144 ^^^^ ^^^^^ Bilthig. 



is ; we may either say this horse goes well on a light 

 bit — which may be mainly a consequence of good car- 

 riage, temper, etc. — or, we may say, a light bit will prob- 

 ably suit this horse best, because it has a thin tongue^ 

 high and sharp bars^ a wide tongue-channel and Jine 

 lips. But, in truth, the relative thickness or thinness 

 of the tongue is the main point to be considered, be- 

 cause, as has been already pointed out, the height of the 

 bars is very nearly the same in all horses, and the width 

 of the tongue-channel always bears a certain proportion 

 to it. No doubt the bars have, in some instances, a flat 

 and in others a sharp or convex upper surface, which, 

 together with the greater or less fleshiness of the lips, 

 makes a great difference ; but in the end it comes to 

 this. Does the tongue fill up its channel merely to the 

 brim, projecting only a few lines over the surface of the 

 bars, and therefore permitting the mouth-piece to exert 

 a certain degree of pressure on the latter? And this we 

 would call a naturally soft mouth, so far as interior con- 

 formation goes. 



A hard mouth, on the contrary, will be one in which 

 we find a thick, fleshy tongue, not only totally filling up 

 its channel, but protruding over it, and rising high above 

 the level of the bars, which makes the former appear 

 narrow and the latter low, whatever their real dimen- 

 sions may be ; and if to this be superadded a flat surface 

 to the bars and thick, fleshy lips, we may forthwith set 

 this down as a case in which an ordinary mouth-piece 

 will exert its pressure mainly on the tongue and lips, 

 conveying to the rider's hand the dull feeling of pulling 

 against lead. 



As a general rule, well-bred horses have the first- 

 named conformation of mouth, and common brutes the 

 contrary one ; but it by no means follows from this that 

 the former are all light and the latter all heavy in the 

 hand ; for the most aristocratic animal of all, the Eng- 



