ii.] HOLDING AND HANDLING THE REINS. 35 



left ? Because the whip is only used on the right. There 

 is, however, another cause which acts in conjunction with 

 this. Even our finest two-handed English riders (who, Fault in 



English 



in my opinion, are the finest riders in the world), when 

 they use the right hand on the right rein, continue to 

 hold both reins with the left hand, and they slip the right 

 rein a little through the left hand in order to place both 

 hands even. This is a most vicious habit. When they 

 quit the right rein to use the whip, or to throw the arm 

 back at a fence (another most vicious habit), by their 

 system of holding and handling the reins they have not 

 the power to place the lengthened right rein short in the 

 left hand. Alas ! poor horse ! He is then pulled to the 

 left by the left rein, driven to the left by the whip on 

 the right, and then abused for answering these natural 

 indications, which he has been trained habitually to obey. 



D 2 



