SECRETARY'S REPORT. 227 



to champ the bit and prevent liim from resting his head upon 

 it as a dead weight. This bridle should be worn every day for 

 an hour or two until he becomes acquainted with it. Tlien 

 reins may be used to bring the head into a good position and 

 teach the colt to give his mouth to the bit. These reins should 

 never be buckled so tight as to cause pain from the unnatural 

 attitude nor should they be fastened so as to hold the head in 

 a constrained position more than from fifteen to thirty minutes 

 at a time. A padded surcingle with a crupper and with straps 

 from the back-strap at the hips to the sides of the surcingle, is 

 the only bitting apparatus necessary, although a dumb jockey 

 such as may be procured at the saddlers in cities is very conve- 

 nient. To fetch up the head, a common check or bearing rein 

 is needed, and to bring in the nose so as to make the face of the 

 colt vertical, another pair of reins should pass from the bit to 

 the sides of the surcingle upon which buckles may be fastened. 



In order that a colt should carry a good head and neck the 

 parts themselves must be rightly formed and the neck properly 

 joined to sloping shoulders. The Thoroughbred horse surpasses 

 all others in the form and carriage of these parts, and it is 

 utterly Tiseless to attempt to make a short, thick-necked, big- 

 headed horse imitate the elegance and beauty of the perfectly 

 formed animal. If he have spirit enough he may generally be 

 made to carry his head up and his nose in, but always with an 

 air of stiffness and awkwardness. Great care must be exercised 

 not to choke horses with thick necks and heavy jowls with the 

 throatlatch, because, although suf]ficiently loose when the head 

 is free, it is often rendered painfully tight when the head is 

 checked up and brouglit into place. The wind also of such 

 horses is very liable to injury from the pressure upon the 

 windpipe in the constrained position of the head. 



The main object in bitting a colt should be to induce him to 

 yield his nose to the pressure of the bit and to form what is 

 technically called a good or fine mouth. The possession of 

 such a mouth is one of the most desirable accomplishments 

 either for a saddle or driving horse and one in which American 

 horses are usually deficient. A well formed and properly bitted 

 horse never needs martingales, which have a decided tendency 

 to render the mouth of a horse insensible and unyielding and 

 ought never to be used except upon hard-pulling trotters ; and 



