The Check-rein

It is a disputad fact whothcr th uso of hi' eheck-roin is usoloss, or of so mach inconveuience to ihi. horse s to aiiioimt to i cmel lüfliction. In considiring this luestion we should remeniber that the heek-rein is not the same thing tinder all cirruuistonces. A high-bred, highly 't il and pamporod ■ i'iinjre-horsp imdor :he control of a check -rein cannot bo considered in the suu Light M a mnl-worked and broken-spiri!. cart-bone. The one needs the restraiut of the ohcck-ivin to bring him under that complete comnmnd without whioh it wonld bc niis.de to drive him. The po-ition of the hcad is not in this caso any souroi! of pnin or inconvenience, for tho exertions of the horso .are only vt-ry slightly tftzed to draw the light carriage ud its occupants. On the other haurl, a horse taxed to the utmost to draw heavy loads over roads where the footing is far from SfCiiro (as on the slippery streots of a city) is nevcr found to lie so tightly reined up as the showy horse attaohed to tho elegant carriage, wher appearance is the great de sideratum ; and he has, thereforo, ft gieivter command over the position of his lurad. Horses used for heavy work, as drawing wagons or carts in citias, and plows and harrows on farms, vore rarely, if tvcr, are found hampered with a tight chnck-roiu. And it is in the caso of these horses that the greatest complaints are made. Consequently, these complaints are to some extent ill-founded. The fact is, the check-rcin, under some circumstances, is as necessary to the control of a horse as the bit and liridle, and the rest of the harness. It is only when a hardworked, heavy-laden brute is too fcghtly rcined up that it bocomes a hindranoe to his power of working ; and tho owner of such an animal, if he knows any thing at all, will not permit him to be so inoonv(inienced by it as to impair his uset'ulno.