SADDLE AND BRIDLE 15 



groove. The width of the mouthpiece depends upon 

 the width of the horse's mouth, but very few horses 

 require a mouthpiece measuring more than 4| or 

 5 inches, providing the upper branches of the checks 

 are tm'ned outwards. A 4| inch width will suit most 

 horses if the port is not more than 1 J inches wide ; one 

 inch is sufficient generally to enable the horse to get 

 his tongue back under the bit should he draw it up, and 

 there will be little danger of a corner of the port getting 

 on to one of the bars and hurting the tongue when the 

 horse's head is pulled to one side. The canons may 

 be from 2 to 2j inches in circumference, and the port 

 from 1 to 2 inches in height. If the horse is inclined to 

 catch hold of the bit and hold it fixed with his jaws, 

 a bit with revolving beads on the bars is useful. A bit 

 of this sort with a port 2 inches high and 8-inch cheeks 

 will make most hard pullers pleasant horses to ride as 

 hacks, providing the rider has light, good hands, a firm 

 seat, and knows how to control a horse with his legs 

 and spurs. The action of the bit varies according as 

 the reins make a smaller or greater angle with the 

 cheeks of the bit when stretched. Consequently to 

 get the full effect of the canon on the bars of the mouth 

 to raise the horse's head, the feeling should be upwards 

 on the reins so that they form a right angle with the 

 cheeks. Lieut. -Colonel A. Gerhardt writes : " It is the 

 perpendicular direction of the cheeks which gives them 

 the greatest power and vice versa. Now if the rider 

 does not take care to raise his hands, the angle, already 

 obtuse, which the cheeks forms with the reins, instead of 

 becoming more of a right angle, will become still larger, 

 and the pressure on the bars will diminish in the same 

 proportion." The Arab horsemen who gave such an 

 interesting exhibition at the International Horse Show 



