TKAIXING rOR DRAUGHT. 263 



is meant to be said, is, that the bearing-rein is a very 

 useful part of the harness for many ladies, and also 

 gentlemen, who are not professed coachmen, and even 

 for the latter with certain horses, and that it should 

 not be sacrificed either to outbreaks of spurious senti- 

 ment or a desire for notoriet}^ 



The crupper is still more dangerous, being by far the 

 most usual primary incitement to kicking in harness. 

 Under the saddle this bad habit is unpleasant enough, 

 but in harness it is quite intolerable and most danger- 

 ous. The writer has quite recently had some painful 

 experience of the danger of trusting to the crupper in 

 harness, or even using it at all with mares, especially 

 such as have once had foals ; his own and the carriage 

 of a lady friend were kicked to pieces by two such 

 mares, although there was a breeching in each case. 

 AVithout the crupper, even after the accidents had oc- 

 curred, both mares went perfectly quietly. It may be 

 said, that it is not necessary to abandon the crupper 

 totally, on account of some exceptional cases like those 

 just mentioned. The reply is : Why retain it if it can 

 be safely dispensed with 1 One of the most obvious 

 uses of this part of the harness is that it affords a 

 sort of counter-check for the bearing-rein. Now one 

 of the uses of the latter to which allusion has not 

 been made, is in the case of kickers to get their 

 heads and necks well up, for by this means they are 

 prevented from throwing their weight on their fore- 

 hand, which a horse must do in order to get his 

 hind legs perfectly free for kicking. Unfortunately, 

 the kicker is pretty sure to resent the crupper, and the 

 cure of the bearing-rein becomes a provocative to further 

 bad behaviour, the horse bolting, or throwing itself 



