120 BITS AND BITTING. 



ridiculous enough from being so wholly out of proportion, 

 have their reins usually buckled into the cheeks, so as 

 to render the lever-action of these wonderful specimens 

 of ironmongery perfectly nugatory, which is so far 

 fortunate. It is, moreover, strange that it should be the 

 fashion to "bear up "carriage horses to a state of 

 balance which more nearly approaches the equilibrium 

 of the manege than anything else, whereas draught 

 requires the centre of gravity to be carried forward, and 

 the weight thrown somewhat more on the fore legs. 

 And having touched on this point we may as well say a 

 word or two on the subject of the blinds attached to 

 the bridles of harness horses. All of a sudden a move- 

 ment seems to have sprung up in favour of abolishing 

 this appendage, which is asserted to be both cruel and 

 useless. Now, in fact, it is neither the one nor the 

 other; but, quite on the contrary, it has a very 

 decided use, and from rendering the management 

 of horses easier, it tends to save them from the 

 infliction of punishment. The horse's hind quarters 

 are the portion of his frame most open to attack, 

 and the animal's instinct renders it consequently 

 extremely jealous of every approach in this direction, 

 which it is prone to resent rashly by lashing out with 

 its heels, with or without real provocation. It would 

 be, no doubt, a great cruelty to deprive a horse, 

 by means of blinds, of the faculty of providing for 

 his own safety when this care was naturally thrown 

 upon him. But this is not the case with a draught 

 horse in harness ; the driver is there to assume this 

 charge : and the certain consequences of taking blinds 

 off will be to make a great number of horses kickers, 

 and to cause numerous accidents to occur from horses 



