624 
SOCIETY MEETINGS. 
mouth. I have known horses to go apparently lame when driven with 
a certain kind of bit, that would go naturally with another kind and I 
have also known horses to go seemingly lame when driven on one side 
in a pair, that would show nothing irregular when driven on the other 
side. One is more apt to have an experience of this kind with men 
horses that are being trained to a curb bit, than with those that are 
seasoned, unless their mouths have been permanently injured, and those 
driven in double harness are more apt to show it than those used in 
single harness. 
In standing about show and sale rings one frequently hears horses 
condemned as being lame when it is due to soreness of the mouth the 
tendency to which is increased by going around a small ring. 
Mixing is usually attributed to want of balance from a proper distri¬ 
bution of weight in shoeing, and no doubt this is the case in some 
instances but I think the cause should be more freouently referred to 
the mouth You will generally find a horse that is inclined to mix has 
an unsteady mouth. He does not take the bit with the necessary firni- 
ness and keeps retracting his tongue or putting his tongue over the bit 
so that the pressure from the bit conies on the branches of the lower iaw 
which always give rise to irritability and a want of confidence in the 
animars manner of going. 
The tendency to mix can usually be overcome by patient and perse¬ 
vering ettort to get the tongue accustomed to pressure. The bit should 
be placed well up in the mouth and be as comfortable a one as possible. 
Sometimes a bit with a flexible rubber mouth piece or an arched stiff 
one. heaving the bit in the mouth in the stable for several hours dailv 
so as to get the tongue used to its pressure and so that it will remain 
quietly under the bit, apply gradually increasiug pressure from day to 
day by means of a dumb jockey. Sometimes a bit with a port will 
remedy the trouble at once, but as a rule the former plan is the best 
Carelessness in the position in which the bit is placed in the mouth, 
often results in injury to that organ. It is a point that a driver should 
exercise as much vigilance about, with almost as much care, as determin¬ 
ing whether the reins are buckled to the bit. 
The lower the biUs placed in the mouth within certain limits, the 
better, providing the horse will take it, with a moderate degree of firm- 
ness, keep his head steady and his tongue under it. In those horses, 
however, which do not force the bit steadily, it is usually better to raise 
it in the mouth and as their mouth becomes firmer lower it 
^ Among the exciting causes of “ interfering,” soreness of the mouth 
IS by no means an uncommon one, and I have frequently observed it 
occurring even in well-broken horses, when a change of bit. particularly 
to a severe one, had produced some injury to the mouth. Fatigue, bad 
shoeing, rough and slippery roads, the swaying of a heavy two-wheeler, 
are all exciting causes of “ striking ” or “brushing, ” but I am of the 
opinion that the awkwardness arising from an inperfectly made (not 
f^ToT^^ ^ incidental soreness, is an important 
Dr. Grenside’s paper was freely discussed, Drs. Bell, J. S. 
Cattanach and Ackerman, leading in the discussion. At the 
c ose of the discussion, motion for a vote of thanks to be ten- 
