BITS AND BITTING. 130 



vere biting in connectiou with a fleshy tongue, in 

 which case the mouthpiece cuts the latter, thereby 

 stopping the circulation of the blood, and causing 

 severe pain, to escape which the horse draws his 

 tongue back and ]3laces it over the mouthpiece. This 

 makes matters still worse, as then the edges of the 

 port, which as before stated are generally too wide, 

 press into and bruise the sensitive bars. The horse 

 will then either pull hard against or shrink back 

 from the rider's hand, rendering him often quite 

 unmanageable. With carriage horses this lolling 

 out of the tongue is generally the result of the 

 bearing reins being too short. 



Other horses again form the dangerous habit of 

 grabbing at andholding the loicer branch of the bit with 

 their lips and teeth, on one side or the other, ren- 

 dering them perfectly unmanageable. This habit 

 arises either from too sharp, or from too broad a 

 curb- chain, or one that mounts up out of the chin- 

 groove to the sensitive ends of the jawbones. This 

 habit, if once acquired, is a very dangerous one, as 

 such horses are very apt to run away. They need a 

 bit with the lower branches in the shape of a re- 

 versed capital S. Lip-straps are sometimes used, 

 but with doubtful effect. 



To overcome these difficulties I constructed, a few 

 years ago, a combination bit, according to the given 



