276 3IODERN FAllRIER. 



the same means are employed to make him go on 

 and also to stand quiet 



The custom of reining the head up so high with 

 the gag-rein, as is the common practice, has a very 

 pernicious effect on the animal, especially if he is 

 thick in his throat at the setting on of his head to 

 his neck; for it occasions such a pressure on the 

 jugular veins as almost to stop the circulation of the 

 blood from the head, and very probably contributes, 

 in a great degree, to produce most of those diseases 

 of the eyes with which coach horses are affected. It 

 also, by raising the head so high, throws the fore- 

 quartei-s out of the line of draught, and consequently 

 deprives the horse of the means of applying his 

 strength mechanically to the best advantage ; inde- 

 pendently of the uneasiness and pain which it pro- 

 duces in the bones and muscles of the neck, by 

 keeping them confined to one posture for such a 

 length of time. Hence, when coach horses reined 

 up in this manner are standing jn the sti'eet, it may 

 generally be observed that they put out their fore- 

 legs as much as possible, so as to lessen the angle 

 between their necks and their fore-quarters. 

 , But the greatest evil to which carriage horses are 

 exposed takes place in the mode of harnessing them 

 to stage-coaches ; and such is the danger attending 

 it, that very few travellers would hazard their lives 

 in those vehicles, were they at all sensible of the 

 risk to which they are exposed. The evil alluded 

 to is the practice of driving the wheel-horses with- 

 out a brichin, in which case all the weight of the 

 carriage in going down hill is resisted by the collar 

 only ; and when it is considered that all the pressure 

 is acting upon the end of the neck, close to the wi- 

 thers, and consequently pulling the horse down- 

 wards towards tJie ground; aaid when it is also 

 considered, that the major part of the horses used in 

 stage-coaches are lame or tender in their feet, and 

 scarcely able to support even their own weight, how 



