276 HORSE AND MAN. 



then might run away, and then might upset the 

 carriage, and then you might be killed. 



Even if all this long series of misfortunes did 

 occur, the fault would surely lie with the careless 

 driver. The ' Puzzled J.P.' is perfectly right when 

 he says that carriage accidents were not more fre- 

 quent when the horses wore their tails of their 

 natural length than is the case at the present time. 



Another ' reason ' is, that the full and flowing- 

 tail is not easily put through the crupper. In fact, 

 to the professional eye the tail is nothing but a con- 

 venient peg on which the crupper may be hung. 

 So, to carry out these ideas logically, the rat-tailed 

 horse is your only animal. There is no troublesome 

 hair to get in the way, and by cutting off the vertebrae 

 to suit your individual taste, you can make the 

 crupper peg of any length that you please. Were 

 it not for the crupper, the simplest plan would be to 

 cut off the tail altogether, but that appendage was 

 so evidently created for a crupper-peg, that enough 

 of it must be left to serve its obvious purpose. 



I very much wonder that the nicked and stuck- 

 up tail was not voted to be ' conducive to human 

 safety.' The process of reasoning would be very 

 similar, and quite as sound. 



A bad rider might mount a horse with a natural 

 tail, and the horse might rear, and the rider would 



