90 DRIVING. 



when no bearing-reins are used ; but there are now so many 

 different sorts, sizes, and patterns made, that with a little trouble 

 all can be accommodated. l 



Bearing-reins have been, and will always continue to be, a 

 bone of contention between coachmen of different classes, the 

 Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and others 

 who periodically write a considerable amount of rubbish on 

 the subject when the newspapers are not filling well, and the 

 gigantic gooseberry season comes in. It may safely be said 

 that were not bearing reins still in use among the ordinary 

 traffic of Piccadilly, Bond Street, Regent Street, &c., the 

 number of accidents, as well as the amounts of the coach- 

 builder's bills, would be largely increased. There is no reason 

 in the world why they cannot be put on to be of use when 

 required, without causing torture, though no doubt in many 

 cases they are improperly employed. As, however, there are 

 some people it is doubtful whether they are practical coach- 

 men who decline to see in bearing-reins anything but horrible 

 barbarity, it may not be out of place to state briefly in what 

 cases they may be of some use. Except for the purpose of 

 show, they might be dispensed with for horses in single harness 

 in ninety-nine instances out of a hundred. The hundredth' 

 horse might be some heavy-headed boring brute requiring 

 more room in which to be pulled up than is always available 

 in the streets of London. With such a horse a bearing-rein, 

 not tighter than is absolutely necessary, is surely permissible, if 

 only to save the coachman's arms. It may be granted that 

 bad bitting and worse driving may have originally conduced to 

 the horse's mouthless state ; it may also be true that the man 

 called upon to drive him may not possess the skill of a Sir 



1 The bit must be suited to the horse, and the possessor and driver of many 

 horses must, if he wishes to enjoy life, have many bits, some with ports, 

 some without. Nine horses out of ten will go pleasantly in a shifting bit, 

 which has a smooth side and a rough side to the bar, which also shifts up and 

 down for about an inch, and the cheek of which turns so that the smooth or 

 rough side can be used. B. 



