140 ANATOMY AND DISEASES OF THE NOSE AND MOUTH. 



muititude of small glands, which secrete a fluid that covers the inside of the lips and 

 the gums, in order to prevent friction, and likewise furnish a portion of the moisture 

 so necessary for the proper chewing cf the food. The skin covering the lips is ex- 

 ceedingly tiiin, in order that their peculiar sensibility may be preserved, and for the 

 same purpose they are scantily covered with hair, and tliat hair is line and short. 

 Long hairs or feelers, termed the beard, are superadded with the same intention. 

 The horse is guided and governed principally by the mouth, and therefore the lips 

 are endowed with very great sensibility, so that the animal feels the slightc st motion 

 of the hand of the rider or driver, and seems to anticipate his very thoughts. The 

 fineness or <yoodness of the mouth consists in its exquisite feeling, and t'.ial depends on 

 the thinness of this membrane. 



The lips of the horse should be thin, if tl-.e beauty of the head is regarded ; yet, 

 although thin, they should evidently possess power, and be strongly and regularly 

 closed. A firm, compressed moutli gives a favourable and no deceptive idea of the 

 muscular power of the animal. Lips apart from each other and hanging down, indi- 

 cate weakness or old age, or dullness and sluggishness. 



The depth of the mouth, cr the distance from the fore-part to the angle of the lips, 

 should be considerable. A short, protuberant mouth would be a bad finish to the 

 tapering face of the blood-horse. More room is likewise given for the opening of 

 the nostril, which has been shown to be an important consideration. The bridle will 

 not be carried well, and the horse v.'ill hang heavy on hand, if there is not consider- 

 able depth of mouth. 



The corners or angles of the lips are frequently made sore or wounded by the small- 

 ness, or shortness, or peculiar twisting of the snaffle, and the unnecessary and cruel 

 tightness of the bearing-rein. 7'liis rein was introduced as giving the horse a grander 

 appearance in harness, and placing the head in that position in which the bit most 

 effectually presses upon the jaw. There is no possibility of safely driving without 

 it, for, deprived of this control, many horses would hang their heads low, and be dis- 

 posed every moment to stumble, and v\ ould defy all pulling, if they tried to run away. 

 There is, and can be no necessity, however, for using a bearing-rein so tight as to 

 cramp the muscles of the head, or to injure and excoriate tlie angles of the lips. 



The following is the opinion of Nimrod, and to a more competent judge we could 

 not appeal : — " As to the universal disuse of the bearing-rein with English horses, it 

 can never take place. The charge against it of cruelly at once falls to the ground, 

 because, to make a team work together in fast work, every horse's head must be as 

 much restrained by the coupling-rein as it would be and is by the bearing-rein. Its 

 excellence consists in keeping horses' mouths fresh — in enabling a coachman to 

 indulge a hcrse with liberty of rein, without letting him be all abroad, which he 

 would be with his head quite loose, and of additional safety to the coach-horse, as 

 proved by the fact of either that or the crupper always giving way v\ hen he falls 

 down. There are, however, teams in which it may be dispensed with, and the horses 

 have an advantage in their working against hills. As to the comparison of the road 

 coach-horses on the Continent and our own, let any one examine the knees of the 

 French dilig(>nce and pest horses, which are allowed perfect liberty of head, and he 

 will be convinced that the use of the bearing-rein does not keep them on their legs."* 



The month, is injured much oftener than the careless owner suspects by the pres- 

 sure of a sharp bit. Not only are the bars wounded and deeply ulcerated, but the 

 lower javv-, between the tush and the gTindcrs, is sometimes worn even to the bone, 

 and the bone itself alTcctcd, and portions of it torn away. It may be necessarj' to 



* New Sporting Magazine, vol. xiii. p. 99. 



The nnthnr of the " Essay on Humanity to Brutes," takes the same view of the subject. 

 " It is not," says he, " to the extent tbat has been supposed an instrument of torture. It is 

 absohiiely necessary in fast work, and useful on level ground. The olijpction to it is the tight- 

 ness with which it is sometimes applied, and then it is a sad eontinenient to the liead, and a 

 source of very great pain. It is also disadvantageous when the horse is going up-hill, he- 

 cause it prevents hini from throwing his whole weight into the collar. It cannot, however, 

 be done without, especially in the horse that is once accustomed to it ; but the poor animal 

 needs not to be so tightly reined." — Tlie Obligation and Exterit of Jhimanity to Brutes, Iv 

 W. Youait, p. 149. 



