.

[Sidenote: Action of common bit.]

[Sidenote: Action of a Chifney bit.]

But a common bit placed in the common way never touches the horse's bars
at all, it is usually placed higher than as directed above, and, as it
pivots on the _eye_ (that part to which the headstall is attached) when
in use, it rises in the horse's mouth--higher directly as the length of
the _cheek_ (the upper part of the branch or side of the bit) and inside
the mouth it has a mixed action, on the fleshy part of the gums above
the bars, on the lips, and (owing to the narrowness of the porte) on
the tongue. Outside the mouth, the bit acts on the coarse part of the
two jawbones, above the fine part of the chin, where the two jawbones
meet, where the curb-chain was originally placed, and where it should
act; and I consider this sort of upward _grating_ action as calculated
to excite, rather than to restrain a horse. A Chifney bit, as it pivots
on the mouthpiece, avoids this; its action is quite independent of the
headstall, and is precisely on the parts where it is originally placed.

[Sidenote: The loose eye.]

The square-cut eye of the regimental bit greatly impedes its action,
besides cutting the leather of the headstall; to remedy this, about a
quarter of a century ago, I placed on the bit of the 2nd Life Guards
what has since received the name of "the loose eye," and I am proud to
see it still where I placed it. It was not intended for common bits; the
round eye and the snap hook give them perfect freedom of action. "The
loose eye" has, however, become common on common bits.

[Sidenote: The noseband.]

A noseband prevents the cheek of the bit and of the headstall from
going forward, and so impedes the true action of the bit. To close the
horse's mouth, in order that a high porte may act against the roof of
the mouth, is a monstrous notion. I had the honour to abolish nosebands
in the 2nd Life Guards.

[Sidenote: Defence against the bit by the tongue.]

[Sidenote: Effect of the porte.]

The horse employs his tongue as a defence against the bit, passively as
a cushion to protect the more tender parts on which the bit is intended
to work, and actively he uses the muscles of the tongue, in resistance
to it: this may be proved by using a straight mouthpiece, or one arched
upward or downward, but without a porte. From under these a horse will
never withdraw his tongue, and he will go with a dead bearing on the
hand, though equal, that is