THE USE OF BURRS 129 



ers are quite valuable horses, and their owners 

 are loth to lose their service, or even to part with 

 them for a good price, on account of the good 

 qualities they possess. 



The use of burrs, like everything else in the 

 management and control of horses, should be 

 done with discretion. Bits and bearing reins can 

 be made instruments of torture, just as much 

 and more than burrs, if not intelligently used. 

 The apparently simple matter of placing the bit 

 in the proper position in a horse's mouth is one 

 subject to great abuse, and is the cause of much 

 suffering. It is no exaggeration to state that 

 fully one-third of the horses one sees on the 

 streets in New York City have not got their bits 

 in the proper position in their mouths. How fre- 

 quently one sees horses with their mouths partly 

 open, tongues dry and projecting more or less 

 from their mouths, due entirely to bits being 

 placed too high in them. Much of the pulling 

 is due to this error in bitting, as is also the un- 

 sightly fault of tongue-lolling. 



No practical person advocates not using bits, 

 although on account of the ignorance and lack of 

 intelligence and skill in the manner in which they 

 are used, they are the cause of more suffering 

 than all other causes combined. 



There are some pullers that burrs do not bene- 

 fit much, and they are sometimes used on horses 



