212 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[June, 
fulcrum, and the stronger impression is pro¬ 
duced by the chain. It is in the principle 
herein suggested that we are to seek the solu¬ 
tion of the greatest difficulties connected with 
proper bitting; and its close observance is ne¬ 
cessary to complete success. In nine cases out 
of ten the arrangement of the bit is so faulty, 
that it is impossible for it to act as it should, 
and instead of inducing obedience, we arouse 
opposition. The reason for the prejudice 
against curb-bits—among those who consider 
them instruments of torture—is, that as they 
are generally used, they are instruments of tor¬ 
ture. It is impossible to ride really well on an 
average horse without a curb-bit; but it is im¬ 
possible to ride well on any horse, unless the 
curb-bit is properly made and properly adjusted. 
Its importance is sufficient to justify a careful 
explanation, for which purpose the following 
illustration, figure 1, is taken from Major 
Dwyer’s book. 
The point, d , shows the position of the bit in 
the mouth ; e , is what is known as the “ chin- 
groove,” which is easily seen on any horse. 
The head-stall should in all cases be of such a 
length as to allow the bit, d, to lie exactly op¬ 
posite the cliiu-groove. This is the only place 
where it will not do more harm than good, un¬ 
less the horse is remarkably well broken; /, is 
the point where the rein is attached, at the end 
of the lower arm of the lever; a , b, c, repre¬ 
sent the ends of the upper arms of the lever, 
showing what would be their action if they 
were of different lengths. These are the points 
where the curb chain is attached to the bit. 
The rule which has been established by experi¬ 
ence is, that this upper arm of the lever should 
be exactly as long as the perpendicular distance 
from d to e. This allows the chain, b, e, to lie 
easily and naturally in the chin-groove without 
Fig. 2. —“BADCHEIt” BIT. 
pinching, when the rein is held lightly, yet to 
exercise a strong leverage when the reins are 
drawn. For instance, when the point, /, is 
drawn back to the point, 7t, it will not be able 
to move much farther, and a strong pressure 
will be brought to bear on the mouth. If the 
upper arm of the lever were twice as long as 
the distance from d to e (reaching to a), the 
chain, a e, if hanging in the chin-groove, would 
have very little effect, except to pinch and tor¬ 
ture the horse, producing the most pain upon 
' Uejawbone, just above the chin-groove, caus¬ 
ing the horse to throw up his head to escape it. 
If, on the other hand, the upper arm of the 
lever were made only half as long as the dis¬ 
tance from d to e (reaching toe), the chain would 
have very little effect, unless it were drawn so 
tight as to be uncomfortable even with a loose 
rein—so tight, indeed, that it would soon chafe 
the chin-groove and make that so painful, that 
at the least ^ouch of the rein the principal ef¬ 
fect would be produced there rather than in the 
mouth, and the horse would again be caused to 
throw up his head. 
If the upper arm of the lever is of the proper 
length, reaching to b, when the lower end of the 
lever is drawn back to h, the upper end will 
be advanced to g, and the chain will draw on 
the line g to e , drawing, almost exactly, at right 
angles to the jawbone at the chin-groove, bring¬ 
ing the chain flat against it, creating the least 
possible amount of pain there, and affording a 
firm fulcrum, from which force may be directly 
applied to the bars at the mouth. 
The length of the lower levers need not be 
made so exactly according to rule. The longer 
they are, the more effect will be produced with 
a given amount of force applied to the reins. 
Perhaps a safe rule would be to make them 
twice as long as the upper arms of the levers. 
This is enough for the control of the worst 
cases, ahd more than this (as is usual), increases 
the difficulty of light handling. The construc¬ 
tion of that part of the bit which lies in the 
horse’s mouth, connecting the two side levers, 
is important. Its length should be just such as 
to allow the levers (which should be turned out 
a little at the top to make room for the leathers) 
to play freely over the sides of the face without 
chafing. The bit should not be too long, nor 
should the upper ends of the levers be too much 
turned out lest the chain be straightened out, 
and caused to rest only against the bones of the 
jaw: whereas it ought to follow closely around, 
touching the skin for at least three inches of its 
course. Curb-chains are made flat, so that when 
twisted into shape, they lie almost as smooth 
as a band of leather against the chin. The 
larger they are, and the larger the wire of which 
they are made, the easier and better they will 
be. They are attached by spring hooks to the 
eyes of the upper ends of the levers. The mouth¬ 
piece of the bit should also be of generous size 
in those parts that lie against the bars, being 
much less painful than if small. That part of 
the bit lying between the bars should be made 
of thinner iron and a little elevated, forming 
what is called the port or tongue-groove, pre¬ 
venting the horse from taking the pressure on 
his tongue (as he might do if the bit were 
straight), and thus becoming heavy or dull in 
the hand. 
The lower ends of the levers or “ branches ” 
may be either straight or curved. If straight, 
they should have eyes a little above the points 
where the reins are attached, to carry what is 
called the lip-strap—a small leather that passes 
through a loose ring in the curb-chain, and is 
buckled to the lever on each side. The object 
of this strap is to prevent the horse from taking 
the branch of the bit in his teeth and destroying 
the effect of the curb—a trick that most horses 
soon learn, and which they know how to take 
advantage of. Fig. 2 represents what is called 
the “Baucher” bit, and is copied from one that 
the writer has had in use for many years. 
To avoid the complication and cost of the lip- 
strap, the curbed branch (or lower lever) is 
adopted for army use; and there is no reason 
why it is not equally suitable for the use of civil¬ 
ians. It brings the iron in such a position that 
the horse cannot possibly get hold of it. This 
bit is shown in fig. 3, the “ McClellan ” bit. 
The foregoing details will seem to those who 
are not familiar with the niceties of riding, to 
be needlessly minute and particular. Many a 
man will say that any bit is good enough for 
him—just give him a good strong pair of reins 
to hang on by (!) The proper reply to this is, 
that this article is not written so much for him 
(though he needs its information more than any 
one else, if he only knew it), but for those who 
really care to become good horsemen. No one 
can ride with pleasure on ahorse that has a bee 
incessantly trying to sting him under the chin. 
His fear of the bee introduces a disturbing ele¬ 
ment that counteracts all our efforts to make 
him attend steadily to his duty; and an ill-fit¬ 
ting, badly placed bit causes hardly less dis¬ 
turbance. 
There are many points to be attended to in 
the proper equipment of a saddle horse—nearly 
all of them points of minor detail—yet they are 
important details, too; for unless the rider’s 
Fig. 3.— “ m’clellan” bit. 
weight is properly placed, and unless he has 
the proper means for controlling and guiding 
his horse, there can be no comfort, or graceful¬ 
ness, or pleasure for the man. There must also 
be a loss of endurance and smoothness of work¬ 
ing for the animal; and as it costs no more, 
save in attention, to have things right than to 
have them wrong, there need be no excuse for 
failure in essential points. 
Note .—Our illustrations of the “McClellan” 
and the Mexican saddles in the April number 
were taken from articles in the saddler shops in 
New York. This must account for iron stirrups 
having been substituted for the wooden ones cov¬ 
ered with leather that belong to those saddles- 
