HANDBOOK OF THE TURF. 319 



If we would improve our horses we must lengthen the distances run. 

 By means of these short selling races, handicaps and penalties and 

 allowances, good horses either cannot enter or are crushed out by 

 weight, and bad ones are left in with feather weights. What is 

 wanted in a race horse is one with speed and endurance which 

 enables him to cover a distance of ground with little distress to him- 

 self and in the (luickest time.— The Horseman. 



Running- Kein. A device used by riders where the 

 horse has tlie liabit of carrying his head so high as to cause the 

 bit, when drawn upon, to ride up into the corners of the mouth 

 instead of bearing against the lower jaw. It is of the width of 

 an ordinary bridle-strap and about eight feet long. One end is 

 furnished with a buckle at the end of a tongue-strap eighteen 

 inches long. Buckle this end through a staple or D-ring on 

 the left side of the saddle near the pommel. Then pass the 

 other end of the rein through a smooth iron ring about two 

 inches in diameter, in front of the horse's breast like the ordi- 

 nary martingale ; then through an iron ring an inch or more 

 in diameter attached to a strap under the horse's chin about 

 nine inches from the bit, then back again through the same 

 breast-ring and up to the rider's right hand. This gives the 

 rider more power to draw the horse's head down to its proper 

 position than any other device. When this rein is slack the 

 horse has perfect freedom, but when necessary the least pull 

 acts with double force and brings the head at once in the right 

 position. 



Kiinning' Rein. One of the greatest scandalg in the 

 history of the English turf is known as the Running Rein swindle 

 in connection with the Derby of 1844. This was a scheme for 

 " ringing the changes " by exchanging a three-year-old for an 

 English four-year-old called Running Rein, and also for run- 

 ning a German bred horse called Leander, a four-year-old. In 

 the race Leander fell, broke his leg and was buried the same 

 night. The changeling Running Rein won, Orlando being 

 second. The secret became known, payment of stakes was 

 refused, and an action brought to recover them. At the trial the 

 justice adjourned the same for one day in order that the best 

 and most important witness, Running Rein himself, could be 

 produced. AVhen the trial again came on the horse was not to 

 be found, so a verdict went for the defendants and the stakes 

 were awarded to Orlando. Some curious people dug up the 

 body of Leander to look at his mouth, but found him headless. 

 Running" Walk. A gait which is a modification of the 

 trot. In this gait the head is generally carried higher than in 

 the fox-trot or the ordinary walk, and the hind foot takes the 

 ground in advance of the diagonal fore foot, which breaks the 

 concussion. It is a more showy gait than the fox-trot, and in it 



