194 BITS AND BITTING. 



of discomfort to the horse consistent with the object to 

 be attained. 



The noseband has pretty nearly altogether dis- 

 appeared from our English bridles, which is also a 

 mistake. When horses have been once perfectly 

 trained to the bit, and taken to it kindly, this strap 

 may be dispensed with safely, if people do not like the 

 look of it ; but, until this is the case, the noseband is 

 most valuable as a means of preventing the animal 

 from opening its mouth too wide and bolting the bit, 

 or catching hold of it between its teeth — in fact, evad- 

 ing its action in one way or the other. It is very 

 evident that we have by degrees got rid of the nose- 

 band because we did not understand its proper use ; 

 and, when coupled with the monstrous bits we are in 

 the habit of using, it may have been found sometimes 

 a positive inconvenience ; but any one who pays even 

 a slight attention to this matter will find the noseband 

 invaluable in the early stages of bitting. It must, 

 however, be put in the proper place — that is to say, 

 just across the nose at the point where the bone ceases 

 and the cartilage commences ; and it should always be 

 buckled so lightly as to admit of a proper amount of 

 fi'ee motion. 



We may now wind up this chapter with the rules 

 for placing the bit in the horse's mouth. When the 

 headstall has been adapted generally to the animal's 

 head by means of the upper buckle or buckles, the 

 next step will be to adjust the bit by means of the 

 lower ones, so that the mouthpiece shall come to rest 

 on the bars of the mouth exactly opposite the chin- 

 groove, unless, indeed, some irregular disposition of 

 the tusks should render this impossible, in which case 



