180 BITS AND BITTING. 



narrowed, it would fail to answer the purpose for which 

 it is intended : namely, to admit the tongue.* The 

 width of the port must be, therefore, exactly that of the 

 tongue- channel and this is the second grand rule as 

 regards the mouth-piece. Now it has been already 

 shown that the width of the tongue -channel is very 

 constantly three-fourths of the height of the bars, which, 

 being equally constantly 1.8 inch, we have 1^ inch 

 for the maximum width of the port, even in cases 

 where the total width of the mouth, and consequently 

 of the mouth-piece, amounts to 4f and 5-J-Q English 

 inches ; for pony and hack bits, about 1 inch will 

 suffice ; whereas the common practice of the bit-makers 

 seems to be to make it one-third of the total width in all 

 cases. 



For the height of the port, of course, no rule can be 

 given, this being precisely the most variable dimension 

 of all, and depending altogether, so far as the interior 

 conformation of the mouth is concerned, on the relative 

 thickness of the tongue and sensitiveness of the bars ; 

 and further, as we have already shown, on the tem- 

 perament and general conformation of the animal ; finally, 

 too, on the description of service to which it is to be 

 applied ; to which must, in some cases, be added the 

 peculiar style of riding or driving of the individual that 

 uses it ; for nothing can be more certain than that the 

 best bitting in the world is wholly useless, nay, some- 

 times dangerous, in bad, that is to say, heavy or rude 

 hands. 



Fig. 14 shows a succession of mouth-pieces of the forms 



* The Germans call the port of a bit the " tongue freedom " 

 Zungenfreiheit which expresses exactly the purpose for which 

 it is intended. 



