HINTS ON HORSEMANSHIP. 73 



protruding the tongue, and thus forcing the thick part of it 

 within the porte. It is a common error to make the porte 

 narrow, high, and the upper part uneven ; and by closing 

 the horse's mouth with a nose-band, to make it act on the 

 roof of the mouth. This is a useless and barbarous absur- 

 dity, and, like jerking a horse's mouth, much more likely to 

 excite him to action, than to induce him to cease from it. If 

 the porte be made wide, so as to allow space for the tongue, 

 the corners formed by the porte and the cannons, — those parts 

 between the porte and the branches, — are apt to work injuri- 

 ously against the bars, and also to slip quite off them, which 

 makes the action of such bits uncertain ; though they are very 

 effective and severe, if the mouth-piece be no wider than the 

 horse's mouth. But the mouth-piece which gives complete 

 room for the tongue, and yet brings the cannons into perfect 

 contact with the bars, is that of which M. de Solleysell claims 

 the invention, and which he describes as "a pas cCasne with 

 the porte gained from the thickness of the heels. " Let the 



