CH. XI BRIDLE 1 95 



a lady's harness ; but flowers are correct at all times, 

 and should customarily be worn. On a public- 

 coach, only flowers in season should be used ; they 

 are supposed to be given by the fair friends of the 

 coachman, along the road. In winter, holly berries 

 and leaves are suitable. On a drag, any kind of 

 flowers may be worn, and frequently the owner 

 adopts an especial flower from which he never varies. 

 It is well to have it correspond to one of the colours 

 of the coach. Of course, artificial flowers must be 

 used ; natural ones are too fragile. The wire stems 

 should be pulled through the loop below the buckle 

 which is at the top of the winker. They are worn 

 only on the outer side of the bridle. In Fig. 84, 

 the flower is shown as being put in the throat-latch 

 buckle because the rein-ring is high and close to the 

 boss ; if the ring is on the throat-latch, the flower 

 should be in the cheek-piece buckle so as not to be 

 rubbed by the rein. 



On occasions of ceremony, such as Meets, it is 

 usual for the owner and the grooms to wear bou- 

 tonnieres of the same flowers as those on the horses' 

 heads, and on the road, the person driving may 

 do the same. There is one occasion when ribbons 

 may be used : on the last day of the season of a 

 public-coach, on the last stage into town, it is cus- 

 tomary to put on the horses' heads knots of ribbon 

 of the coach colours, and on the pads, similar knots, 

 with long ends. 



Winkers should be square, with rounded corners ; 



