THE LEVEE, THE BIT AND CUBE, ETC. 167 



If one puts a bit into a horse's mouth without attach- 

 ing a curb to it, when the reins are drawn the bit turns 

 right round, and its cheeks or branches come to lie in 

 the same line as the reins. There is no lever-action 

 whatever, because there is no prop, and a snaffle or 

 bridoon would, on account of their centre-joint, be much 

 more efficient. The same thing, too, will happen if the 

 curb be very loose : the bit is then said to " fall through " 

 in fact, it is nearly useless. The opposite fault to 

 "falling through" is when the bit " stands stiff" with- 

 out any play, the slightest pull on the reins causing the 

 horse great pain, and, most probably, just in the wrong 

 place that is to say, externally ; for this stiffness or 

 rigidity of the bit is very often produced by a tight curb, 

 and therefore the horse, instead of following the rider's 

 hand pokes against it. Good bitting will be equally 

 removed from stiffness and falling- through : it lies 

 between these two extremes. 



The length of the upper cheek of the bit will, however, 

 of itself cause this instrument either to stand stiff or to 

 fall through, if it exceed or come short of the height of 

 the bars of the mouth, as is shown in Fig. 12, where d e 

 represents this latter dimension, d b an upper cheek 

 precisely equal, dc one of only half the same length, and 

 d a one double the same. When a pull of the rein acts at/ 

 on the lower bar, the curb will be drawn closer to the 

 chin, and the mouth-piece to the interior of that organ ; 

 and supposing the amount of this " closing up " to be 

 equal in all three instances, the bit with a long upper 

 cheek, d a, will assume the position a' df l . It will be 

 stiff, and the curb acting upwards in the direction e a', 

 will press on the sensitive part of the jaw. Moreover, 

 there will be no lever-action, the two arms of the lever 



