Once it is wet, it should be carefully cleaned and well rubbed
with oil. Neat's-foot oil is the best. Vegetable oils, with the
single exception of castor-oil, which is disagreeable by reason of
its odor, are apt to become hard. All brass or plate on harness
tarnishes easily, and should be kept from the ammonia of the
stable and from the fumes of gas, if it is burned; as well as from
gas from the stove. A good mixture for black harness is one pint
spirits of turpentine, four ounces of beeswax, one ounce prussian
blue, half an ounce lampblack; after the application, plenty of
hand polishing. It would seem almost unnecessary to warn against
soaking any part of leather harness in water, if the writer had not
seen on more than one occasion parts of harness literally left to
soak in the water-bucket! In the case of the parts of the harness
made of patent leather, no wax preparation should be used; vaseline
and a soft rag will do the cleaning sufficiently well.

What has been said of the care of harness is equally, and for the
same reason, of safety, true of the carriages in your stable. All
carriages profit by an airing occasionally. If they are not often
used, they should be run out and left for an hour or two in a dry,
warm place. Carriages newly painted and varnished should be washed
several times before they are used. This sets and hardens paint and
varnish.

Carriages should not be merely dusted or wiped over, but washed
when they come in, and thoroughly dried--a soft sponge on fine
carriages, a hose on rougher vehicles, and a soft chamois to dry
both, and patience--never hot water and never picking off of dried
mud, lest paint and varnish come with it. Carriages with plain
axles should have the axles seen to after every outing. Men who do
much driving of heavy vehicles with Collinge or Mail axles, unless
they have competent servants or are competent themselves, find it
safer and better to have the carriage builder look after their
axles at regular intervals. Collinge axles will go from one to two
months; Mail axles a week without oiling, on a private coach. On
public coaches it is the custom to examine the axles each day.

Washing and caring for carriages is not a difficult matter,
except that the human qualities of patience and painstaking
are more difficult to find even than mechanical ability. Time
should be taken on the wash-stand, if nowhere else. Of the care
of the cushions and stuffed parts of carriages, and the metal
parts, common sense, and the well-known commercial pastes sold
by all harness and carriage makers, will fit a man out to do
his duty. With styles of carriages and appropriate vehicles
for exhibiting and the like, this book does not deal. The most
scientific treatise on the subject of the coach and carriage is
"A Manual of Coaching," by Fairman Rogers. The author was of high
attainments as an engineer, and of great practical experience as
a coachman. A valuable book of reference, with complete and very
good illustrations covering the ground of appropriateness and "good
form," is "Driving for Pleasure," by Francis T. Underhill. A very
useful compilation, very complete and clear as to all details of
the stable is, "The Private Stable," by James A. Garland.

All parts of steel, bits, curb-chains, pole-chains, kidney-links,
and the like, after washing, may be put into lime-water--dissolving
as much common lime as the water will take; this does steel no harm
and keeps off rust. To polish these parts, they should be shaken in
a bag with fine sawdust and sand. Sand and emery paper scratch, and
do not burnish satisfactorily; a steel burnisher is the only way in
which the original polish can be regained or retained.

That harness should be appropriate to the horse, the vehicle,
and the use to which it is to be put, goes without saying. The
pony-cart, the runabout, the drag, the miniature Victoria, the
station wagon, need harness to suit them. But this by no means
entails different harness for every vehicle. On the contrary, a few
changes, and a pair of leaders' reins, both for four and tandem,
will fit you out for almost any kind of driving. Collars, bits,
saddles, should fit their wearers; and of these, if there are many
horsemen and horsewomen in the family, you must have an adequate
supply. But the light pony-pair harness with long reins, and the
heavier harness if a larger pair fitted with removable terrets,
gives you a four-in-hand harness. A similar arrangement with two
single harnesses will give you a tandem harness; and it is well to
remember that the greater variety of driving you have, the more
confidence you will gain and the better you will drive. It is
hard on the men in the stable to have too little harness, and it
is a burden to have a lot of harness that is never used. Leather
up to a certain age improves with use and deteriorates when left
to hang and become dry, so that it is almost as necessary not to
have too much harness as to have enough. Let it be repeated that
any question of worn parts of a harness should be investigated
and attended to at once. This is not merely economy; it is gross
extravagance not to do so, and a peril besides.

When men wore close armor and a beaver down, they could only be
distinguished by emblems on their shields or harness. When reading
was an almost unknown accomplishment, it was necessary that men
should have over their tents in the field, or over their gates or
doors at home, signs and symbols that could be easily seen and
distinguished. Hence arms and heraldry. The more conspicuous the
man or the family, the more necessary that he and they should be
easily recognizable. Hence the inns of the local village, the
servants, the carriages, and the like were distinguished by a
particular badge.

The reason for this has passed. The overpowering instinct in man to
prolong his existence, by having been, by being, and by affirming
that he will be, as shown in genealogy, in ambition to be well
known, and in the belief in immortality, is the explanation of
heraldry. That the army, navy, or diplomatic officer should put
a cockade in his servants' hats, is therefore not difficult to
understand. That almost every man should wish to make the best of
his ancestry,--to cut out the tailors, and hatters, and tinsmiths,
and tanners, and make prominent the worthies,--is also not
difficult to understand. To the American, however, the conspicuous
use of insignia of this kind, unless the authenticity thereof be
verifiable by proofs unquestionable, is rather childish. There is
no doubt whatever but that we all have a strain of the right to
bear arms blood; there is also no doubt that we have all more or
less lived through days of small and tradesman-like things in this
country, and perhaps your own initials on your harness are the
safest badge. If you are a gentleman, it will probably show itself
most conspicuously by the fact that you never remind others of it
and never forget it yourself. If either technically or morally you
are not a gentleman, no sign and motto will make you one. Indeed,
some badges on harness only serve to make conspicuous the fact that
the horses are better bred than the owners. This is a comparison
that should be avoided. It is not fair to the horses.

Lastly, in writing of harness, it is proper to remind the horse
owner that his harness like his horse improves by use and proper
care after use. Therefore avoid having too much harness. Unless
you are a constant exhibitor in the show ring, you can adapt your
harnesses, if they are all made in the same general pattern as to
pads, blinkers, terrets, brow-bands, and the like, to many uses.

A runabout harness of heavy make, with part of a double harness
for your leader and a pair of long reins and a pair of traces and
terrets that screw in and can be taken off, fit you out with a
tandem harness. One heavy and one light set of double harness with
similar arrangements as to reins and terrets will fit you out with
a four-in-hand harness; and if you stick to about the same type of
horse, with your saddlers in the lead and your harness horses in
the wheel, you may have all the varieties of driving without undue
expense and without an over-accumulation of harness.

CHAPTER X

THE AMERICAN HORSE

By far the most interesting type of horse to the American is the
American trotting-horse, not only for the reason that he is of our
own development, but because in one way or another he does duty
for our harness horse, in practically every capacity except as
a draught animal. He is known to horsemen the world over as the
most docile and most versatile of horses. He has been developed
and trained to go a mile in two minutes, and he has been trained
to step high, and to prove himself to be in the highest class of
harness horse, and he is not bad under saddle. Indeed, more than
one blue-ribbon winner under the saddle from Virginia and Kentucky
is of this same stock. This docility is shown in the wonderful
performance of Belle Hamlin, Justina, and Globe, driven a mile,
three abreast, in 2.14 by Ed. Geers.

In writing of the American trotting-horse one is confronted at
the outset with the question of from what standpoint he is to be
considered; whether as race-horse, road-horse, heavy harness horse,
or general utility horse, as in all of these capacities he is
without an equal, and almost without a competitor.

The American trotting-horse is the result of the development of
a type produced from heterogeneous breeds; and while several
districts of the country had their favorite strains of blood,
there was no system of breeding which promised sure results until
Hambletonian stamped his offspring with speed, and the instinct
to trot; which have been developed by the breeding of horses with
speed already developed or with speed inheritance. Trotters may
now be bred, with a certainty that the produce will at least excel
in speed horses of any other breed, and with a likelihood of great
speed.

The breeding of Hambletonian (Plate XXVII.), who traces back to
Messenger on side of both sire and dam, has never been questioned.
Messenger was imported to Philadelphia from England in 1788. He
was a gray stallion by Mambrino, first dam by Turf, second dam
by Regulus, third dam by Starling, fourth dam by Fox, fifth dam
Gipsey, by Bay Bolton, sixth dam by Duke of Newcastle's Turk,
seventh dam by Byerly Turk, eighth dam by Taffolet Barb, ninth dam
by Place's White Turk. He was eight years old when he came over.

