STUMBLING. 229 



But he will probably be so ridiculed by his com- 

 rades that in self-defence he will revert to the 

 bearing-rein. 



. Now we come to the theory that the bearing-rein 

 prevents the horse from falling. 



A more ludicrously absurd idea never entered 

 into a human head, and it is wonderful that a child 

 of six years old should believe that tying a horse's 

 head to its tail or its collar can prevent it from 

 falling if it stumbles. 



Let anyone who believes this to be the fact tie 

 his head back to his waist by a similar strap, and 

 then run over rough ground. He will find himself 

 even more likely to fall than when his head was free. 



If the bearing-rein were fastened, not to the 

 horse, but to the top of .the carriage, there might be 

 some show of reason in the idea. Even in that case 

 the horse is so heavy that no rein could hold it up, 

 but must snap under the strain. Supposing that 

 it could sustain the horse, matters would be still 

 worse for the animal, which would be left with its 

 whole weight hanging on its mouth. What mostly 

 happens when a tightly ' borne-up ' horse stumbles, is 

 that he falls forward, and the rein is either snapped, 

 or the hook is pulled out of the saddle. 



Should the horse fall, it would be almost im- 



