140 ANATOMY AND DISEASES OF THE NOSE AND MOUTH. 



multitude of small glands, which secrete a fluid that covers the inside of the lips and 

 the gums, in order to prevent friction, and likewise furnish a portion of the mcistun* 

 so necessary for the proper chewing of the food. The skin covering the lips is ex- 

 ceedingly thin, in order that their peculiar sensibility may be preserved, and for the 

 same purpose they are scantily covered with hair, and that hair is fine and short. 

 Long hairs or feelers, termed the beard, are superadded with the same intention, 

 The horse is guided and governed principally by the mouth, and therefore the lips 

 are endowed with very great sensibility, so that the animal feels the slightest motion 

 of the hand of the rider or driver, and seems to anticipate his very thoughts. The 

 fineness or goodness of the mouth consists in its exquisite feeling, and that depends on 

 the thinness of this membrane. 



The lips of the horse should be thin, if the beauty of the head is regarded ; yet, 

 although thin, they should evidently possess power, and be strongly and regularly 

 closed. A firm, compressed mouth gives a favourable and no deceptive idea of the 

 muscular power of the animal. Lips apart from each other and hanging down, indi- 

 cate weakness or old age, or dullness and sluggishness. 



The depth of the mouth, or the distance from the fore-part to the angle of the lips, 

 should be considerable. A short, protuberant mouth would be a bad finish to the 

 tapering face of the blood-horse. More room is likewise given for the opening of 

 the nostril, which has been shown to be an important consideration. The bridle will 

 not be carried well, and the horse will hang heavy on hand, if there is not consider- 

 able depth of mouth. 



The corners or angles of the lips are frequently made sore or wounded by the small- 

 ness, or shortness, or peculiar twisting of the snaffle, and the unnecessary and cruel 

 lightness of the bearing-rein. This rein was introduced as giving the horse a grandei 

 appearance in harness, and placing the head in that position in which the bit most 

 effectually presses upon the jaw. There is no possibility of safely driving without 

 it, for, deprived of this control, many horses would hang their heads low, and be dis- 

 posed every moment to stumble, and would defy all pulling, if they tried to run away. 

 There is, and can be no necessity, however, for using a bearing-rein so tight as to 

 cramp the muscles of the head, or to injure and excoriate the angles of the lips. 



The following is the opinion of Nimrod, and to a more competent judge we could 

 not appeal : " As to -the universal disuse of the bearing-rein with English horses, it 

 tan never take place. The charge against it of cruelty at once falls to the ground, 

 jecause, to make a team work together in fast work, every horse's head must be as 

 much restrained by the coupling-rein as it would be and is by the bearing-rein. Its 

 excellence consists in keeping horses' mouths fresh in enabling a coachman to 

 indulge a horse with liberty of rein, without letting him be all abroad, which he 

 would be with his head quite loose, and of additional safety to the coach-horse, as 

 proved by the fact of either that or the crupper always giving way when he falls 

 down. There are, however, teams in which it may be dispensed with, and the horses 

 have an advantage in their working against hills. As to the comparison of the road 

 coach-horses on the Continent and our own, let any one examine the knees of the 

 French diligence and post horses, which are allowed perfect liberty of head, and he 

 will be convinced that the use of the bearing-rein does not keep them on their legs."* 



The mouth is injured much oftener than the careless owner suspects by the pres- 

 sure of a sharp bit. Not only are the bars wounded and deeply ulcerated, but the 

 lower jaw, between the tush and the grinders, is sometimes worn even to the bone, 

 and the bone itself affected, and portions of it torn away. It may be necessary to 



* New Sporting Magazine, vol. xiii. p. 99. 



The author of the " Essay on Humanity to Brutes," takes the same view of the subject. 

 "It is not," says he, " to the extent that has been supposed ar instrument of torture. It is 

 absolutely necessary in fast work, and useful on level ground. The objection to it is the tight- 

 ness with which it is sometimes applied, and then it is a sad confinement to the head, and a 

 source of very great pain. It is also disadvantageous when the horse is going up-hill, be- 

 cause it prevents him from throwing his whole weight into the collar. It cannot, however, 

 be done without, especially in the horse that is once accustomed to it ; but the poor animal 

 needs not to be so tightly rei.ied." The Obligction and Extent of Humanity to Brute** 6 

 W. r?a p. 149. 