The breeding of the dam of Hambletonian, known as the Charles Kent
mare, is only questioned by those who, having failed in breeding
on other lines, have sought relief by attacking Hambletonian's
breeding, conformation, disposition, and individuality, without
considering that his record in the stud disproves any and every
contention of the kind. There is no success like success. At any
rate, all agree that the greatest success in breeding trotters
has been achieved by a liberal use of Hambletonian blood; and a
winner with none of his blood is a curiosity. From Dexter, with a
record of 2.17½ in 1867 down to Lou Dillon with a record of 1.58½
in 1903, every champion trotter except one is known to have carried
Hambletonian's blood, and the exception probably did. The 2.10 list
of to-day contains few without Hambletonian blood.

That Hambletonian impressed his progeny with the trotting instinct,
and that this remains through generations, is shown by the history
of the Dexter branch of the family. Dexter's full brother Dictator
founded a family which increases in number of winners yearly. This
is also true of his other offspring who were properly bred and
developed.

Whether Hambletonian inherited his ability to impress his progeny
with the trotting brain from the Arab, the thoroughbred, the
hackney, or the native horse, is immaterial; that he had that
ability from some source, the stud book proves beyond peradventure.
Whatever combination produced him it was a fortunate day for
American horse-breeding when he was produced and placed in Orange
County, New York, where there were many good mares for him and
where soil and water and climate all worked together for the
good of his offspring and enabled him to found perhaps the best
all-round type of horse in the world.

All of Hambletonian's get had the instinct to trot, and by breeding
to those also having this instinct, which was of necessity
in-breeding, it has been increased until the trot is their natural
gait, and three-year-olds trot as fast as the champion of thirty
years ago. While it has taken nearly a century to reduce the
trotting record a minute, and while this reduction has been helped
by improved tracks, sulkies, methods of training and shoeing, no
one will question that the percentage of horses who can trot fast
has increased to such an extent that a horse to trot in 2.20 is
easier to find to-day than a three-minute horse thirty years ago.

The breed of American trotting-horse is of such recent origin,
only five generations from Hambletonian to Lou Dillon, that it is
not to be wondered at that the type is not exact, and that there
are instances of reversion to outcrosses which produce individuals
which subject the breed to criticism from those who judge quickly
rather than calmly.

There is practically no question that intelligent breeding to
a type will produce that type. This is proved by the phenomenal
success of the Messrs. Hamlin. When Mr. C. J. Hamlin entered the
breeding business, he stated that he proposed to breed not only
speed, but beauty; and for years Village Farm was not only the
home of the champions, but its produce was the most uniform and
beautiful known. The great majority of the Hamlin horses bear the
imprint of that grand horse Mambrino King, who for several years
called forth spontaneous cheers, and applause, at Madison Square
Garden, captivating the audience by his distinguished gait and
bearing.

In conformation, the trotter has two distinctive differences from
the runner, in that the trotter is longer in the body, than he is
high, and is higher at the coupling, or rump, than at the withers.
These differences, no doubt, are to accommodate the structure to
the rotary gait rather than to the series of jumps of the runner.
The trotter is steadily improving not only in speed, but in beauty,
and it is only a matter of shoeing and education to make him step
high for heavy harness use. Photographs show that all trotters at
speed, step high at some point in their stride, and shoeing and
bitting will so change the stride that it develops a more circular
form, and the grit and instinct to trot enables them to go fast,
high, and far, as compared to any other high stepper.

In every use, other than draught-horse work, the trotter stands
alone as a general utility horse. The intelligence and nervous
restraint which makes the two-minute trotter a possibility also
makes him, when used as a carriage horse, safer than any other,
even when surrounded by the many hideous objects and noises he must
face in the city streets of to-day. Prominent coaching men say that
no horse in the world can draw a loaded coach at the same speed,
and stand the work so well, as the American trotting-bred horse.

The road-horse is a strictly American institution, and the
possession of a trotter is about the first sign of prosperity
of a successful American who lives outside of our great cities,
where he is not influenced by the desire for show. The typical
road-horse should have substance so that he can draw two men twelve
miles an hour with pleasure to them and comfort to himself. He
should have speed enough to acquit himself creditably in friendly
brushes. Together with these qualities he should have looks and
manners. No breed of horse except the American trotter combines the
conformation, speed, and brain, to fulfil these requirements.

The attached diagram and table, taken from the _New York Herald_
after Lou Dillon had trotted in two minutes, shows clearly the
progress of the trotter in the last hundred years.

TOOK NEARLY A CENTURY TO GAIN A MINUTE

IN 1806 YANKEE LOPPED A SECOND FROM THE THREE-MINUTE MARK AND
NINETY-SEVEN YEARS LATER EVEN FIGURES ARE ATTAINED

The following table shows the records of the trotting champions
since 1806 and the distance which Lou Dillon would have beaten each
of them in a mile race.

  ═══════════════╤═════════╤══════╤═════════╤═════════╤═════════
                 │         │      │ DISTANCE│         │
                 │ RECORD  │ YEAR │ COVERED │ NO. FEET│ NO. FEET
      HORSE      │   FOR   │ MADE │ IN FEET │ TROTTED │  BEHIND
                 │ONE MILE │      │   EACH  │ IN 2.00 │   LOU
                 │         │      │  SECOND │         │  DILLON
  ───────────────┼─────────┼──────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────
  Yankee         │  2.59   │ 1806 │  29.49  │  3,539  │  1,741
  Boston Horse   │  2.48½  │ 1810 │  31.33  │  3,760  │  1,520
  Trouble        │  2.43½  │ 1826 │  32.28  │  3,874  │  1,416
  Sally Miller   │  2.37   │ 1834 │  33.63  │  4,036  │  1,244
  Edwin Forrest  │  2.36½  │ 1838 │  33.74  │  4,049  │  1,231
  Confidence     │  2.36   │ 1838 │  33.85  │  4,062  │  1,218
  Dutchman       │  2.32   │ 1839 │  34.73  │  4,168  │  1,112
  Lady Suffolk   │  2.29½  │ 1845 │  35.32  │  4,238  │  1,042
  Pelham         │  2.28   │ 1849 │  35.67  │  4,280  │  1,000
  Highland Maid  │  2.27   │ 1853 │  35.92  │  4,310  │    970
  Flora Temple   │  2.19¾  │ 1859 │  37.77  │  4,532  │    748
  Dexter         │  2.17¼  │ 1867 │  38.47  │  4,626  │    654
  Goldsmith Maid │  2.14   │ 1874 │  39.40  │  4,728  │    552
  Rarus          │  2.13¼  │ 1878 │  39.62  │  4,755  │    525
  St. Julien     │  2.11¼  │ 1880 │  40.22  │  4,826  │    427
  Jay-Eye-See    │  2.10   │ 1884 │  40.61  │  4,873  │    380
  Maud S.        │  2.08¾  │ 1885 │  41.01  │  4,921  │    342
  Sunol          │  2.08¼  │ 1891 │  41.17  │  4,940  │    313
  Nancy Hanks    │  2.04   │ 1892 │  42.58  │  5,109  │    154
  Alix           │  2.03¾  │ 1894 │  42.65  │  5,118  │    145
  The Abbot      │  2.03¼  │ 1900 │  42.84  │  5,141  │    122
  Cresceus       │  2.02¼  │ 1901 │  43.19  │  5,199  │     81
  Lou Dillon     │  2.00   │ 1903 │  44.00  │  5,280  │    ..
  ═══════════════╧═════════╧══════╧═════════╧═════════╧════════

LOU DILLON'S DESCENT FROM HAMBLETONIAN IN THE MALE LINE

 Lou Dillon is fifth in descent from Hambletonian in the male line.
 This pedigree is as follows:--

  LOU DILLON
  SIDNEY DILLON
  SIDNEY
  SANTA CLAUS
  STRATHMORE
  HAMBLETONIAN

As to the training and education of the trotter, that is a science
which would require a book in and of itself. Of the training of the
trotting-bred road-horse, no two men probably pursue exactly the
same methods, and no two horses require exactly the same treatment,
hence no hard and fast rules can be laid down for every man or for
every horse. Each man can only give the fruit of his own practical
experience, judiciously mixed with the experience of others.

The first lesson cannot be given too soon. The day the foal is born
it should be handled, and made to feel, even at that tender age,
that man is its friend and master. This should be repeated every
day for several weeks, or even longer, until the foal is perfectly
gentle and friendly toward its attendant, allowing itself to be
stroked and patted, and each leg in turn to be lifted so that the
hoof may be examined and attended to, a small halter put on and
taken off, and by degrees the foal gradually accustomed to lead and
stand to halter. With a little patience and judgment, all this can
be accomplished by the time the foal is a month old, simply through
kindness and coaxing.

Most breeders leave all this undone, letting the foals run wild
until they are weaned, when they are roughly and partially broken
by sheer force and awkwardness combined. Sometimes this is not
done till they are yearlings, or even older. The educating methods
when they are young give the best results. These first lessons are
never forgotten, and the foal is practically born in an atmosphere
of docility and obedience. He gains confidence in his master or
attendant, and never really learns to fight back at the end of a
halter strap, and is much more willing to accept passively what may
follow later on.

