256 DRAUGHT AND HARNESS. 



Hospital ; or that, because extravagantly high-heeled 

 boots produce corns and render graceful movements an 

 almost impossibility, ladies should be compelled to walk 

 barefooted, as to maintain that because some people 

 are silly or prejudiced enough to admire a ridiculous 

 and extravagant position of their carriage-horses' heads, 

 or an overdone so-called lofty action bearing-reins 

 should therefore be altogether abolished. The abuse of 

 the bearing-rein, as seen mostly in town equipages, is 

 simply the product of that very questionable kind of 

 taste that goes in for what is lofty and imposing at the 

 expense or in defiance of every other consideration. 

 That it is by no means a necessity for town traffic will 

 become quite evident to those who take the trouble to 

 observe the dexterity one might almost say grace and 

 elegance with which most of our well-horsed Hansoms 

 are steered through the most crowded thoroughfares, 

 the bearing-rein lying quite loose on the horses' necks, 

 and this, too, with nothing more powerful than a ring- 

 snafHe in the animals' mouths. It all depends on the 

 hand of the driver, and there lies the difficulty. 



All this may be at once conceded to the abolitionists, 

 but the bearing-rein has, nevertheless, very distinct and 

 important uses, and it would be sheer folly to deprive 

 ourselves of so valuable an adjunct to harness because 

 it is in some instances abused. We have now-a-days a 

 goodly number of lady drivers, and to them especially 

 the bearing-rein is, if properly applied, of very great 

 importance. Ladies have frequently quite as much 

 courage and judgment in the management of horses as 

 men, sometimes even more of the latter, and they have 

 almost invariably a lighter hand and consequently a 

 more delicate touch. Whenever these two qualities are 



