322 ON BRIDLING 



tlie hand to a horse immediately after he has yield- 

 ed his head, neck or body to a short action of 

 the hand, this gives him to understand , that by 

 yielding the head, neck or body he ceases to feel 

 any pain in the mouth. If continual pain is given 

 by the hand to a horse who is very sensitive he 

 becomes excitable, stops, backs or rears for it is 

 his instinct to try to free himself from a conti- 

 nual pain. This is the reason that the action of 

 the hand must be used intermittently and not 

 continuously. 



In order to find a bit which suits a horse, the 

 mouth of the horse must be examined so far as it 

 concerns the bars, breadth, depth of the cavity of 

 the bars, thickness of the lips, tongue, etc., and 

 a curb-bit should be tried which seems most sui- 

 table to him according to the principles explained. 

 If we see that it has too little or too much action 

 we should try a curb-bit without freedom to the 

 tongue and one with freedom to see which he obeys 

 best. To find out the proper proportion of length of 

 the upper and lower cheeks Weyrother' s measuring 

 curb-bit is particularly useful because with it we 



