HARNESSING. 63 



Heavy forehead -bands and rosettes, though orna- 

 mental, are anything but desirable, as far as the horse 

 himself is concerned. 



The Noseband of the harness bridle, like the riding 

 one, can by tightening be made very useful with some 

 descriptions of hard-pulling horses. — See "Noseband," 

 page 42. 



The Breastplate, or head-stall martingal, can be made 

 useful in the same way. — See page 40. 



Throat-lash. — See page 43. 



Reins. — Saddlers generally suit the reins admirably 

 to the work for which they are intended. A buff 

 hand-piece with pullers is decidedly preferable to plain 

 leather, as its roughness enables the driver to have a 

 much firmer hold of the reins, but will become slippery 

 in wet. 



The Bearing-Rein is only used to keep up a horse's 

 head and give him a showy appearance, therefore no 

 experienced person will use it except with that object, 

 and it is injurious in every other respect. — (See " Broken 

 Knees," pages 52 and 141.) 



Crupper. — This strap is intended to keep the terret- 

 pad and back-band in their proper places, and to 

 restrain the former from running too far forward or 

 pressing on the withers (see "Sore Withers," page 

 151) ; also as a sustainer to the terret-pad against the 

 bearing-rein when the latter is strained into its hook. 

 Grooms have a very improper habit of leaving the 

 whole of the hinder part of the harness suspended in 

 one mass by the crupper-dock on a peg in the wall of 

 the harness-room ; this should not be allowed. Let the 

 terret-pad when not in use be always placed across 

 a proper saddle-rack, with the britching and crupper 



