Part I. FerfoB Farrier. 57 



CHAP. XII. 



How to know if a Horfe* $ Mouth be good. 



AHorfe to have a good Mouth mould have a 

 well-rais'd Neck, and if it be fomewhat large 

 and thick, it mould be at leaft well-turned, his 

 Reins ftrong and well-fhaped, and his Legs audi 

 Feet likewife. If he have all thefe right, no doubt 

 but he will have (unlefs it be by accident) a very 

 good Mouth. But if his Jaw-bones be too clofe t 

 and that he have alfo a fhort and thick Neck, fo 

 that he cannot place his Head right, his having 2 

 good Mouth will be to little purpofe, becaufe you 

 cannot make ufe of it. 



Having felt his Jaw-bones, to know if they are 

 fufficiently feparated, put your Finger into his 

 Mouth, prefling his Barr pretty hard with it, and 

 if you find it paineth him, it is a token that the 

 Barr is fenfible, and confequently that his Mouth 

 is good *, however too great a degree of fenfibility 

 would render it bad, as I fhall (hew you. 



If the place where the Curb refts be hurt, you may 

 infer by it, that the Horfe has either a bad Mouth, 

 refts too much upon the Bitt in travelling, or that 

 the Rider hath a hard Hand, or the Curb is ill 

 made : But in buying a Horfe a Man mould always 

 conclude the worft againft him, and believe that the 

 place where the Curb refts hath been hurt, either 

 by his having too hard a Preflure upon the Curb, 

 or by his Mouth's not being fo fenfible as it ought. 

 If the Barr have been hurt, although it be healed 

 up, it is almoft as much to be fufpe&ed as a bad 

 Mouth, becaufe the Scar where the Wound was, 

 will never have that fenfe of feeling it had be- 

 fore^ 



