Polynesian. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu], Hawaii) 1844-1864, 1857-02-28
BRIDES.


BRIDES.
said IN my last arIicle on the importance of
hands respects the comfort and sometimes in
deed safety of rider, that would not specify the
different kinds of brides that may be used on hor-
eS, stating as my reason that horsemen know them
all and their several quite as we'll as myself
and again, men unacquantcd with such matters
would not know how to use bride, or rather bit,
so as to make 1t answer its intended purpose. On
alter thought 1t strikes me there are men who are
neither so du fat of the subject to render obser-
walton useless, or much the reverse that any
hints given them would be also useless, from not
knowing how to apply them. There is a middle
class OF riders, of which the majority of those who
rlde are mainly cOmposed in medic lutissimus ibis
conclude is their motto, and in this way IT GER
tainly holds good They would not get broken
leg from backing their horse against an omnibus,
and as probably they would never ride at gate or
brook they run no risk of getting fall from the
one or a sOGse in the other; yet such riders know
quite enough to be aware of when their horse goes
handsomely and pleasantly to themselves, so [ in
fer that TO such few hints on bits may be useful.
1t will be sufficient If give the names of them and
their several uses and effects; their form may be
seen by going to a bt-maker.
First IN point OF severity comes the Chifney; the
great merit indeed the only effective popularity it
has, Is acting at once on the horses mouth un-
trammeled by the check-straps of the bridle which
Its double upper branch enables it to do. 1t has
another advantage, it returns to its place instantly
on the hand relaxing its stress on the rein 1t is
for hard and heavy-headed horse most eficacious
bit in eficacious hands, if used with bridoon.
And here let me make observation that is to be
regarded as u rule without an exception, but in
one case which L will mention in its place. No
curb-bit should be used without bridOon that is
snafae-bit also
Next comes the ordinary double bride, or in
other phrase, 'bt and bridOon - in this case the
bit is made to be more or less severe according
with the horses mouth it is intended for. And
here must enter little into the form of bits In
the first place a good deal of the more or less Sc
verify of the bit depends on the port high and
wide port, giving ample room for the tongue, ad-
mts the bit to come down on the bars of the horses
mouth; less elevated port resting on the tongue,
of course keeps it away from them, and with such
a bit the only appui We have is the curb-chain.
Saddlers, or indeed bit-makers (unless very sci
entifc men) make one great mistake in bits. They
will give you bit with longer or shorter branch
es, as they are Il think very properly called, in
accordance with what YOU may represent vour
horses mouth to be. This is all right enough, as
far it goes, giving you longer lever to act upon;
but they seem to fCrget it is only the lower branch,
that is the one below the mouth-piece, that is the
real lever the upper branch, to which the curb |
Is put OIs July dcIS 50 as DV preventing
the upper branch moving forward it brings the !
mouthpiece in immediate contact with the bars of
the animals mOuth--as plank of wood, if con-
fined at one end, then placed over (for instancel
gatepOst laid down, would, being pressed on the
other end act with great force on the gatepost laid
under it as fulcrum or balance to the plank. Now
it is quite evident, if We shorten lengthen the
part Of the plank on which we press down, we di-
minish or increase the force of the PRESSURE the
nfha E,ct 81 g. 81.
power of the lever if heightened.
1t is precisely the same with bit: the upper
branch acts as the part of the plank fastened down.
the bars of the horses mouth represent the gate
post laid down as the fulcrum or balance, and the
lower branch of the bit as that part of the ysank
we press on-in fact, the lever.
By this trust it will be seen that it is the force
of lever we get by the length of the lower branch
of the bit that causes its severity. The enormous
bits we frequently see (and did see formerly far
more than now in the mouths of carriage-horses
are preposterous they defeat the purpose for which
they designed By making the upper branch
so high (o- long), the lower is obliged To be made
of unusual length to correspond. Cut off an inch
Dr two from the length of the upper branch and
the bit would become more severe: The length
only carries the curb-ehain higher up the Jaw with
out producing any good thereby.
1t is with many objected that n short upper
branch permits the bit (as it is called) 'to draw
under the chin" that is, to draw too oblquely in
the horses mouth; it would do so if the curb was
eft the same length with longer upper branch;
put shorten it, and the bit will be found to remain
Is horizontal as you please to have it. All the
7ery ancient bits have or had the upper branch
short, the lower as particularly long
By this they became most powerful engines in the
horse S mouth.
Having thus endeavored to show the principle
m which all curbhits act, the reader is left to se
ect such one as in point Of force is suited to the
mouth of the horse for whom he wants one.
will next mention the jOinted or Turkish Bit,
IS it was called when first produced. This is the '
MY curb-bit, rithOu exception, IN which we may
ispense with bridOOn and second rein. 1t is
United in the mOuthpiece, and the cheeks or r
ranches are movable; BY this, the force as ap-
lied to the horses MOUTH varies as he moves his
ead5 and on relaxing our stress, and then resum-
ng 1t, we IN common parlance '' get fresh hold"
hat is, the pressure is changed by the moveable E
ature or rather make, of the bit on resuming our
ressure on the mouth. This is the reason why
nv it is the only BIT ft to be used without Sc Il
md rein. With any other. however severe, the
orss's mouth becomes callous, or, in more tech-I