THE OVER-HEAD BEARING-REIN. 209 



bit, and would fall out of the horse's mouth when the 

 rein was unhitched. 



How this bit is applied may be seen from the 

 following extract from Sidney's ' Book of the Horse : ' 



' Your London coachman of the highest fashion 

 begins by drawing up the gag bit until he has enlarged 

 the mouth by at least a couple of inches. He then 

 adds a curb-bit of an inch too wide and four inches 

 too long, quite regardless of the size of the horse's 

 mouth, and having curbed this up tight, climbs on 

 his box and makes, whether moving or standing at a 

 door, a display very satisfactory to the distinguished 

 owners, who have not the least idea that their horses 

 are enduring agonies for hours. 



' The result is shown by degrees in foaming, 

 bleeding mouths, lolling tongues, spasms, restiveness, 

 &c.' In other w^ords, the horses are the victims of 

 the professional eye. 



The third kind of bearing-rein I have often seen 

 in America, but never in England, and hope never to 

 do so. Instead of the rein passing along each side of 

 the head through a drop ring, it passes over the top 

 of the head, and then directly to the saddle hook. 

 For this reason it is called the ' over-head check-rein.' 



I have already said that the primary object of 

 the bearing-rein was to give the horse a more spirited 

 appearance. But two other reasons are invariably 



P 



