Still a third cause is unsoundness of the hocks, curb, and spavin. For these a veterinarian will have to be consulted. In general, when everything about the horse is all right, it will take the contact when sent against the bit. But if anything is wrong, it will refuse contact and beat against the rider's hand.
CHAMPING THE BIT
THUS Newcastle translates begayer, meaning a stammering or stuttering movement of the horse's lips or teeth.
The properly educated horse takes the contact of the bit, and at the contact opens its mouth by contracting the digastrius muscle. At the cessation of the contact, the mouth closes again by the action of the temporalis. Early in its education, the horse opens and shuts its mouth quickly and at its own will; not calmly and precisely. It lips, stutters, and stammers. One hears easily the sound made by the snaffle, which is first lifted by the tongue and then dropped against the bit. While this is pardonable in a horse at the beginning of its training, it is a serious defect for the more advanced animal, and should be corrected as soon as possible, before the habit becomes fixed. Otherwise, it may become the cause of further refusals of obedience from mouth, neck, or the entire organism.
It is certain that the horse which lips, stutters, or stammers has already developed a mouth more
