THE LEVER, THE BIT AND CURB, ETC. 169 



If one puts a bit into a horse's mouth loWiout attach- 

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

 right round, and its cheeks or branches come to lie in 

 the same hue as the reins. There is no lever action 

 whatever, because there is no prop, and a snaiile 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 

 stiif " without 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 

 stiffiiess or rigidity of the bit is very often produced by 

 a tight curb, and therefore the horse, instead of follow- 

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

 be equally removed from stiffiiess and falling through : 

 it lies between these two extremes. 



The length of the upper cheek of the bit will, how- 

 ever, of itself C£iu.se 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. 12, 

 where d e represents this latter dimension, cZ 6 an upper 

 cheek 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 cheek, d a, will assume the 

 position d df^. It will be siij^, and the curb acting 

 iqnvards in the direction e d, will press on the sensi- 

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



