ELEMENTS OF HIPPOLOGY. 



61 



The two ridge-like'portions of the bone of the lower jaw be- 

 tween the molars and the tushes are called the bars, and form the 



points of application for the bit. 

 As regards their action 

 on the horse's jaw, bits are 

 classified as bar, snaffle, 

 and curb bits. 



A bar bit is an unbroken 

 bit that acts, without lever- 

 age, directly on the horse's 

 jaw, as in Figure 43. The bar 

 bit is supported partly on the 

 bars of the horse's jaw and 

 partly on his tongue. This is 

 tough, leathery, and insensi- 

 tive. When the pressure of 

 the bar bit on the horse's jaw 

 becomes painful to the bars, 

 he relieves the pain by thrust- 

 ing his tongue further under 

 the bit, thereby lifting it from 

 the bars and transferring the 

 pressure to his tongue. 



To nullify this action of the 

 tongue and still have a bit that 

 is not, with proper use, exces- 

 ThE Lower Jaw-Bone sively severe, a hinge is intro- 

 duced in the center of the bar 

 bit, and the resulting bit is ealled a snaffle bit. 



By pulling on the reins of a snaffle bit, a pincer action is de- 

 veloped by the closing of the angle between the halves of the 

 mouthpiece. This raises the hinge, lifting the mouthpiece off 

 the tongue, and applies pressure to the bars in a way impossible 

 of relief by the tongue. 



Figure 42. 



in Plan, Showing Bit-Place 



