6 GENERAL REMARKS AND INFORMATION. 



tightly. This is a mistake which many people make. I 

 will give my reasons why I do not believe in doing this. 

 When a person is driving a horse which is treated in 

 this way the driver has not so much power over the 

 animal, as it has a certain weight on the bearing 

 rein. Not only that, but it tends to numb the horse's 

 mouth. When the animal is going along and tosses his 

 head to and fro, the driver's hands give to the bit, but 

 not so with the bearing-rein, that is a certain length and 

 does not give. 



I have been noticing particularly the number of 

 horses which have fallen down — not old crocks, but 

 animals which have done good service, — and I find by 

 far the greater majority of these are reined up 

 tighdy. 



With a young horse, however, it is quite different. 

 I know some people object to using a bearing-rein, but 

 my idea is a young horse ought to have one, especially 

 an animal which is going to be used for some purposes. 

 If a bearing-rein is not used for a horse that 

 stands about, it gets accustomed to putting 

 its head down and biting the grass off the 

 side of the road, that is if the animal happens to be in 

 a country place, and if in a town it wants to smell 

 the road. When putting the head down it will often 

 get the shaft under the collar, which in many cases results 

 in an accident. Young horses will get up to many little 

 pranks of this kind unless they are very quiet indeed. 

 Now the bearing-rein teaches the horse to hold up its head 



