228 PRECEPT AND PEACTICE. 



will give you a bit with longer or shorter branches, 

 as they are (I think very improperly) called, in ac- 

 cordance with what you may represent your horse's 

 mouth to be. This is all right enough, as far as it 

 goes, giving you a longer lever to act upon ; but they 

 seem to forget it is only the lower branch, that is, 

 the one below the mouthpiece, that is the real lever ; 

 the upper branch, to which the curb chain is put on, 

 only acts so far as, by preventing the upper branch 

 moving forward, it brings the mouthpiece in imme- 

 diate contact with the bars of the animal's mouth — 

 as a plank of wood, if confined at one end, then 

 placed over (for instance) a gate-post laid down, 

 would on being pressed on the other end, act with 

 great force on the gatepost laid under it as a fulcrum 

 or balance to the plank. Now it is quite evident, if 

 we shorten or lengthen the part of the plank on 

 which we press down, we diminish or increase the 

 force of the pressure ; the other end fastened down 

 would, in fact, lessen the power of the lever if 

 lengthened. 



It is precisely the same with a bit : the upper 



