362 BITTING CH. XV 



Major Dwyer, in his valuable book, Seats and 

 Saddles, Bits and Bitting, gives what he considers 

 the proper dimensions of the different parts of the 

 bit, namely: i3^ inches from the under side of the 

 mouth-piece to the centre of the upper ring-, show- 

 ing clearly, that for the average horse this brings 

 the curb-chain in its proper place on the under 

 side of the jaw ; and 3^ inches for the length of 

 the lower part of the branch from the under side of 



maker of London. ' Dear Sir, — Yours of 24th May last is now be- 

 ' fore me ; I have noted its contents. Mine is a lifelong experience 

 ' in, and of, the Bitting of Horses : take that for what it is worth, 

 ' and, believe me, you are the first and only one (as far as I can 

 ' recollect) that can see as I do the true position of the horse's head 

 ' with the bits, and the bits with the horses' heads. If you simply 

 ' question any breeder, trainer, breaker, hunting or driving gentle- 

 ' man, park or road rider, or jockey (as I have done hundreds of 

 'them), you will find the idea is that the horse's head is naturally 

 ' horizontal, and the cheeks and the bits perpendicular, and that the 

 ' part in a line with the cheeks is the position to give ease and freedom 

 ' to the tongue ; however absurd, I have always found it the prevailing 

 ' idea among them. Your drawings exactly accord with my proper 

 ' construction of a bit with a port mouth of any sort, — i.e., the port to 

 ' be one-eighth of a circle (or 45 degrees) forward from the perpen- 

 ' dicular cheek of the bit : as you know, the horse's head is nearly 

 ' perpendicular ; the bit fastened to the leather hangs perpendicular ; 

 ' consequently the mouth-piece with a port of any kind, lies a crooked 

 ' bar on the tongue, unless set forward one-eighth of a circle as your 

 ' drawing is, in which case the tongue has the benefit of it when not 

 'in use, and the greater benefit when in use.' The letter to which 

 this was an answer, accompanied an order for a bit, and I was much 

 pleased to find my ideas on the subject endorsed by so good an au- 

 thority. 



