260 DRAUGHT AND HARNESS. 



some people are silly or prejudiced enough to admire a 

 ridiculous and extravagant position of their carriage 

 horses' heads or an overdone so-called lofty action, — bear- 

 ing-reins should therefore be altogether abolished. The 

 abuse of the bearing-rein, as seen mostly in town equi- 

 pages, is simply the product ofthat very questionable kind 

 of taste that goes in for what is lofty and imposing at 

 the expense or in defiance of every other consideration. 

 That it is by no means a necessity for town traffic will 

 become quite evident to those who take the trouble to 

 observe the dexterity, one might almost say grace and 

 elegance, with which most of our well horsed Hansom 

 are steered through the most crowded thoroughfares, 

 the bearing-rein lying quite loose on the horses' neck, 

 and this too with nothing more powerful than a ring- 

 snaffle in the animals' mouths. It all depends on the 

 hand of the driver, and there lies the difficulty. 



All this may be at once conceded to the abolitionists, 

 but the bearing-rein has, nevertheless, very distinct 

 and important uses, and it would be sheer felly to 

 deprive ourselves of so valuable an adjunct to harness 

 because it is in some instances abused. We have 

 now-a-days a goodly number of lady drivers, and to 

 them especially the bearing-rein is, if properly applied, 

 of very great importance. Ladies have frequently 

 quite as much courage and judgment in the manage- 

 ment of horses as men, sometimes even more of the 

 latter, and they have almost invariably a lighter hand 

 and consequently a more delicate touch. Whenever 

 these two qualities are in default, their loss may be 

 generally traced to want of power, the team pulls too 

 hard or bores too heavily for the ladies' muscular 

 powers to withstand and rigidity ensues. Recourse is 



