MODERN RIDING. 13 



or less severity. The different degrees of 

 punishment which this kind of bit is capable 

 of inflicting will perhaps be found sufficient 

 for all the purposes of correction. 



2. The next kind of bit in use for horses is 

 the curbed bit ; which, as it is an instrument 

 of much greater complication of parts than 

 the snaffle, so it appears to have been of com- 

 paratively recent date. 



Stripped of all unnecessary trappings, this 

 instrument consists of the following essential 

 parts : — a mouth piece ; two side branches, or 

 inflexible rods of iron, firmly fixed to the for- 

 mer ; a chain passing from side to side, behind 

 the chin, including the jaw; two eyes or rings 

 at the upper extremity of these branches, 

 serving to fasten them to the head stall, and 

 stay them in the mouth, and leaving the chain 

 attached to them ; two other rings at the lower 

 extremity of the above branches receiving the 

 reins, which pass to the hand, or sometimes 

 in draft horses to the hook of the saddle, as 



