136 Bits a?ul Bitting, 



try ; but if they had witnessed the results obtained, they 

 would probably adopt the same plan. As it is, let any 

 cavalry captain in the British service take the trouble 

 of ascertaining, which he may easily do, how many 

 bits in his troop are half an inch, a full inch, or per- 

 haps still more, too wide, he will probably then find 

 a clue to many little annoyances he meets with during 

 drill. 



The width of the channel in which the tongue lies 

 always bears a certain proportion to the height of the 

 bar, measured as above described ; we must, therefore, 

 take this latter in the first instance. 



Lieutenant-Colonel von Oeynhausen says that the 

 height of the bars is if inches* with the very great ma- 

 jority of horses, and that it is very unusual to find it 

 either more or less. The author has certainly never 

 found bars that exceeded 1.8 English inches in height, 

 but he has seen some that were less — perhaps about two 

 to three per cent, of the horses he has had to do with. 

 Now this is a very important dimension, because the 

 upper bar of the bit should never exceed the height of 

 the bar of the horse's mouth — why, shall be made clear 

 in another chapter; notwithstanding which, it is only 

 necessary to go into any saddler's or bit-maker's shop 

 to satisfy oneself that a very large proportion of bits, 

 even of those intended for saddle-horses, are constructed 

 in total defiance of this rule, and calculated for animals 

 that have much higher bars, wherever they are to be 

 found. 



But if there is very great uniformity in the absolute 

 height of the bars, there is, on the other hand, a very 

 great diversity in their shape and texture, some being 

 flat-topped and broad — others, again, presenting a ridge- 

 like surface ; some also spongy, soft and comparatively 

 devoid of feeling, while others appear firmer, finer and 

 * Equal exactly tc 1.81 English inches. 



