Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1875-09-02
Bits and Bearing.keins.

81 never allow a bearing-rein to be
used in my establishment, nor did my
father before me; | am sure they are boti
useless and cruel" SO wrote Lord Port
mouth, little time ago, and go, in effect
have written Sir Arthur Helps and Other
high authorities. We ourselves have
more than once deprecated their use; and
if anything, are more convinced than ever
that the only effect they have on horses is
to pain and irritate them. Who can doubt
that this is the case after reading Mr.. E. 7.
Flowers pamphlet on the subject. Mr.
Flower has had large experience with
horses As ne says himself, he does not
remember the time when he could not
ride He is well known as cross-country
rider. When he was just thirteen he drove
a pair of horses in an American carriage
ali the way-300 miles-from Philadelphia
to Pittsburgh. A veritable jehu, truly!
Well, Mr.. Flower declares that his great.
est ambition is TO have He was one of
those men who caused the bearing-rein 10
be abolished" written on his tombstone
He has ever found, he assures us, that
'sthis barbarous custom" only made
vicious horses more vicious, and FESTIVE
horses more FESTIVE. "A few years ago"
writes he, q bought fine horse with
bad character; he was roarer, a iibber,
boiter--and the late coachman told me |
should never be able to drive him; but
liked his looks, and the result confirmed
my good opinion. The roaring soon
ceased after the tight ag-bearing rein was
taken away; an easy bit had been put in
his mouth instead Of a severe one, which
had caused him to be restless through
sheer pain he became perfectly tractable,
and have driven him for years both in
double and single harness with great COM
fort and safety"
This is only one case in point; he adj
duces many others, and not few of the
best whips" in England back him up.
The fact is bearing reins-especially what
are called gag-bearing reins--would never
have come into such common use if it
hadn't been for ignorant grooms and coach
men. These, as Is well known, take as a
rule more pride in their masters and mis-
| tresses' horses than the masters and mis-
tresses themselves. They like them TO
paw and rear before starting; and so, for
that matter, do the nursery maids. "0h,
lai" exclaim these latter, 81 isn't that a
beautyy Above all they like them to
keep their heads well in the air. Now,
the Bedouin, or gag-bearing, rein is just
the thing to make them do that For the
benefit of the uninitiated, let us describe
how it effects this object: First, il is
| fastened TO the head OF the bride against
the horses ears, and then a small, round
| piece OF leather comes down and passes
through ring in the horses bit; next it
is passed over the collar to the saddle.
The result is that, instead OF the groom,
when he reins up the horse, exerting the
power of a pound weight, he exerts,
through the pulley nature of the apparatus,
the power OF two pounds, so that the
horses mouth, II not actually cut and
lacerated, suffers acutely-more especially
| as the bit is often not of the ordinary
kind, but one fitted with hoop, in which
the tongue is held straight, the bar
| Of the curb passing under the tongue. To
sum up, there is not one argument in favor
| of the tight bearing-rein. Ii does not keep
| the horse from stumbling-rather does il
cause him to stumble and prevent his re.
| covering himself: then, again, as Mr..
Flower remarks, horse with its head
stuck up in the air does not after all, look
half so graceful as "a well.fed, not over.
worked horse In its free and natural att.
tudes." Thanks mainly to that gente
man, this inhuman apparatus would seem
to be doomed. The Royal Society for the
Prevention Of Cruelty to Animals has
taken up the matter. There was a meet
ing last week at the rooms of that institu.
tion TO discountenance the use' of these
reins, when the Right Hon. Cowper
Temple, Nj. p, presided, and when many
influential gentlemen, as well as some
coachmen, showed the cruelty that their
use entails. In the name of humanity, let
us oaway with then. -Rural New Yorker