Instead of being in a state of terrorized obedience and fearful of
being hurt every time he is approached by man with a strap or a
piece of harness in his hands, he comes to look upon his training
as agreeable play.

Before the foal is weaned he should be tied up by the halter rope
to a small manger in the stall with his dam, long enough to finish
a small feed of crushed oats, and this should be continued as
part of his daily routine. He will fret much less after being
weaned when this is done.

[Illustration: PLATE XXVII.--HAMBLETONIAN]

[Illustration: PLATE XXVIII.--GEORGE WILKES]

His first lessons to harness should be given soon after being
weaned, during the winter that he becomes a yearling. A surcingle
may be first thrown over his back and loosely buckled at first,
then gradually tightened up. Being already used to the halter,
he will not object to a snug-fitting bridle. A leather bit is
preferable to any other for a young colt. By degrees the rest of
the harness may be put on with little or no trouble. If the colt is
suspicious, let him see, smell, and nose the harness before putting
it on. The colt should be led around with long reins, taught to
turn to either side, to stop at the word "whoa," and also to back.
Then he may be hitched up to a small cart, especially built, with
long shafts, low to the ground and running out behind the wheels,
so as to prevent rearing should this be attempted. It is well,
also, always to use a strong kicking-strap, on the theory that "an
ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." With such a cart and
harness and lessons two or three times a week when the weather is
pleasant, wonderful progress will often be made before it is time
to turn the yearling out to grass.

Next winter he is coming two years old, and when taken up, the
harness lessons should be resumed, this time to regulation
road-cart. At this stage a plain snaffle-bit should be used.
An average of twice a week in harness will be found sufficient,
although a short drive every pleasant day may be indulged in. The
colt should have the run of a paddock for exercise. The bitting rig
may now be used to give the colt a good mouth, a most essential
thing, for there is no comfort in driving a horse with a mean
mouth. It is assumed that all the driving is done with a light
hand, otherwise, instead of a road-horse, a rank puller is being
developed.

A young horse in harness can hardly be accustomed at too early a
stage to different sights and sounds, provided they are introduced
to him with judgment and in a way not calculated to frighten him.
He should become acquainted with dogs, cows, and such things as
he is liable to meet on the road. An umbrella open or shut should
have no terrors for him. In showing him an umbrella and gradually
opening it,--and putting it over his head and all about him,--it
is well to bear in mind that a colt should be educated on both
sides. Whatever is done on the near side should be repeated on
the off side. Carts should be rattled and pushed up against his
haunches, and a hundred and one things of the sort done,--all of
which will suggest themselves to a careful trainer. A horse has
little or no reasoning power. He has a tenacious memory. What he
has seen and knows does not harm him, he is not afraid of. What
he has not seen he dreads, and being naturally the most timid of
all animals, he instinctively and instantly thinks of flight, as
his sole chance of escape. Confidence in his driver will counteract
to a certain extent his dread and his thoughts of flight. A horse
that is whipped past an object he is afraid of is being forced to
choose the lesser of two evils, and in proportion to the extent of
his fear must be the severity of the whipping to induce him to pass
the dreaded object. Some horsemen pride themselves on their ability
to "make" a horse pass anything or go anywhere. This method ruins
a horse for pleasure driving, for when he sees something which
frightens him, he knows he is between two fires. Ultimately, he may
be cowed into submission and pass things without starting, but his
spirit is broken, and he is no longer a gentleman's road-horse.

The better plan is to gradually accustom a horse to steam cars,
trolley cars, automobiles, steam rollers, etc., taking him a little
nearer each time, and encouraging him with voice and rein to pass.
Not every man will succeed in doing this. Your true horseman, like
your poet, is born and not made. Before bringing his charge to this
point, he will have absolute control of his young horse, and the
horse has every confidence in his driver. The driver is confident
and fearless, and, knowing thoroughly the nature and limited
capacity of his pupil, so manages things that the confidence
and fearlessness are mutual, and so in time the horse responds
cheerfully and fearlessly to the slightest wish of his driver. In
the hands of a timid, nervous man, the same horse is likely to
develop into a dangerous shyer, if not a puller or a runaway.

Every harness-horse should be taught to back and to stand. He
should understand this before being harnessed to a cart, and time
and care cannot be better employed than in making him proficient
in both backing and stopping at the word of command, with every
vehicle to which he may be harnessed. A horse may do both every
time he is asked in a two-wheeled cart, and yet refuse to do either
and have to be taught all over again when put to a four-wheeled
vehicle.

Another valuable accomplishment is to walk fast. A lazy driver will
sometimes make a slow walker of a naturally fast one, but this
should not be tolerated. Some colts are naturally inclined to poke
along at a snail's pace when walking, and are most satisfactory in
every other respect. They will acquire the habit of brisk walking
if they are harnessed double with a fast-walking horse. It is time
well spent in teaching a horse to acquire the habit.

In driving young horses to pole, they should be driven different
days on alternate sides,--first on the near side, then on the off
side, or _vice versa_.

Open bridles should be used to begin with, and afterwards the blind
bridle may be substituted. A driving-horse should be equally at
home with either kind. While a plain snaffle is preferable for most
horses, it will not always answer. In that case, the only way is
to experiment with different bits until a suitable one is found. A
severe bit should never be used except as a last resort.

The abuse of overdraw checks cannot be too severely reprobated.
Many a good horse has his mouth and temper ruined, and his neck
muscles made rigid instead of remaining, as they should, flexible
and pliable, by the inordinate craze for the "Kimball Jackson"
check. Some horses may, and probably do, require it; but, in my
opinion, they are few and far between. Many road drivers seem to
think such a check must be used on a fast trotter. It is well to
recall that Jay-Eye-See, the first horse to trot a mile in 2.10,
was driven with a side-check; and Lou Dillon, who has trotted
a mile in 1.58½, and is the two-minute marvel of the day, goes
without any check whatever. These two noted examples should silence
all arguments about the necessity for an overdraw check in order to
increase the speed.

The pleasure of a driving-horse depends as much as anything else
upon his stopping and standing wherever and whenever you wish him
to do so. Young horses are often impatient of this restraint,
coming at irregular intervals and places, and it is one of the
hardest things to train a horse to do. A good plan is to have them
follow behind a wagon, particularly if loaded with hay, and have
the wagon start and stop, and the colt you are driving behind it
do likewise. This stopping and starting seems to him more natural,
coming as it does from the forcible argument of a load of hay in
front of him, rather than a pulling on his mouth from behind.

Just as the American trotting-bred horse makes the most agreeable
harness-horse in the world, so he is well worth all the time and
patience required to make him what he can become. A few months'
kindliness, firmness, and patience when his schooling begins mean
years of pleasure and safety to his owner later on. Above all, get
all idea out of your head of "breaking" a horse. He is the last
animal in the world to be made companionable or useful by being
beaten and roughly handled and, as the phrase is, "broken." In his
bitting, harnessing, and handling he should be made to do things
by patience rather than by force. The notion that a horse should
never be allowed to refuse to do what is required of him, but that
he should there and then be beaten into obedience is not only a
false notion, but results badly. Instead of thrashing him past what
he shies at, it is far better in the end to keep at the problem
day after day until he learns through habit rather than by the
whalebone. It takes more time, but in the end the results are far
more satisfactory. It is in these early days of the training of the
road-horse or harness-horse that the wise owner puts all he knows
of bitting, harnessing, shoeing, and feeding into practice. It is
at these times, too, that he learns by scores of experiments which
of the many counsels he has read or listened to is the wisest.
It may be said, indeed, that an owner is and remains partially
ignorant and incompetent, until he has watched and bitted and
driven, day after day, an equine problem of his own.

CHAPTER XI

A CHAPTER OF LITTLE THINGS

The success of every drive, whether with one horse, two horses,
four horses, or six horses, depends upon three things: the comfort
of your horse, yourself, and your passengers.

Of the comfort of the horse much has been said already, and all
that has been said may well be emphasized and even repeated. He
should be ready to go out, that is, not too soon after nor too
long after feeding. His bit and harness should be comfortable
and adequate to the work he is to do. His shoes and feet should
be in good condition. If a horse is properly looked after by
his caretaker in the stable, casting a shoe should be a rare
occurrence. The horse being comfortable at the start, everybody's
comfort behind him depends upon his being kept comfortable. He
should not be asked to go too fast or too slow, or asked to do too
much at one time, and his mouth should be kept fresh.

As for the coachman, his harness, too, should fit him. The writer
has seen a rein dropped and a horse in a four go sprawling on the
pavement, all on account of the ill-fitting hat of the coachman,
who was grabbing at his head-gear at an inopportune moment. It is
even a matter of consequence, if you are to be the custodian of
other people's safety on a drive, that your hat should fit you well
enough to stay on, even in a fresh breeze.

