INJURED TONGUES. 237 



adds that he disapproves of the bearing-rein in any 

 form. 



Mr. J. Y. Blake, of Ryde, states that many horses 

 have come under his notice with their tongues par- 

 tially severed by its use. 



Mr. W. E. Marriott, of Colgrave, Nottingham, 

 cites it as one of the causes of ' poll-evil ' — i.e. abscess 

 on the head; and Mr. J. Freeman, of Hull, F.R.C.Y.S., 

 writes as follows : ' I have often been asked for some- 

 thing to rub the glands of the throat with when a 

 tight rein has been used In one case of injury by 

 the bearing-rein, I begged the driver to leave it with 

 me for three weeks. At the end of that time he 

 called, saying that his horse had got quite well with- 

 out medicine. 



That the bearing-rein causes * roaring ' and other 

 diseases of the respiratory system we have already 

 seen. The cause is simple enough. The windpipe 

 is forced into an unnatural curve by the bearing-rein, 

 and the supply of air is therefore checked in its pas- 

 sage to and from the lungs. 



As to the limitation which is apparently implied 

 by the words ' tight bearing-rein,' it is really no 

 limitation. A bearing- rein which does not ' bear ' on 

 the horse — i.e. is not tight — is practically no bearing- 

 rein at all, and only a piece of supplementary harness 

 hung at the horse's head by way of ornament. 



