DRIVING, RIDING, HUNTING, RACE-RIDING 383 



cause raw surfaces, if not at once attended to. On the out- 

 side of the collar is a roll, forming a recess to hold the 

 hames to which the traces are attached. The hames help to 

 preserve the shape of the collar, and also prevent it working 

 outside the shoulder. The collar should be so fitted that 

 the weight at the end of the trace is distributed over the 

 whole surface of the shoulder, and to obtain this the trace 

 must be attached to the right place on the hames, a point 

 opposite the middle of the shoulder-blade, where this is 

 practically immovable. If opposite a movable part, either at 

 the shoulder-joint or the upper part of the blade, the collar 

 is continually being pulled away from its bearing. A collar 

 requires to be widest at its base, being there about an inch 

 or an inch and a half wider than at any other part. 



The Bearing-eein. 



The question of bearing-reins is oft discussed, and many 

 well-intentioned but ill-informed persons believe them to 

 be a relic of barbarism, and can see no good in them at 

 all. If all horses had perfect mouths, perfect conformation, 

 the most amiable dispositions, and docile tempers, bearing- 

 reins could be dispensed with, but taking horses as they 

 come it is impossible to relegate all bearing-reins to the 

 scrap-heap. It is the abuse of them which is to be con- 

 demned, and not the instruments themselves. They are 

 seldom required in single harness ; but to drive two or 

 more horses together in safety, as well as comfort, bearing- 

 reins are frequently a necessity. There have been some 

 alarming accidents this summer from horses running away, 

 which in these days of terrifying road nuisances is scarcely 

 to be wondered at ! It would be interesting to know if in 

 any of these cases bearing-reins had been dispensed with. 

 Bearing-reins do not require to be so tightly fastened that 

 the animals' heads are drawn back into an unnatural, con- 

 strained position, and so kept at a stretch for two or three 

 hours, and such a proceeding is absolute cruelty. But they 

 should be so adjusted that the wearer cannot get his head 

 down low, and thus be able to throw all his weight into his 