Gloves should be of dogskin, and at least a size too big. Your
hand should be able to bend as though there was no glove on it. If
the glove is not as big as this, or even bigger, your reins will
slip toward the middle of your fingers, where they should not be,
but held snug in toward the roots of the fingers; and you cannot
easily bend your hand round to make a pivot of your wrist, upon
which the whole easy give-and-take between the hand and the horse's
mouth depends. In our hot climate it makes for coolness in summer
to punch a few holes in the backs of the gloves, and turn over the
wrists on to the backs of the hands. Driving gloves with only one
seam up and down the fingers are the most comfortable (see plates).

A pair of woollen gloves should always be taken in tandem or
four-in-hand driving to use in case of wet weather. Nobody can
drive in tight-fitting gloves. You may steer and pull, but drive,
never. Every single suggestion as to holding and fingering the
reins is negatived if tight gloves are worn. It then becomes a
physical impossibility to so manœuvre hands, wrists, and fingers
that the horse's mouth shall have a chance. Wet gloves can be got
in shape and flexibility again by the use of Crown soap well rubbed
into them while they are wet. When they are dry again, they will be
as good as ever.

In the matter of the driver's cushion, it is well to be above
your horse, even in a runabout. This gives better control, more
power, and keeps the reins off the horse's back, so that they may
come back directly from the pad-terrets to the hand. The cushion
should always, in whatever vehicle, be of cloth, and tufted to
avoid slipping. You will have enough to do without using your
legs as props to hold you on your seat. So much depends upon the
physical proportions of the coachman that it is impossible to give
figures as to the proper size and slant of cushion. Three inches
and a half is a fair slant of cushion. The knees should be bent
at a comfortable angle, and the feet resting on the foot-board in
such a way that the ankles are not bent at an uncomfortable angle.
In driving two as a pair or tandem, or four horses, this matter
of a comfortable and secure seat is important, and will repay
considerable attention.

If for any reason--as in the case of a dog-cart balanced at
different angles--the distance between the seat and the foot-board
is altered, or where a child or short-legged person needs a
brace for the feet, never under any circumstances have a rail. A
foot-board covered with corrugated rubber made to fit in, and which
can be taken out when not needed, is all that is necessary. A rail
across the bottom of the foot-board, often seen in the lighter
style of vehicles, such as buggies, buckboards, and the like,
is an invention of the devil and most dangerous. It is entirely
unnecessary, and it is easy to catch your toe or toes underneath
it, and the consequences may be horribly serious. In one case a
lady, catching a low shoe under such a rail and struggling to get
it out, was thrown over the dash-board between her horses and
killed. Such a rail serves no real purpose and has no possible
defence except a very short-sighted economy. If your light vehicle
has such a rail as a rest for the feet, either take it out or put
another rail across parallel to it so that it is impossible to
catch even the toes underneath it.

If a horse gets his tail over a rein, stop him and lift his tail
off the rein; do not jerk the rein from under the tail. A clever
whip, driving tandem or four, can often, by a judicious turning
of the horse and a flick with the whip, make the horse take his
tail off the rein himself, but this is for the _cognoscenti_; the
beginner had best take the safest and surest way out of trouble and
either let the groom or his passenger help him out. If alone, slow
up, do no tugging and jerking, loosen the rein, turn your horse
quickly and decidedly the other way, and flick him on the quarters
with the whip. If it were not that every now and then some one is
kicked in the head by leaning over the dash-board to get hold of
the horse's tail, it would seem unnecessary to forbid absolutely
such a copper-fastened fool proceeding.

Of docked tails, bearing-reins, cruppers, and the like, there
are, season after season, endless discussions. The cause of the
discussion is usually due not to a wise, but to a cruel, use of
these, and is generally carried on in a legislature where only a
small minority know anything of the horse except as a quiet farm
animal, seldom driven out of a walk. As soon as the Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals adds to its board of directors
half a dozen theoretically and practically competent horsemen,
there will be a change for the better in these matters, both
practically and legislatively.

There are many competent horsemen who maintain, and with reason,
that the long tail is dangerous, particularly where women and
children drive; that a tail over the rein may mean a mishap,
and probably injury; that it is dirty, bedraggles and wets the
legs, and with the fast-moving, well-cared-for carriage horse is
unnecessary, even to his comfort. This does not, on the other hand,
imply that horses' tails should be docked and "set up"; but it
does point to a happy medium between the dangerous and dirty long
tail and the unnecessarily short dock. The question should not
be looked upon as having but one answer. Men who have themselves
docked horses and seen scores of horses docked, and who take the
most instructed care of their horses, are naturally provoked by
criticism from citizens who hardly know that a horse's tail has
joints in it, let alone anything about the feeding, housing, or
handling even of their own horses.

So very few people know how much there is to know about the horse,
that their ignorance neither oppresses, nor suppresses them.

As for the bearing-rein, here again the question is one of use.
For the misuse of the bearing-rein there is no defence. The
bearing-rein prevents shaking about of the head, rubbing off of the
bridle, catching the bit or bridle, getting the head down between
the legs, obstinate boring; and, driving in town, it is a valuable
piece of auxiliary harness. Its misuse, to hold a horse's head in
an unnatural position and to make him lift his feet, is not only
cruel, but vulgar--vulgar being used to express the type of mind
that measures everything by appearances.

The crupper keeps the saddle in place, helps materially to prevent
the horse from getting his tail over the rein, and disinclines him
to kick.

The breeching is, or ought to be, considered indispensable in a
hilly country, even with light vehicles, and is a proper precaution
in all cases where women or children act as coachman.

Brakes are a French invention, and might be supposed to come under
much the same strictures as the breeching. But while a breeching
is useful and never out of place, except perhaps on the leaders
where horses are driven in front of each other, the brake is so
often misused, with consequent damage to the horse, the harness,
the vehicle, and the skill of the driver, that it almost deserves
a chapter by itself. In the old days of heavy coach-loads, the
wheelers, helped by the skilful coachman, took the coach down
hill. But a mistake, or a break in the harness or the pole, meant
disaster. The brake, which cramps the wheels and takes some of the
strain of holding back off the horses, was a valuable invention.

A limited amount of alcohol given at the right time is an
indispensable medicine and a boon to the race. Alcohol taken at all
times and generally by the wrong persons, in the wrong places, is
the curse of the Anglo-Saxon race. England, with one in forty of
its population classed as incompetent, is the story of the misuse
of alcohol.

The brake shoved on violently at every declivity racks the
vehicles, burdens the horse by not allowing him to go part of his
road without the weight of the vehicle behind him, puts unnecessary
strain on the harness at the wrong time, and tends to make the
coachman careless. The brake shoved on with a jerk at every stop
jars everybody in the vehicle, and has been known, not once, but
often, to actually chuck people clean out of the vehicle, both
behind and in front, besides bringing the horse into his collar
with a painful galling of his shoulders. On a level place the brake
should never be used to stop the vehicle. After the vehicle has
been stopped, particularly if it be a heavy one, the brake may be
put on and left on until the next start is made--this as a measure
of precaution.

Never put on the brake in any case with the whip in the right
hand. Transfer your whip to the left hand and avoid the danger of
flicking the horse in front of you by dropping it toward him; or
of flicking the passengers behind you by dropping it toward them;
and above all avoid the danger of breaking or losing your whip
altogether. When the brake is to be put on, you need your whole
hand to do it. Put on and take off the brake quietly. Knowing
horses will often start off at the sound of the brake. The brake
should not be regarded as a regular part of the harness. It is good
for a horse to do some holding-back work, and a bad habit to get
him to the point where he shirks this part of the work, or refuses
to do it at all. Then in case the brake does not work, or you are
without one, the refusal may cause trouble. The brake is only for
use when there is too much strain on horse and harness--not for use
every time we go down the smallest declivity. Such use of it spoils
rather than helps the horse. It is torture to a passenger to see
and feel the brake go on, before the descent is reached even, and
then kept on yards after there is no need of it. As a matter of
fact, good men and good horses are able to negotiate any ordinary
road, without any brake at all; it is a precautionary measure and
a convenience. But for all driving in hilly country by the average
coachman it should not be omitted, nor should it be misused. Where
other people share the danger, it is always best to err on the
safe side. Do not start down any hill fast. With a heavy load, and
horses well in hand, you may put on steam toward the bottom and
give the cattle a little relief. In going up a hill, do not become
impatient and urge horses into a faster pace before you reach the
brow of the hill. It is hard on a horse to pull up a hill, and then
to be forced into a trot just before reaching the top, where the
strain is hardest. Once on the level, give a little breathing-space
and then start along. Remember always, whether going down hill,
or approaching a troublesome crowd of vehicles, or with a corner
to turn ahead of you, that the time to slow up is before you get
there. You should slow up with your eyes, and stop with your hands.
That is to say, you should begin operations as soon as your eyes
discover trouble ahead, and not leave it to the last moment; and
then, with your hands in the air, your back at an angle of 45°,
your horses on their haunches, and the carriage on top of them,
just save yourself. It is much easier to avoid trouble than to get
out of it. If you are alone, and with no one dependent upon you
for support, your neck is your own; but with passengers, for whose
safety you have tacitly pledged yourself, the moment you take the
reins you have no right to take the smallest risk, and besides you
are in honor bound to use your very best efforts for their safety
and comfort. Above all things do not fancy that you are a coachman,
because you own horses and can drive them. Bad driving in New York
is responsible for one death a day the year round.

