232 HORSE AND MAN. 



A most valuable contribution to the literature 

 of the bearing-rein is afforded by Mr. E. Cracknell, 

 the well-known coachman on the London and Bir- 

 mingham road, in a letter to Mr. Flower : 



' I drove the " Tantivy " coach nearly twenty 

 years without a bearing-rein, and seldom had a horse 

 fall, although they went at a great pace, and I fre- 

 quently drove as many as seventy-two per day. The 

 class of horses I had to drive were difficult, many of 

 them being old steeple-chasers, hunters, Newmarket 

 weeds, &c. 



' My first experience in dispensing with the bear- 

 ing-rein was between Henley-on -Thames and Henley ; 

 it was the practice to walk the horses, the greater 

 part of the hill being very steep. One day I left off 

 the bearing-reins, and was astonished at the result ; 

 the horses never attempted to slacken their pace, but 

 trotted the whole distance up the hill. From that 

 time I dispensed with the bearing-reins entirely. 



' There was a strong prejudice at first with my 

 colleagues against it, but eventually they adopted 

 my plan. I had most troublesome, dissipated horses 

 to manage, but with a light hand and their heads at 

 liberty they generally became tractable.' 



The reader will observe that Mr. Cracknell does 

 not state that horses never fall when the bearing-rein 

 is not used. When seventy horses are driven daily at 



