SHORTENING THE REINS. 161 



them in the left hand, slip the right forward as in Fig. 166, 

 and having got the required length, close the fingers of the 

 right hand on the reins and let go the left. Or take the 

 slack of the reins in the left hand and draw them through 

 the right, until they become short enough. Double reins are 

 shortened in the same manner, except that the reins on each 

 side are kept apart by the appropriate ringers of the res- 

 pective hands. 



Fig. 165. Double reins in left hand : one crossed, the other hooked 

 up on middle finger. 



SHORTENING THE REINS WHEN HELD IN BOTH HANDS. 



Supposing that single reins are held as in Fig. 157, and that 

 we want to shorten them, for instance with the right hand, 

 we pass the off rein " crossed " over the near rein into the 

 left hand, and placing the off rein between the little 

 finger and the ring finger of the right hand, we slide the right 

 hand forward on the off rein until we obtain the required 

 length. We then take the near rein between the fore finger 

 and thumb of the right hand (Fig. 166) ; close the fingers of 

 that hand ; let go the reins with the right hand ; and take 

 up the reins at their shortened distance with the left hand, 



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