The hands should be carried under average circumstances at about
the level of the watch chain when worn in the lower waistcoat
pocket; the arm horizontal from the elbow, which position puts the
hands slightly lower than the elbow. But this direction should
not for a moment be taken as a hard and fast rule. You will see
first-rate coachmen, some with the hand higher, some with the hand
lower than this. The reasons for the differences are simple. With a
nicely bitted team in a show ring or in the Park, where a touch is
enough, the left hand if raised a little can be turned more easily,
the points can be made by the right hand with less movement, and
there is no danger of tiring either hand or arm. On the other hand,
the coachman who has a fifty-mile drive before him, with many
different horses to handle, will place his hand lower, with more
comfort to himself, and with less risk of numbing his hand and arm.

Driving with the hands held up under the chin, or out in front of
one, as though presenting a visiting-card on a tray, are merely
the monkey mannerisms of the ignorant. This is often the result
of having seen others drive without understanding the reasons for
their position of the hands. Those most accomplished coachmen,
Howlett, father and son, in teaching hold the hands higher than the
ordinary for the very sufficient reason that they can handle a team
admirably, this way or any other way, and because it is much easier
to show the pupil what is going on with the reins and fingers in
that position. But when young Howlett so easily distanced his
competitors, and won the five-hundred-dollar prize at the Madison
Square Garden, he did not handle the reins in an exaggerated or
conspicuous fashion. Holding the hands too high is conspicuously
awkward, besides showing the performer to be ignorant of his
business and making it exceedingly difficult to pull up quietly
and quickly. It may be set down as an axiom, that the coachman who
looks self-conscious and in a strained position is doing something
he does not understand, because he guesses it is right. A snob may
be borne with on dry land; but on the cushion he is dangerous.
The institutional bore who illustrates the evident, explains the
obvious, and expatiates on the commonplace is merely an irritant
at dinner; but at the helm of a boat or behind horses his slovenly
omniscience presages, or prepares for, disaster.

But more than any other one thing, inattention is the cause
of most accidents. Something goes wrong because the coachman,
through inattention, was unprepared for it, and then things
happen that cannot be avoided. Nine runaways out of ten begin
with carelessness; once started there is no help this side of a
smash-up. You may see not once, but ten times, a day the owner of
a vehicle put down his reins, get out, and instead of going to
the horse's head, until the groom can get to the reins, walk off.
The writer has seen two expensive smash-ups due to the fact that
a high-strung horse, startled by a noise or an unexpected sight,
broke away while the groom was getting from the horse's head to the
seat. A horse finding himself entirely and unexpectedly at liberty,
loses his head more often than not, and then does any mad thing,
from kicking to running away, that comes easiest.

The harness-horse, it is to be remembered, is always under control,
and just to feel no restraining hand is in and of itself enough
to upset him. Very few horses if restrained in time can get away
with a fairly strong man, but no man living can stop two, or even
one, much less four horses, once they get the jump on him and a
good galloping start. The important thing is to keep such watch
and ward that the horse gets no chance to get even one jump before
he is pulled up, and that means ceaseless vigilance. If you have
had accidents,--and if you have ridden or driven much, you have
had accidents,--you will recall that the cause was unexpected, and
things happened just at that particular fraction of a second when
you were off your guard. In teaching any one to drive, particularly
children, this point cannot be too much emphasized. The eyes, so
to speak, should be in the boat, or in equine parlance on the
horse, the whole livelong time,--from the moment you take up the
reins till some one has the horse's head at the end of the journey.
Lacking this fundamental axiom of all driving, everything else goes
for nothing.

The whip should be used smartly and for a purpose, or not at all.
It is best to hit your horse forward of his pad or saddle, except
where in tandem or four-in-hand driving the leaders should be hit
on the hind legs, under, not above, the trace. Never, in any kind
of driving, use your whip with the rein in the same hand as the
whip. To hit a horse with the whip, and to jab him in the mouth at
the same time, renders both signals incomprehensible.

The reins should never be flopped about on the horse's back in lieu
of the whip. This jabs the mouth, confuses the horse, and puts
him not only to confusion, but out of your direct control. The
connection between hand and bit should never be cut off while the
horse is in motion, any more than you should unship your rudder
while sailing a boat. Do not turn corners too fast nor too soon.
When the hub of your front wheel is opposite the corner you are to
turn, even if you be too close on that side, there is little danger
of hitting even with the hind wheel. Above all things, look where
you are going and watch your horse! In any sport where the pleasure
and safety of others are in your keeping, to show off or to take
risks is unpardonable and dangerous folly.

"Form," of which we hear so much in relation to driving, is
here as everywhere else either rational or ridiculous. Form
is rational when it is the proper clothing of an idea; form is
ridiculous when it is merely an idea of proper clothing. When you
dress comfortably, and sit securely, and hold the reins firmly
and lightly, you drive in good form because you are obeying the
well-thought-out laws of the sport. When you merely copy the
externals without knowing why, you are ridiculous. This is the
whole secret of form. One is matter, the other is merely manner.
One is rational, the other ridiculous.

CHAPTER XII

DRIVING ONE HORSE

Once you have a horse and know something of his make-up inside
and out, and have housed him properly, and bought his harness
and learned something of its use, the next thing is to make the
connection, first between the horse and the vehicle, and then
between yourself and the horse.

The carriage should be run out first, the pole or shafts put in
place and dusted, the proper whip and robes got together. It may be
well for the owner to realize that a man alone should have at least
three-quarters of an hour to turn out on the box of a brougham or
Victoria, proportionally less time for a runabout or other light
carriage, on which he is to appear in stable clothes. The horse
should be brought out of or turned in his stall and attached to the
pillar-reins, and his feet, coat, and head gone over. The collar
should then be stretched and put over his head, being careful not
to rub hard against the eye-bones in so doing, fasten on the hames,
and turn the collar into place. It is easier to fasten hames on to
the collar before the collar is turned. Then put on the bridle,
seeing to it that the bit is in its proper place, as well as the
winkers, and that both sides of the bridle are of the same length.
The saddle should be placed first well back on the horse, so that
the crupper may be put under the tail without undue pulling and
hauling. Then place the saddle where it belongs on the horse's
back, and tighten up the girth. Run the reins through their terrets
and fasten them to the bit, and lead your horse out and back him
into the shafts. Never take hold of the bit in leading him out but
by the nose-band. If you slip or stumble or he throws his head, if
you have him by the bit you jab him in the mouth, and then even
before he is in the vehicle he is sensitive and restive. Put your
horse as near the carriage as possible without danger of hitting
when in motion. The tug girth, which holds the shafts, should
be tight enough to hold the shafts in place in a four-wheeled
carriage, but loose enough to allow a certain amount of play in
two-wheeled carriages. Where, as in a gig harness, the play is
given by the tug itself, this is not necessary.

In unharnessing, take off the bearing-rein, unfasten the traces,
then the tug girth--not _vice versa_, so that if a horse starts
forward there will be something to prevent the carriage running
on his heels. Always loosen a curb-chain before taking off a
bridle,--this applies equally to the horse in harness or under
saddle,--and lastly the breeching. The reins should be unbuckled
from the bit, drawn back through the terrets, and hung over the
arm or out of the way. Take off the pad, turn the collar, and take
off the hames, then turn the collar back and leave it in its place
a few minutes to prevent galled shoulders. The bit and curb-chain
should be thrown into the bucket of lime water, or at any rate
cleaned carefully at once. It is much easier to prevent rust than
to get it off.

In taking out a pair, the reins should be unbuckled first of all
and pulled through from the front. If you drive into the stable,
do it yourself before dismounting. In taking off the traces, begin
with the inside one, then the outside one, then the pole-chains
or pole-pieces. Take off the saddles, turn the collars, remove
the hames, leaving collars on as before. It is a great saving of
time, and lessens confusion, to fix the habit of both harnessing
and unharnessing in a regular way, until it becomes mechanical;
and mistakes are not made, and accidents do not happen, because
the habit of doing things properly has become fixed. Have your
buckle-rein on off-side horse. First, because that marks the rein,
and, secondly, because as that rein is the one not thrown across
there is less likelihood of hitting and hurting the attendant on
that side.

Before you take the reins in your hand look over the trap, harness,
and horse, and see that all is right. The stop on the shafts should
by all means be behind the tugs; the traces, collar, breeching,
bridle, girths, bit, bearing-rein, should be looked over, first, to
see if you may drive in safety, and then to confirm you in what you
have learned about these things.

