ACTION OF CURBS. 75 



any pain it may inflict on him will be in the direction in which 

 he is going, and on that account it can restrain him only by 

 making him afraid to go up to his bit. It will also have the 

 tendency to cause him to throw up his head in the endeavour 

 to save his jaw from injury. That curb-chains hurt horses in 

 the manner described, is patent to anyone who has seen how 

 fretful and unmanageable curbs render many high-spirited 

 animals that will go quietly in a plain snaffle. We may 

 frequently find that the part of the lower jaw against which 

 the curb-chain bears, is galled and bruised. Not uncommonly, 

 in old-standing cases, a bony deposit is formed on the seat of 

 pressure, as a result of continued inflammation. Even if we 

 succeed in getting a horse under control by inflicting pain on 

 him with the curb-chain, we shall render him unsafe and more 

 or less disagreeable to ride, by making him afraid to go up to 

 his bit. The habits of throwing up the head and " keeping 

 behind the bridle," so seriously interfere with the comfort and 

 safety of the rider, and with the usefulness of the animal, that 

 it behoves every owner to avoid, by attending to the proper 

 bitting of his horses, the possibility of their contracting these 

 vices. 



The downward pull on the head-stall caused by the ordinary 

 curb is objectionable ; because it tends to make the horse 

 carry his head too low down, in w r hich case he will not be able 

 to freely extend his fore legs to the front. By a strange 

 misconception, Continental school riders consider that the 

 legitimate action of a curb is to lower a horse's head, and 

 that of the snaffle to raise it. Consequently, many of them 

 ride with the curb reins in one hand, and the snaffle 

 in the other, so as to make the animal carry his head 

 in a correct position ! A horse which has been properly 

 broken, if rightly bitted and well ridden, will not, however, 

 require any compromise in this matter ; but will carry himself 

 in good style, either in a curb or in a snaffle, used singly. 



