CH. XII BEARING-REIN 257 



been generally abandoned, they are by many still 

 thought to be necessary for park driving, and espe- 

 cially at Meets. Where uniformity in the appearance 

 of a team is important, as at formal Coaching Meets, 

 the use of bearing-reins certainly ensures uniformity 

 of position of the horses' heads, since some horses, 

 when standing, drop their heads, and may even 

 catch their bridles on the pole-head, and on such 

 occasions the use of bearing-reins, if they are ad- 

 justed with intelligence, may be excused. In this 

 connection a consideration of their action is not 

 unimportant. 



In the first place, the bearing-rein should always 

 have its own snaffle-bit, independent of the driving- 

 bit, to which it should never be attached, since it 

 would seriously interfere with the proper action of 

 the drivino-bit. 



In what is usually called the 'bit and bridoon,' or 

 'double bridle,' for a saddle-horse, the functions of 

 the two bits are essentially different. The bit, which 

 has branches of some length and a curb-chain, has 

 its own head-piece and its own rein, — the curb-rein. 

 The bridoon, which is a plain snaffle, is attached to 

 its own head-stall, and placed high in the horse's 

 mouth ; it has its own rein, — the snaffle-rein. 



The snaffle-reins are held, by most horsemen, on 

 top of the forefinger of the left hand, or, in handling 

 a green horse, separately in the right hand, and are 

 used to raise the horse's head ; in some cases they 

 are held so hicrh as to make their action almost 



17 