Take the reins in the left hand, the near rein over the second
finger, the off rein between the third and fourth finger. No matter
what the vehicle is, take the whip with you when you get into
it. The whip in the socket is in the way, and the whip should be
almost as constantly in the hands as the reins anyway, so that it
is better to begin with the whip where it belongs. Then place the
reins in the right hand with the whip, mount to your place, take
your seat quickly, change the reins back into the left hand, see
that they are about the right length _without_ feeling your horse's
mouth, which would make him start before you are ready, and you are
ready to send your first telegram to your horse. Do it discreetly,
gently, and if you are not where your voice will disturb other
horses, add a word of some kind, preferably a signal not in common
use between men and horses. A horse learns quickly to recognize,
and does not forget, his owner's voice. That voice encourages,
soothes, or commands him. But where you are driving with or
surrounded by others, the use of your voice in the well-known click
or chirrup would disturb all the horses and coachmen about you. It
is easy to accustom your own horses to any phrase: "Come on now,"
"Look alive," or even "What's the matter?" which conveys no message
to other horses and at the same time rouses your own. The writer
has an intimate acquaintance with several horses who will start
into action at hearing "Come on now," in a well-known voice.

Nothing is more disagreeable at a railway station, in a hurly-burly
of traps and horses, than the clicking and clucking and snapping
of whips, which, while meant for one or two horses, disturb half a
dozen. Two-thirds of the coachmen on private carriages catch sight
of their masters, flap the horses with the reins, swing the whip,
and chirrup; and yet they would be surprised to be told that they
do not know the rudiments of driving. Nothing smacks more of the
farmer than a man who, behind you, or passing you, or standing near
you and wishing to start, clicks or clucks to his horse, starting
your horse up at the same time. A man who cannot start one, two,
or four horses with his hands, and without a hullabaloo of noise,
is unworthy to sit behind horses at all. If your horses are new to
your stable, or awkward and untrained, feel the mouth gently, and
if this is not understood or is misunderstood, use the whip gently
and make your start in that way. The perfection of starting is
to have the horse feel his bit on his bars almost exactly at the
moment his shoulders feel the collar--a fraction of a lightning
stroke after, to be exact.

When you are ready to start either out of the stable or from the
door, have the man stand clear. No leading of the horse forward, no
pulling at bit or nose-band; give the horse a chance to learn what
you want of him without puzzling him with a variety of signals.

It is a little ahead of time to speak of it here, but, lest we
forget, it may be mentioned at once. Never allow the groom or
grooms to stop your horse or horses, whether one, two, or four,
when you drive into the stable. This makes horses restless, makes
them back, slide, or kick, and in the case of a four may result
in a general mix-up. Stop your horses gradually, with voice and
reins, but stop them yourself. They have come in from the drive
more or less accustomed to your hands and ways, according as you
are more or less proficient, and a rough hand on bit or nose, and
an apparition in front of them, ought to, and generally does, upset
them. Besides all this you ought to, and they ought to know how to
stop properly, and without fuss or flurry exactly when and where
you wish them to, even if it be on the cement floor of your stable
entrance.

The reins should be held with the near rein between the thumb and
first finger, the off rein between the third and fourth fingers.
Hold your hand so that your knuckles, turned toward your horse, and
the buttons on your waistcoat, will make two parallel lines up and
down with the hand three or four inches from the body. The reins
should be clasped, or held by the two lower, or fourth and fifth
fingers; the second finger should point straight across and upward
enough to keep the near rein over the knuckle of that finger and
the thumb pointing in the same direction, but not so much upward.
The reins are held, not by squeezing them on their flat surface,
but by pressure on their _edges_. The edges, in a word, being
held between the two last fingers and the root of the thumb. This
arrangement makes a flexible joint, the wrist, for the reins and
for the bit to play upon. This suppleness of the wrist, just enough
and not too much, is what is called "hands." It means, that your
wrist gives just enough play to the horse's mouth to enable him to
feel your influence, without being either confused or hampered by
it.

As this is the key to perfection in all driving, everybody claims
to possess it; only the elect few have it.

Practically everybody can learn to play the piano or the violin,
or to write tolerable verses; only a very few, indeed, ever attain
to supreme command over these instruments, or over the music of
words. Training and teaching may accomplish much and make fair or
even excellent performers; but beyond that it is divine grace, born
not made, given not attained. The same is true of driving: you
may be one of the elect, but if you are, you belong to a society
as small as that of the Knights of the Garter, and you need not
be vain, since it was no hard work of yours, but an endowment.
It is a combination of physical and mental traits, a quickness
of connection between nerve and brain and muscle, that may be
cultivated and improved in all men, but which reaches perfection
only in the few. Corbett, in "An Old Coachman's Chatter," says,
"Even for a good amateur to acquire professional style requires two
years averaging eighty miles a day, with a fair amount of night
work."

A persistent man may do much. He may learn to write excellent
verse, with no hope of ever being a poet; he may learn to jump
higher than the average, without the slightest prospect of doing
six feet, six and a half inches, which thus far has only been
done by one man in the world; he may learn to run, or swim, or
speak, but the heights of the unexcelled are not for him. This
much ought to be said about driving at the start. You may read
books from now till doomsday, and you may practise, and you will
undoubtedly become an excellent and trustworthy coachman, far above
the average,--not a difficult attainment, by the way,--but to have
this magic of "hands" is not, I believe, attainable except to those
endowed physically and mentally with peculiar powers, in peculiar
combination. It is because everybody thinks he knows how to drive,
simply because he can steer quadrupeds with steel in their mouths,
that this point is emphasized. No one need neglect this sport on
the ground that the vision and the attainment are limited; they are
not, and to most men even confident competence is denied, not to
speak of this virtuosity of hands.

Now that you are in your seat with the reins as they should
be, between the thumb and second and between the third and
fourth fingers of your left hand, wrist properly bent, and in a
sufficiently humble and docile state of mind, you should notice
why the reins are separated by two fingers instead of one, and why
the near rein is kept so far as possible over the knuckle of the
second finger. Just as the wrist makes play backward and forward,
so this separation of the reins enables you to make play sideways
or across the horse's mouth. By turning your hand toward you, so
that the knuckles, instead of facing the horse, face the sky, you
shorten that upper rein, the near rein, and your horse goes over
to the left, or near side. By turning your hand just the other way
and bringing it across to the left hip, you shorten the off rein
and turn your horse to the right. All done with one hand, you still
have the other for your whip, to render any assistance needed.
There are scores of times when to steer your horse, and still to
have the right hand free, means not merely convenience, but safety.

It is a peculiarity of driving that it is almost the one sport in
which the sportsman is the custodian of, and responsible for, other
people. A man rides, shoots, and does other dangerous things alone,
but nine times out of ten he drives with others alongside of him.
It is doubly necessary, therefore, that he should know his business
thoroughly, and, if he is to make a practice of driving others,
that he should spare no pains to know all that he can.

The fact that the left hand is held as directed keeps the reins
secure, and keeps them secure with the least possible exertion. As
this position of the hand, wrist, and fingers is a little awkward
at first to the beginner, most driving is done with the wrist not
held across the body, but pointing toward the horse, with the thumb
held over the reins as a sort of clip and pointing also toward the
horse. The reins held in this fashion are of necessity insecure
and forever slipping forward, and there is no leverage of wrist for
the horse's mouth, but a straight pull from an outstretched arm.

One often hears the comment that one cannot as easily hold a horse
this way as with the reins, say in both hands. That is exactly the
secret of it. It is just so that you cannot keep a dead pull on the
poor brute's mouth that this position is the ideal one. You don't
want to pull your horse, but to drive him. Most driving, by the
way, seems to have as its central feature how to stop him, rather
than how to make him go pleasantly; how to get the quickest and
sharpest jerk on his mouth in case of trouble, rather than how to
exert the least possible pressure that will command obedience. With
a well-bitted horse, you should be able to make figure eights by
moving the left hand as directed without touching the reins with
the right hand at all. The position of the hired coachman on the
box of a Victoria or brougham these days is a ludicrous one for the
reason that most of them, and evidently their masters, know nothing
of the reason for that position. It was intended by balancing the
coachman thus to prevent his putting great weight on the reins,
as he might do if his feet and legs stuck out in front of him and
his hands were held at arm's length. It is well and proper that
he should be balanced on his seat with his back hollowed in,
his elbows at his side, his hand across and in front of him; but
tucking his legs and feet back and way underneath him defeats the
whole plan by forcing him to hold on by the reins, which is just
what it was hoped to avoid. His feet and legs, as in the case of
the gentleman coachman, should be at such an angle in front of him
that he has a perfectly easy balance and something to brace against
in case he needs to exert extra power. On a lady's light Victoria,
with nothing but the narrow foot-board in front of him, a coachman
in this new-fangled position is not only a figure of fun, but he is
also in grave danger of accident. This monkey-on-a-stick attitude
is a blundering misinterpretation of a perfectly sensible rule.

