OF THE MOUTH AND THE BIT. 3^3 



the depression of the neck, that we gain a masterly and perfect 

 elevation of it. 



I will close this chapter bv some reflections on the sup- 

 posed difference of sensibility in horses' mouths, an^ the kind of 

 bit which ought to be used. 



I have already treated this subject at length in my Com- 

 prehensive Dictionary of Equitation ; but as, in this work, I 

 make a complete exposition 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 at- 

 tribute to the mere difference of formation of the bars, those 

 contrary 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 ? IS^evertheless, it is from remain- 

 ing in this inconceivable error, that people have forged bits of 

 so strange and various forms, real instrum.ents of torture, the 

 effect of which is to increase the difiiculties they sought to 

 remove. 



Had they gone back a little farther, to the source of the re- 

 sistances, they would have discovered that this one, like all the 

 rest, does not proceed from the difference of formation of a feeble 

 organ like the bars, but from a contraction communicated to the 

 different parts of the body, and above all to the neck, by some 

 serious fault of constitution. It is then in vain that we attach to 

 the reins, and place in the horse's mouth a more or less murder- 

 ous instrument ; he will remain insensible to our efforts, so long 

 as we do not communicate to him that suppleness which alone 

 can enable him to yield. 



In the first place, then, I lay down as a fact, that there is 

 no difference of sensibility in the mouths of horses ; that all pre- 

 sent the same lightness, when in position with the nose brought 

 in, and the same resistances, in proportion as they recede from 

 that position. There are horses hard to the hand; but thia 

 hardness proceeds from the length or weakness of their loins, 

 from a narrow croup, from short haunches, thin thighs, straiglit 

 hocks, or — a most important point — from a croup too high or 



