The Lcver^ the Bit and Curb, etc. 



i6i 



from theirs, and, strange to say, it is still more or less 

 practiced among us. 



It is, however, quite possible to economize for our- 

 selves all this surplus ingenuity in devising instruments 

 of torture, and to spare our horses the infliction of it, 

 merely by adjusting our bits altogether on the principle 

 of a lever of the second order — that is to say, by con- 

 verting the curb into a simple prop or fulcrum for the 

 lever action on the bars of the mouth, which may be 

 effected by rendering it perfectly painless, so that then 

 the small amount of pressure exercised on the bars, act- 

 ing in the proper direction, and not being counteracted 

 elsewhere, is the sum total of pain it becomes necessary 

 to inflict, and even this may be reduced to a minimum. 



3^ 



^2-3=-l 



A 



0<\ 



^ 3-2=1 



»2 



^a 



B 



Fig. 9. 



The adjoining fig. 9 shows that, supposing a power 

 equal to 5 to be applied to the reins, it may, in con- 

 sequence of various arrangements of the mouthpiece 

 and curb, be made to exercise an amount of painful 

 pressure as at A, where 3 parts act on the curb and 

 only 2 on the mouth, which will make the horse bore 

 into the hand ; or as at B, where 3 parts act on the 

 mouth and only 2 on the curb, so that i really remains 

 available. Whereas, by reducing the painful action of 

 the curb to o, as at C, we find that the whole amount 

 of action may be applied to the mouth, and therefore 

 itself reduced to 2. 



Here we have a key to the whole theory and practice 

 U* L 



