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policeman on duty appears with a moving-on mission. The entanglement is not perceived till too late ; the horse does not answer to the reins ; a collision occurs, or perhaps the horse starts kicking and then falls down. When the evening papers appear, the ubiquitous reporter will be found to have sent in a paragraph detailing
a singular carriage accident at the West End.' This is no fancy sketch, and a bearing rein which is short enough to prevent such a catastrophe is at the same time long enough to allow the horse unrestrained freedom of the head. It is the abuse of the bearing reins (which takes the form of the gag shortened to a cruel extent), and not the use of them, which merits universal condemnation."
Colonel Hugh Smith Baillie, in his chapter on Hints to Beginners, in the Badminton Driving, says : " Bearing reins some men write fiercely against. It is the opinion of many of the best coachmen in England that a bridle is not complete without a bearing rein. In my opinion it is wrong to lay down hard-and-fast rules about bearing reins. I think the gag bearing rein as screwed up by some London drivers is very bad, and injurious to the horse ; but with kickers the bearing rein is not only most useful but almost indispensable. I should very much like to see some of the men who write so much against bearing reins drive kickers without them ; I think they would soon either alter their
