104 METHOD OF HORSEMANSHIP. 



Of the horses mouth and the bit. I have 

 already treated this subject at length in my 

 Comprehensive Dictionary of Equitation; 

 but as in this work I make a complete ex- 

 position of my method, I think it necessary 

 to repeat it in a few words. 



I cannot imagine how people have been 

 able so long to attribute to the mere differ- 

 ence of formation of the bars,* those con- 

 trary dispositions of horses which render 

 them so light or so hard to the hand. How 

 can we believe that, according as a horse 

 has one or two lines of flesh, more or less, 

 between the bit and the bone of the lower 

 jaw, he should yield to the lightest impulse 

 of the hand, or become unmanageable in 

 spite of all the efforts of two vigorous arms ? 

 Nevertheless, it is from remaining in this 



* The bars are the continuations, of the two bones of 

 the lower jaw, between the masticating and the front 

 teeth. It is on these that the bit rests. 



