REINS. 401 



as it is too fatiguing to the horse. As so many of our best 

 trainers are strongly opposed to this style of riding, and con- 

 sider that it handicaps nine horses out of every ten, the 

 English imitators of Sloan not having achieved much success, 

 it is possible that we may have a revival of the more finished 

 English style of race-riding. At the present time there is a 

 lamentable dearth of really fine jockeys. 



HANDLING THE REINS. 



The reins should be held crossed (as described in Chapter 

 VI.) in both hands, and the whip should be kept, lash down, 



Fig. 244. Knot on end of rein. 



in the right or left hand, as the case may require. Almost 

 all jockeys put a knot (Fig. 244) a few inches from the end of 

 their reins, in order to prevent the slack of the rein from 

 flying about ; the knot being made so that the buckle points 

 down. The fashion for the last twenty-five years, or longer, 

 is to use a single rein on a snaffle, even with a martin- 

 gale, in preference to double reins. John Osborne, who was 

 second to none as a great jockey, and Edwin Martin, who 

 won the Cambridgeshire on Bathilde, gave me their opinion, 

 which is well worth having, that a jockey has much more com- 

 mand over a horse with two reins than with one. 



A jockey should keep his hands "down," so that the horse 

 may be able to carry his head and neck in the best possible 



26 



