THE REINS AND COUPLING-RING. 195 



instead of terminating at the collar, it extends to the under 

 part of the nose-band or to the bit to which it is buckled or 

 fastened with a snap hook. The martingale should be made 

 a little longer than is required for the horse to carry his 

 head in a natural position. The loop should be held by the 

 pad-girth and not by the tug-girth. A horse should be made 

 accustomed to the restriction of a martingale before being 

 driven with one. Some horses, when they first feel the re- 

 straint, rear and fall backward. 



THE REINS. 



REINS should be made of flat brown leather of about the 

 same width throughout; black or those with white hand-pieces 

 should not be used. At one end the reins should have 

 billets of leather by which the reins are attached to the 

 bit and at the other a buckle and point so that they can be 

 joined. The billets should not be stiffened with iron. In 

 front of the billet buckles there are often placed keepers. 

 The width of reins vary between seven-eighths of an inch and 

 an inch and an eighth. For pair-horse harness each rein is 

 made in two parts : one, the draught-rein, being a continuous 

 piece of leather from end to end ; the other, a shorter piece, 

 called a coupling-rein, is buckled under the draught-rein. 



The buckle which allows the reins to be adjusted "should 

 come to within eighteen inches of the hand when the horses 

 are going/' " Driving," Badminton, p. 98. 



THE COUPLING-RING. 



THE COUPLING-RING is about two inches and three- 

 quarters in diameter. It is made either of ivory or white 

 celluloid. At one time its use was general on all pair-horse 



