82 BITS AND BRIDLE GEAR. 



from saving himselt in his own way, he will, as a rule, try to 

 utilise his head as a kind of fifth leg. Hence we not unfre- 

 quently find, after a horse has stumbled and come down on a 

 hard road, that his knees have escaped injury by the fact 

 of his head taking the blow. The same thing probably occurs 

 during a fall when jumping ; although the protective action 

 of the head may not be so clearly demonstrated. The cheeks 

 in Fig. 116 are too long. 



3. Width of month-piece. The width of the mouth-piece 

 of a curb should, as a rule, closely correspond to that of the 

 horse's mouth, while allowing sufficient play to prevent any 

 chance of the cheeks of the bit pinching the lips. If the 

 mouth-piece be unduly wide, the animal may acquire the habit 

 of boring to one side, by finding that he can shift the port over 

 to one side of his mouth, and thus relieve the opposite gum 

 from pressure, by interposing his tongue between it and the 

 mouth-piece. This rule as to the width of the mouth-piece 

 does not always hold good ; for some horses which bore and 

 pull badly, will go best in a bit, the mouth-piece of which is 

 broad enough to allow the rider to pull it from one side to the 

 other in the animal's mouth, as occasion may require. The 

 proper width of a mouth-piece for an ordinary hunter will be 

 about 5 inches. We may take the width to vary from 4^ 

 to 51^ inches according to the size of the animal. 



4. Construction of port. The height of the port may be 

 increased or reduced, according as* we wish the tongue to 

 take more or less of the pressure of the mouth-piece. The 

 great objection generally urged against the use of a high port, 

 is its liability to hurt the horse by pressing against his palate. 

 We, however, find from experiment, that to be capable of 

 inflicting this form of irritation, even when the front teeth 

 are brought close together and the animal is only a small 

 pony, the port must be at least 2^ inches high (measuring 

 from the lower surface of the mouth-piece) ; and, of course, 



