrument for 

 ascertaining all the necessary dimensions, and this 

 should be in the hands of all those who have any 

 number of horses to deal with : we have named it, for 

 want of some better word, the " mouth-gauge" (fig. 15, 

 A). This instrument is usually made of steel, and con- 



Fig. 15. 



sists of a bar a b about six inches long will suffice 

 fitted on one side at right angles with a fixed cheek- 

 piece c d, of the form shown by the figure, and having 

 on the other side a sliding cheekpiece e /, of the same 

 shape and dimensions (six inches long), fitted with a 

 screw for fixing it where required. This bar a & is 

 made oval in the transverse section, with the greater 

 axis about one inch, in order to displace the lips nearly 



