OMG Pam! I hope they don't do that to REAL horses!!!! It's actually just a product of drilling a hole to shape the mouth in the initial stages of cutting the head. The bit will fit nicely in this area, but it wasn't intentially for this purpose. I could square off the teeth and hollow out a cavity behind them, but it's a difficult place to reach.
Perhaps some real horse folk will be able to add insight here...but to my knowledge, the bit rests behind the teeth...without modifications to the teeth. Whew!
...and with regards to your "preconscious, adolescent days", you really mean your "boy crazy" days, right?
...and thanks for the kind words...
Louis
Louis Bois
"and so it goes..." Kurt Vonnegut Jr.