s HALF -MOON BIT. 97 



held down at all. I adjusted a bit as described, when she drove 

 entirely gentle, in fact he told me that his wife could drive her 

 afterward. 



A great many interesting cases could be referred to, showing 

 the value of this bit when properly made and adjusted. It will not 

 work well on horses that throw the nose up very high, as by the horse 

 doing this, it will be found that its advantage will at once be lost. 

 Neither is it adapted for rapid speeding. 



The Half-Moon Bit. 



The point of this bit is in having the lower or inner side drawn to 

 a thin edge. The edge can be made straight, or a little concave. 

 The edge should be about as thin as an old twenty-five cent piece, 

 and filed very smooth, but not sharp enough to cut. The point is 



Fig. 126.— Hall-moon Bit. 



that the small surface brought against the jaw, when pulled upon 

 at all hard, will necessarily cause so much pain that it will not be 

 resisted. It will in many cases work very nicely, while in some cases 

 jt will not work well at all ; it will usually work well on spirited, 

 energetic, headstrong horses. There should be round pieces of 

 leather adjusted inside the rings. 



This bit will enable driving many headstrong horses easily. 

 The simplest and best form of check for this is arranged about as 

 follows : Put on a small sfeel bit partly bent, and pass a closely-fitting 

 strap from each ring across the nose. To keep it in place, another 

 small strap should extend from the center of it to the head-piece. The 

 gag-runners should be' attached to the bridle, well up on the head- 

 piece, on a line with the ears. The check-rein should be attached to 

 this bit, and drawn short enough to throw the head well up. 



The next point is to so conform the driving-bit that it cannot be 

 resisted. This is accomplished by making the part of the mouth- 

 piece coming against the jaw so thin that more than an ordinary pull 

 7 a 



