"Then what is the reason they do not put them on riding horses;
especially on ladies' horses?" said I.

"There is no reason at all," said he quietly, "except the fashion; they
say that a horse would be so frightened to see the wheels of his own
cart or carriage coming behind him that he would be sure to run away,
although of course when he is ridden he sees them all about him if the
streets are crowded. I admit they do sometimes come too close to be
pleasant, but we don't run away; we are used to it, and understand it,
and if we never had blinkers put on we should never want them; we should
see what was there, and know what was what, and be much less frightened
than by only seeing bits of things that we can't understand. Of course
there may be some nervous horses who have been hurt or frightened when
they were young, who may be the better for them; but as I never was
nervous, I can't judge."

"I consider," said Sir Oliver, "that blinkers are dangerous things in
the night; we horses can see much better in the dark than men can, and
many an accident would never have happened if horses might have had the
full use of their eyes. Some years ago, I remember, there was a hearse
with two horses returning one dark night, and just by Farmer Sparrow's
house, where the pond is close to the road, the wheels went too near the
edge, and the hearse was overturned into the water; both the horses were
drowned, and the driver hardly escaped. Of course after this accident
a stout white rail was put up that might be easily seen, but if those
horses had not been partly blinded, they would of themselves have kept
further from the edge, and no accident would have happened. When our
master's carriage was overturned, before you came here, it was said that
if the lamp on the left side had not gone out, John would have seen the
great hole that the road-makers had left; and so he might, but if old