There are no better drivers than the London cabbies and 'busmen, and they do not use bearing reins, and their horses are more handy than those usually seen in carriages.
Sometimes you see them used on horses in heavy carts; they are then called "Hame-reins"—but they are cruel on the horse if tightly tied. A horse when pulling a heavy cart wants to lean forward with his head down, just as you or I would do when pulling a garden roller—but this hame-rein pulls at the corners of his mouth and forces him to keep his head up.
Torture.
Comfort.
I saw lately a man in charge of a loaded cart whose horse was thus tied up. He wanted to get the cart through some heavy mud (it was on the new Mall from Buckingham Palace to Charing Cross) and the horse tried to lean forward to pull but could not. The man beat him for not trying—the poor beast in his pain and terror reared up on his hind legs, and the man beat him again for "showing temper."
When I saw it I felt inclined to beat the man, but I went up and said I thought I could make the horse do it. The man grinned while I was undoing the hame-rein and said I should have to get another horse to do it then. But when the horse found his head free and I smacked him on the back, he flung the whole of his weight into the collar with his head well down, and with both hind toes dug into the ground he heaved the cart forward a few inches, and then again a few more, and not many seconds later had it all safe on the hard road.
Often you can help a horse struggling with a load on a slippery road by scattering a few handfuls of sand or ashes. Miss Lisette Rest used to do this in London and when she died she left money for that purpose.
Other tame animals to understand are, of course, dogs. And a good dog is the very best companion for a scout, who need not think himself a really good scout till he has trained a young dog to do all he wants of him. It requires great patience and kindness, and genuine sympathy with the dog.