262 BEARING-REIN CH. XII 



An objection to the pulley-rein is, that a careless 

 man can exert twice the power in reining- up the 

 horse with it, that he can with the single rein. 



Bridles sometimes have a light strap, with a small 

 snap-hook on the lower end, sewed under the ro- 

 sette, to hold the bit of the single bearine-rein, 

 which will drop out of the horse's mouth when the 

 rein is not hooked to the centre-hook. 



That instrument of torture, the overdraw-check 

 (the ' Kemble Jackson'), while it may be useful, when 

 judiciously applied, in getting the highest speed out 

 of a trotting horse by keeping his head high and 

 his breathing organs unobstructed, has never been 

 proposed for any four-in-hand team, and, except on 

 a trotter, is seen only on the horses of careless or 

 ignorant owners. The star-gazing position of the 

 head which it enforces, should alone be sufficient 

 to prevent its use. 



According to Bracey Clarke and other authori- 

 ties, the bearing-rein was little used until after 1800, 

 and by 1835 it began to go out of fashion on the 

 public-coaches. 



Cracknell, who drove a fast coach on the London 

 and Birmingham road about the latter date, is said to 

 have been one of the first to give it up, and, in so 

 doing, to have brought upon himself the displeasure 

 of his proprietor, Mr Chaplin, who considered the 

 practice of driving without it to be dangerous.* 



* CORBETT, p. 239. 



