XV. 



Instruction in the Double Bridle. The instructor's first care 

 must be as to the manner in which the horses are bitted. A 

 mild curb bit should be selected, • that is to say, a bit with 

 large cannons, a low port (only slightly restricting the free- 

 dom of the tongue) and short branches. The bit should be 

 placed in the mouth high rather than low and the curb- 

 chain should be left long so as to facilitate at first a swing- 

 ing motion of the bit. When the horses bear freely on the 

 curb bit and when they submit to this new /mouthpiece just 

 as they formerly received the effects of the snaffle, the curb 

 bit may be lowered to its proper place and the chain tight- 

 ened to customary tension. 



If the horse has a sensitive mouth, it is well to replace, 

 for a time, the ordinary curb by a broken curb.* The latter 

 gives a mouthpiece more severe than the snaffle but milder 

 than the curb and the horse also becomes accustomed to 

 the chain. The broken curb should be kept on for a certain 

 length of time and may be resumed later if, during the 

 course of training, it is noticed that the horse has a tend- 

 ency to get behind the bit. 



Successive Steps to Accustom the Young Horse to the Curb 

 Bit. In the first lessons in the double bridle, work should 

 be begun on the snaffle bit. When the horse has settled 

 down and is well in hand he can be ridden on the curb. It 

 is to be remarked, and the remark is important, that bend- 

 ing lessons are never to be given in the early stages of work 

 on the curb. For these lessons, you must wait until the 

 horse fearlessly accepts contact with the bit and tightens 

 the curb reins as he formerly did the snaffle reins. If this 

 method of procedure sometimes has the drawback of pro- 

 ducing mouths with little feeling, we guarantee that it is 

 * A curb bit with snaffle mouthpiece. 



