BITS USED IN EDUCATING HORSES ADDICTED TO BAD HABITS.
BITS USED IN EDUCATING HORSES ADDICTED TO BAD HABITS.
No. 1. To prevent a Horse getting his Tongue over the Bit.—Take a piece of leather, say three inches long, an inch and a half wide, and drill two holes in a straight bit; now rivet this leather on the top of the bit, after which sprinkle on the upper side some pulverized rosin, and take a hot iron and pass over it so as to form a coating. Allow your horse to wear this bit say six or eight days when driving, and he will by that time be sufficiently taught to abandon the habit.
No. 2. Lolling the Tongue.—Take an ordinary straight bit of five-eighths of an inch in diameter and drill two holes, each one three-quarters of an inch from the center; then get a piece of very small chain, attach iron bullets, about the size of ordinary leaden bullets used in guns, suspend them not more than one and a half inches from the bit. Now use the bit, every time you drive your horse, for ten days.
No. 3. Cure a Horse of Sucking Wind.—A horse that has acquired the habit of sucking wind is truly to be detested, as it is oftentimes attended with fatal results, and when once thoroughly settled, great difficulty has been experienced in removing the habit. The method I have introduced of treating this habit has proved successful in most cases.
Take a piece of small gas-pipe, say from five-eighths to three-quarters of an inch in diameter, the ordinary length of a bit, heat it and circle it a little, then drill on the upper side equal distances apart from each end, as seen in engraving; also drill three holes on the under side, making each hole between an eighth and a quarter of an inch in diameter, and attach a ring near each end and allow your horse to wear this when driving, say for at least from ten to twenty days or until the habit is removed.