134 BITS AND BITTING. 



The interior of the horse's mouth is the object that 

 next demands our attention, but there is only a certain 

 portion of it with which we have here to do. It is easy 

 to perceive, on looking at a horse's mouth in and out- 

 side, that the lower jaw consists of two flat irregularly- 

 triangular cheek-bones, whose anterior branches form a 

 groove or channel in which the animal's tongue lies, 

 enclosed towards its root between the two rows of molar 

 or grinder-teeth, further forward by those portions of 

 the jaw that lie between the point where the molar 

 teeth cease and the incisors or cutting-teeth commence, 

 known generally as the bars, and on the lower portion 

 of which the tusks are to be found in male animals ; the 

 channel being closed in front by the incisors, and the 

 tongue thus fenced from injury on all sides. 



The bit, of whatever kind it may be, coming to be 

 laid someivhere on the bars, and across the tongue, these 

 are the most important parts of the mouth to be ac- 

 quainted with. With the snaffle the portion of the bar 

 exposed to pressure varies according to the pull on the 

 reins ; with a regular bit furnished with a curb, this 

 should not be the case ; in fact, rational bitting demands 

 that the action of the bit should be confined exclusively 

 to a certain point on each side, and it will be shown 

 further on that the bit cannot act properly on any other 

 point than this one. 



We have a rule of thumb in this country for de- 

 termining the place of the bit namely, at a certain 

 height above the tusk; but as mares and even many 

 geldings have no tusks, this is a very clumsy method, 

 which is supplemented in practice by hanging the bit 

 in the horse's mouth nearly as high as the angles of 

 the lips will allow it to go. This is about equally wise- 



