172 Bits and Bitting. 



itself to be flat, and as broad as the chin-groove will 

 allow. If the mouthpiece have exactly the same width 

 as the mouth, the curb will wrap close round the chin, 

 pressing equably over a large surface ; but if, on the 

 contrary, it be too wide, the curb will trend away right 

 and left ; and if the excess of width amount to half an 

 inch or an inch, it will bear altogether on one spot, and 

 get up a sore,* although it is really longer than it should 

 be. 



It will be found that the proper length for the curb is 

 about one-fourth more than the width of the mouth, the 

 curb-hooks not being included in this ; or, if we take 

 these into account, the total of the curb and the two 

 hooks will be once and a half the same dimension. 



The curb-hooks form an important item in the arrange- 

 ment. It was formerly the custom to have one hook 

 attached permanently at the near side of the bit, and 

 another of a somewhat different form to the oft^ side of 

 the curb, but it has now become usual to attach a paii 

 of hooks of exactly the same shape and dimensions, 

 which is a great improvement: the proper length for 

 these is th:ee-fourths the height of the upper bar, or 

 about \\ inches. 



The above length of curb applies to what is really em- 

 ployed between the two hooks, but it is usual to have 

 one reserve link at the offside, and two of these at the 

 near one, which latter are convenient, or rather indis- 

 pensable, for catching a proper hold of the curb when 

 being hooked on. 



We have now gone step by step through the several 

 details connected with the bit considered as a lever — 

 namely, its cheeks or upper and lower bars, and the 

 curb with its hooks, which represent the fulcrum or 



* The author once found some thirty or forty horses in one squadron 

 each with a little round ulcer on the chin in consequence of the bits 

 being too wide. 



