54 Centaur ; 



adopt the extraordinary high-port of the "gag bit," which 

 was expressly invented to act as a secret substitute for the 

 bearing rein, and he will very soon find that he has 

 established himself as an accomplished " Temper and jaw 

 breaker," unless he be of the same class as the man who 

 *' would condemn the inventor of the barbarous bearing rein 

 to wear one for life," and at the same moment confessed that 

 he himself " had never possessed a Turn Out.'* 



It is an easy matter to discover whether a bearing rein is 

 necessary or not, and the sum and substance of the writer's 

 dictum is, if the horse carries itself perfectly straight and 

 freely with a light mouth without the extra rein, by no 

 means apply it; but if, on the contrary, the animal is a very 

 hard and excitable puller,* or stumbles and throws its head 

 about as though having business on both sides of the road 

 at one time, then the bearing rein cannot, and must not be 

 dispensed with. 



Before leaving the bearing rein, we would quote the 

 words of John Philipson, Esq., of the firm of Attkinson and 

 Phillipson, the celebrated coach builders, and author of a 

 little work on " Harness," viz. : — " I have said that bearing 

 reins have been widely condemned of late years, and this 

 condemnation I consider deservedly merited when pointed 

 to the * gag,' as this method of bearing-up is both cruel 

 and highly injurious. This remark, however, does not 

 apply with the same force to the bearing rein in its simple 

 form, and the most impartial summing up of all that has 

 been said for and against them would not justify me in 

 saying that they are always to be dispensed with, for, as a 

 writer on coaching days says : — * bearing reins have their 

 uses and abuses.' " 



In Hawlinson's " Ancient Monarchies," we learn that the 

 use of the bearing rein was practised by the Egyptians of 

 old, &c. 



" NiMROD " in one of his sporting essays, writes : — 



" There are many horses, sometimes whole teams (four-in- 

 hand), that will not face anything but the cheek ; and where 

 is the arm that could bear the weight of four horses leaning 



• How often have we heard it said that a certain "horse shall come fresh 

 out of the stable, and draw a vehicle and driver some miles without traces," 

 and. again, drivers to complain that "their arms have ached enough to drop 

 off." 



