e 



CHI^XKING AND BLINDERS. 



Fig. 308. — The horse trying to re- 

 lieve him.self from the tor- 

 ture of the overdraw check. 



vating the heads of fancy carriage 

 teams in the principal cities of this 

 country and England. Figs. 318 

 and 321 are fair representations of 

 the modern popular form. 



Finally a change was made, — 

 that of passing the strap, one end of 

 which was divided and connected 

 with the rings of the bit, back over 

 the head, and attaching it to the sad- 

 dle-hook, which was called the Kim- 

 ball-Jackson check. The next change was that of placing an 

 extra small steel bit in the mouth, 

 with a strap attached across the nose 

 to hold it in place, which was con- 

 nected to an extra strap passed up 

 to the top of the head piece, on 

 which a patent was taken. It was 

 introduced, I believe, by a man 

 named Carroll. This was improved 

 upon by an extra strap, bringing 

 the check-lugs rather high on the 

 bridle, and connecting the rein di- 

 rectly with this extra bit. 



The next step was to attach branch- 

 es of a straight strap directly to the nose-piece or rings of 



this extra bit, and pass it back 

 over the head to the water-hook, 

 as now used, not only simplifying 

 it, but giving the m.ost arbitrary 

 power of keeping the head ele- 

 vated. No matter what the form 

 or temper of the horse, this form 

 of check holds the head up so ar- 

 bitrarily that the horse is helpless 

 to resist it, giving the appearance 

 of style, especially in those that 

 carry the head rather low, and 

 hence their popularity with deal- 

 ers. These improvements were 



Fig. 309.— Throwing the head up to 

 obtain relief from the check. 



Fig. 310. — One of the positions 



the horse assumes in trying to 



obtain relief from the pain 



of the check referred 



to in text, 



