THE CAERIAGE BIT-AND-BRIDOON. 123 



OPERATION OF THE BRIDOOK. 



Tbe operation of tlie bridoon with its reins is to bridle 

 the horse up and give him a stylish carriage and hand- 

 some appear-ance in keeping with the carriage and har- 

 ness and the intention of the owner, who may have spent 

 from $1,000 to $6,000 on the turnout. 



STYLE vs. BRID00:N^ and check REIN" ABANDONED. 



Some chicken-hearted men have abandoned the use of 

 the bridoon and check rein on the ground of sparing the 

 horse the restraint it puts on him while in harness. But 

 the horse that it is put on is generally a carriage horse 

 used for pleasure, and that, perhaps, during only two or 

 three hours daily. As he is not driven at a speed faster 

 than a jog-trot in the streets and parks, where style is as 

 necessary as the airing itself, and the entire equipage is 

 supposed to be as ornamental as useful, the carriage horse 

 can as well submit to a little restraint, for that short time, 

 as can the coachman who drives him and is squeezed into 

 a pair of skin-tight buckskin breeches, English cattle 

 dealer's ^^tops," a stand-up collar, white choker, and 

 stiffened into a straight up-and-down position — as if seated 

 in a gar rote — all of which indicate a certain degree of 

 stiffness and shoddy uneasiness that is check enough for 

 that part of the equipment, and certainly to us unenvi- 

 able, but strange to say does not excite any degree of 

 philanthropy in his favor. 



OCCUPANT OF THE CARRIAGE. 



When we take into consideration the adopted position 

 and feelings, if not airs, of the madame who may be a 

 novice in the art of lounging in a carriage for display, 

 she may be under like restraint with the horses and 

 driver, and perhaps of the three — the horses, the driver 



