76 THE BIT. [CHAP 



may form some idea of the agony such an implement 

 would have the power of giving to a horse ; anything 

 approaching to harsh, hard, handling with it would drive 

 him desperate, and force him to throw himself over 



backward ; the idea of lifting his weight hy such parts 



% 

 grasped with iron is ahsurd, still more preposterously 



barharous that of arresting the headlong impetus of a 

 falling horse by them. Fortunately the power of the 

 rider is here very limited, and the horse defends himself 

 against it by throwing his head upward and backward, 

 and thus the rider only breaks his horse's knees instead 

 of his jaws. 



Action of But a common bit placed in the common way never 

 touches the horse's bars at all, it is usually placed higher 

 than as directed above, and, as it pivots on the eye (that 

 part to which the headstall is attached) when in use, it 

 rises in the horse's mouth higher directly as the length 

 of the cheek (the upper part of the branch or side of the 

 bit) and inside the mouth it has a mixed action, on the 

 fleshy part of the gums above the bars, on the lips, and 



common 