So far as the amateur coachman is concerned, he should sit
straight, with his back so hollowed that he can balance easily on
his hips, not on the edge of, but on the cushion, with his feet and
legs at a comfortable angle, and without that look of going out
after the reins one so often sees--a care-worn, bent-over position,
as though the reins were sliding away, never to reappear.

Start out moderately, keep your horse at an even pace, and come
in toward the end of your journey again at a moderate pace. A
horse is not saved by doing ten miles in two hours instead of one.
On the contrary, it takes less out of a horse to make him do
his journey at a smart gait rather than to dawdle. You may have
noticed yourself that a brisk two hours' walk takes far less out of
you than the standing around, the stopping and starting, and the
general dawdling of two hours' shopping. Here again the size of
the horse's stomach should help to solve the problem of how fast
and how far. It is better that he should do his task at a brisk
pace and get back to his rub down, his meal, and his rest, than
that he should be jogged for a long time at a stretch. Even when
it is necessary to keep him going and to keep him away from his
stable for an undue number of hours, which must sometimes happen,
he should be given a short rest and a small meal of soft food; this
will make all the difference between over fatigue that may result
seriously, and fatigue easily cured by proper rest. A horse worked
at regular hours, and regularly and properly fed, is three-quarters
of the way toward being and keeping in good condition.

Just as he should be started quietly, so he should be stopped
quietly. It is not the mark of good driving to bring your one
horse, or your team, up to the stopping-place at a quick pace, and
then to pull up with a jerk--the horse's head in the air, his mouth
open because he has been jabbed by the bit, the shafts pointing
up, the breeching tight, and the horse almost on his haunches.
This kind of stopping takes more out of a horse than a mile of hard
work. Begin to stop some time before you stop. Shorten your reins,
decrease your pace, and whether it is driving in the traffic of the
street or at your own door, slow up gradually. You can tell with
certainty whether a man knows his business by the way he starts and
stops. If you have stopped as you should, the horse is not sitting
in the breeching, with his collar sliding toward the top of his
head; but horse and vehicle are stopped, and yet the horse and the
vehicle and harness are all in position to go on again without
a jerk. This is of the utmost importance in driving in the city
streets, where you may find yourself in serious trouble if, through
inattention, you have driven well into trouble, before planning to
stop. Your horse's nose, or your pole, has poked into another horse
or vehicle, or you are obliged to pull up so suddenly that you
throw your horse, or horses down.

In America, where we turn to the right, pull well over to your own
side and slow down before you get to the street corner around which
you wish to go, whether to the right or left. Leave ample room for
another vehicle to pass, even though you should meet just at the
turn. Many horses, awkwardly enough, get their legs crossed when
turning, and on slippery pavements, where the pull up and the
pull round come at the same time, a horse is very apt to stumble,
and even to fall. Because you have turned many corners without
accident is no reason for not taking pains. Many young coachmen
escape perils through sheer ignorance, but persistence in error
and inattention bring their punishment sooner or later, and the
horse skins his knees, or slides under the shafts in a crowd, or
kicks and hammers harness and trap to bits. It is too late then to
remember to keep an eye out for what is going on ahead of you, to
turn corners carefully, and to slacken speed gradually, and not all
at once.

It is a safe rule in turning a corner to turn only when the hub of
your front wheel has reached the line that the curb would make if
prolonged, then there is no danger of running on to or against the
corner itself. Even when turning a corner to the right, and you
are close to the curb, this rule, if obeyed, will keep both front
and back wheels clear. If this is not done, the back wheel, and
sometimes both, go rubbing around the curbstone, which, aside from
the slovenliness of the performance, is damaging to the wheel, and
racking to every bolt in the carriage. If in the country, where
often a large stone marks the angle of the turn, to hit this stone
or to go over it is often to go over altogether.

The safest and quickest way to shorten the reins, when it must be
done in a pinch, is to pull them through from behind. If there are
two reins, grasp them between the thumb and second finger of the
right hand, open the fingers of the left hand enough to let them
run through, shorten them to the required length, and take your
grip on them again, with the fingers of the left hand. Every man
finds, now and then, either through the foolish driving of some
one else, or through unavoidable accident, that he must shorten
his reins quickly, and without risk of dropping one. Under those
circumstances the best way is to pull them through from behind,
though such exigencies occur but seldom with a careful driver.
Under ordinary circumstances the best and gentlest way is to place
the right hand on the reins, in front of the left, with thumb and
finger over near rein and last three fingers over off rein, and
slide the left up the reins the required distance. Here again it is
the mark of the careful driver that he never seems to be obliged to
do things in a hurry. When it is necessary to stop, he has already
shortened up his reins, and is ready to stop. When it is necessary
to turn a corner, he has already advised his horse by giving him
the office, and the corner is negotiated with scarcely the movement
of the hands. When it is time to start, the horse seems to have
been informed via the reins and bit, and off he goes without a
jerk. In passing other vehicles from behind, pass to their left.
Do not pass at all unless you are going at a quicker pace, and
propose to maintain it. To turn short across another man's horse,
and then go on at the same pace he is going, is the veriest and
vulgarest rudeness. The only excuse for passing is that you are
making faster time than he is, and that you propose to keep it up.

Drive with one hand. In the show ring, where horses must show pace
in a small ring, use the right hand on the off rein. It gives
better control, and keeps the horse steadier. Keep the right
hand cautiously near, that you may use it to shorten the reins,
to steady the horse, or to add force when the left hand is not
sufficient. Carry your whip pointing upwards, and slightly to
the left, say toward the left ear of your horse, in driving one.
Start slowly, drive at the same pace, once you are started; it
saves the horse, and is far more agreeable to the passengers. Pull
up gradually. Turn corners slowly, and do not start to turn too
soon. Be continuously careful to keep your horse's mouth fresh,
by giving and taking between your hand and his mouth, with just
enough pressure to keep him informed that you are behind him, and
no more. If you hang on to his mouth, be sure that he will end by
pulling your arms out. If you use the whip on him, do not tap him
continually, or flick him, here and there, from time to time, out
of sheer idleness and inconsequence; but if you use it, do it so
that the horse knows it is punishment and not play; otherwise you
waste the benefit to be derived from the whip, by accustoming the
horse to think that in your use of the whip you are merely playing
with him. Above all, keep a good lookout ahead, and if you have a
horse that is worth driving at all, you may be sure that it is also
worth your while to keep an eye on him all the time.

CHAPTER XIII

DRIVING A PAIR

So much depends upon the comfort of the horse in his harness that
it is well worth the owner's time and attention to learn how the
harness should be put on, how the horses should be put to, and then
to see that both are done properly.

The collar goes on first, and where horses are worked hard, and
regularly, as in a road coach or on a driving tour, it is well to
put the collars on, and leave them on a few moments before the rest
of the harnessing is done. The collar thus gets warm against the
neck, and there is that much less danger of rubbing and chafing the
skin, and making a bad start. The usual custom is to put the collar
on with the hames attached. It is better to fasten the hames about
the collar after the collar is on the horse, thus avoiding the
tendency to squeeze the collar on over his head. After the saddle
is on, the crupper under the tail, and the saddle-girth loosely
buckled to keep the saddle in place, then is the time to tighten up
the hames. The traces are crossed over the back of each horse with
the outside trace on top. The bridle is then put on, and the reins
drawn through the pad-terrets, and the outside or draught rein
buckled to the bit, the inside or coupling rein fastened to the
nose-band underneath by passing the billet through the loop, but
without buckling it. Then take the rein, double it, pass the bight
of it through the terret, with the loop over the bearing-rein hook.

The horses are now ready to be led out by the nose-band, not by
the bit, and put to. Bring the horses up from behind alongside
the pole, rather than toward the pole, when they must be turned,
and pushed up to the pole. Once there, fasten them to the pole,
and buckle the pole-strap at the end hole, the near horse first,
then the off horse. Next fasten the traces, the outside one always
first. This seems awkward, and like doing things upside down. The
reason for it, however, is all-sufficient. If the inside trace is
put on first, the horse may, often does, in fact, edge out from the
pole at the touch of something on the pole side of him, and there
is a struggle to get him back so that the outside trace may be put
on. This may upset the other horse, and trouble follows.

Here, and at all other times, remember that in dealing with horses,
under every and all conditions, a stitch in time saves at least
eighteen. Therefore put the outside trace on first, then the inside
trace, then proceed to pole up your horses, that is to say, put
your pole-pieces through the kidney-link from the inside out,
and tighten them up to what you consider the proper length. This
adjustment is a very nice one, and can only be done accurately
by one who, when driving, notes carefully the effect upon pole,
pole-pieces, and collars, of a hole more or less. The horses should
not carry the pole, through being poled too tight; neither should
the pole go bobbing about, through being poled too loose. Over
rough roads, horses should be poled up rather loosely, to give play
to the pole; otherwise, every jar will swing and bump the whole
vehicle. In park driving, or driving over smooth roads, they may be
poled up more closely.

