THE HEAD AND NECK. 337 



intellect, who really think that the bearing-rein is invalu- 

 able as a guard against stumbling and an absolute pre- 

 ventive of falling : 



If the bearing-rein were fastened to the carriage-box, 

 there might be some faint grounds for thinking that it 

 could hold the horse up ; but how a horse can be held up 

 by tying his head to his own back, is ludicrously impos- 

 sible. An amusing parallel is given by " Free-Lance " in 

 one of his letters, wherein he asks whether a man can get 

 into a clothes-basket, grasp the handles and lift himself 

 off the ground. 



Even if the rein were fastened to the carriage-box, it 

 could not mend matters, for no rein is strong enough to 

 sustain the weight of a horse. Many a bearing-rein has 

 been broken by a falling horse, the instinctive flinging 

 forwards of the head snapping the leather rein as if it 

 were packthread. Even the hook has been dragged out 

 of the saddle by the bearing-rein, and when we re- 

 member that the force was exerted upon the sensitive 

 mouth of a horse, it is clear that cruelty is superadded to 

 folly. 



Another " reason " for the use of the gag bearing-rein 

 is that it gives the horse such a noble appearance. 

 People see the horse champing its bit, flinging foam-flakes 

 right and left, tossing its head, rattling its harness, and 

 assume that the horse is acting in the pride of its strength 

 and fulness of spirit. "Whereas it is suffering agonies of 

 pain, and is trying to gain a momentary relief by these 

 head-tossings and harness-rattlings. 