The more compact are horses, vehicle, and coachman acting together
as one, the more easily and smoothly everything goes; but this is
not to be interpreted as approval of poling up horses so tight
that they are carrying the pole, and are cramped and impeded.
Pole-pieces of leather, or chains, are a matter of custom. No
vehicle has chains where the coachman drives; while a mail-phaeton,
or lady's phaeton, where the master or mistress drives, usually
has chains rather than leather. An authority to be depended upon
always in such matters, writes: "Pole chains should be used only
on a carriage driven by the master or mistress, such as a coach,
mail-phaeton, or lady's phaeton; never on a carriage driven by a
coachman, such as a landau, coupé, or Victoria, when straps should
be used. This is a custom based upon the fact that the working
originals of coaches and mail-phaetons had chains; an adherence to
it marks the difference between well turned out and badly turned
out vehicles." Both breastplates and pole-pieces should go, the
former round both collar and hames, and the latter round the collar
and through the kidney-link ring and not through the ring alone;
otherwise the small strap at the top of the collar holding the
hames together is the only safeguard, and should this break, away
goes your pole, and probably your horses. But this precaution is
only necessary in heavy work. The breastplate holds even if the
hame-strap breaks, and to put the pole-straps around the collar
chafes the horse's neck.

After the horses are poled up and their traces fastened, the
coupling-reins are fastened to the bits. Certain writers on the
subject advise buckling the coupling-reins first of all. The writer
has no criticism to pass upon this, except that experience shows
that fastening two horses together by the head, and then going to
their heels for the traces, often works badly. As long as they are
fastened together by their collars to the pole it is not a matter
of much moment anyway. It is a matter for one's own judgment and
experience rather than of fixed law. All the other matters of
precedence and procedure in harnessing have a rational sanction
which makes them imperative.

The reins are buckled together on the off side and, as in the
case of each single rein, the bight of them passed through the
off pad-terret of the off horse and looped over the bearing-rein
hook. Your pair is now ready for your inspection; this done, and
as you are about to take the reins, the bearing-reins are put on
their hooks. In the case of green or nervous horses it is well to
start them off first, fastening the bearing-reins as they move off,
and thus avoid jibbing, backing, and even rearing in the stable.
Take the reins in the right hand with the middle finger between
them, see that the buckles of both reins are the same length from
your hand, pull both reins out some ten inches, then give the off
rein a few inches more, get your whip in your hand, mount to your
seat, sit down, put your reins in your left hand with the index
and middle finger between them, and you will find yourself with
both reins of about the same length and of about the right length.
Another measure of the proper length of the reins before mounting
is to hold the reins in the left hand, step back until you are on
a line with the horse's hocks, holding the left hand close to the
body. When seated the reins will be of the right length (Plate
XXIX.).

Always ask if everything is right before you feel the mouths of the
horses. The groom may be just putting on a last touch, or he may be
looking the other way, as you give the signal to start, and there
follows a lame foot, or even a knock-down; and so much depends upon
a fair start that it is worth some pains to get it.

The whip should be held at the place where the ferrule goes round
the handle, as all good whip-makers make their whips to balance at
that point (Plate XXIX.). The knees and feet should be together;
the feet not poked out as though you were standing on them, nor
tucked under you as though you were ashamed of them. You will
balance better if you sit straight with your back hollowed in at
the small of it. To lengthen or shorten the reins put the right
hand on the reins in front of the left with the little and fourth
finger on the right hand or off rein, leaving the left hand or near
rein between the fourth and middle fingers, and the thumb and index
finger over the same--the near rein (Plate XXIX.). You may shorten
the reins now, by just so much, as you place the right hand in
front of the left, by sliding the left hand up to the right, and
taking your grip again. It is best to do this gradually, taking
in a little of the reins at a time, rather than by taking ten or
twelve inches at a time. Whether it be the left or the right hand
that is in front, the hand in front should for the time being hold
the reins. Never, under any circumstances, get the thumb under the
near rein nor the little finger under the off rein, a very common
and faulty practice. The reason being that in such a situation your
right hand is hampered in moving quickly, by having the thumb under
the rein, your left hand likewise by having the little finger under
instead of on top of the rein. As all these movements should be
made mechanically, without looking at the reins, the fingers should
be so placed and kept that there is no mixing up in the process.
The right hand indeed should do its fingering of the reins as
quickly and accurately as a practised pianoforte player picks out
and strikes his notes.

In stopping, place the right hand on the reins from eight to ten
inches in front of the left, as described above, press the right
hand in toward the body while raising the left hand. If this is
not enough, hold the reins in the right hand, pass the left in
front, and take in more rein, the right coming forward again to
the front place. In an emergency, it is always safest to pull the
reins through from behind with the right hand (Plate XXIX.). To the
inexperienced this is quicker and safer, whether with two reins or
four. In driving a pair of "roadsters," so called, they are put
to with their heads far apart, and bitted with plain snaffle-bits.
Such a pair must be driven with two hands, one rein in each hand,
in order to keep an even pressure upon their mouths.

Before you have gone very far along a straight road you will
notice, unless you are driving a thoroughly made, mannered, and
properly put together pair, that one horse does more work than
the other, or that one horse seems to be in front of the other.
This is caused by the formation of the horses, the length of the
traces, the coupling-reins. Traces stretch with wear, and when
this has become apparent, the shorter traces should be used on the
inside; if they are on the outside, it is easy to see that this
will put the pull on the collar where it should not be, and gall
the shoulders. The lazier or shorter horse should be in shorter
traces. As to the coupling-reins, this is, strange to say and
to see, a part of the harness that many drivers of horses never
examine, and never alter, any more than they think of trying to
change the diameter of their wheels. As a matter of fact, the
coupling-reins are the key to the problem of driving a pair or a
four comfortably.

[Illustration: PLATE XXIX.--DRIVING A PAIR]

If you will examine a pair of two-horse reins, you will notice that
they are just like the two reins for one horse--one rein goes on
the outside of the bit of one horse, and one goes on the outside
of the bit of the other horse. These are called the draught-reins.
But there is a marked difference, for on each of these reins is
buckled another rein, called the coupling-rein; the one on the
left rein goes over and is buckled on the inside of the bit of the
right-hand horse, and the coupling-rein of the right rein goes
over and is buckled on the inside of the bit of the left-hand or
near horse. In buckling these coupling-reins to the bits, if one
horse is more up-headed than the other, let his coupling-rein be
on top, so that he will not annoy the other horse by jerking up
the other's coupling-rein. The adjustment of these reins should be
suited to the conformation and disposition of the horses, and it is
in this adjustment that the experienced whip makes himself and his
horses comfortable, by making them go together, and go level. No
two horses suit each other exactly as to length of body or neck, or
the way of carrying the head, and yet you may see dozens of pairs
of reins where the coupling-rein buckles have apparently never
been changed! The buckles of the coupling-reins should be near
enough to the hand in pair or four driving--say eighteen inches--to
enable one to change the couplings from the driving-cushion. In
most harnesses there are two or three holes in the billet that
buckles to the bit, so that the length may be changed also at the
bit. There are arguments for and against this practice of having
holes in the billet. It is said that this makes it easy to change
a coupling from the ground; on the other hand, an ignorant groom
may make the change there unknown to the coachman, and thus cause
confusion. Take your choice!

The object of these two inside, or coupling, reins is to hold the
horses together, at the head, of course, and they should be so
adjusted that an even pressure is brought to bear on both sides
of the horses' mouths, so that they will go straight, and do each
his share of the work. If horses were all alike, it would be easy
enough to buckle these coupling-reins in the same hole on each
draught-rein, and your horses would be level. But suppose we have
two horses, one of which, the near horse, carries his head higher
than the other and out farther than the other. If these two are to
go level, the near horse must have his reins longer than those of
his mate. Up and down the draught-reins are punched some fifteen
holes in four-in-hand harness, fewer in pair-horse harness, and an
inch apart, and the coupling-reins can be buckled longer or shorter
by buckling up and down these reins. In the case we are describing,
we must of course let out the coupling-rein of the up-headed, near
side horse, say three holes, and (remember that the near side
coupling-rein is the one buckled on to the off side draught-rein
and _vice versa_) take up the near side coupling-rein the same
number.

It must be remembered in this operation, however, that the
shortening of the coupling-rein brings the horses' heads nearer
together, and if they were going properly, parallel to the pole,
and at the right distance apart, before one coupling-rein was
shortened, then, if this relative position to one another is to be
maintained, the other coupling-rein must be let out an equal number
of holes.

 "When the horses are working exactly alike, the reins are as
 shown by the heavy lines; _A_ and _B_ are the two sides of the
 off horse's bit, and _C_ and _D_ the two sides of the near
 horse's bit. The two outside or draught reins run straight to the
 coachman's hand, viz. _AM_ and _DN_. The coupling-reins are _CM_
 and _BN_, buckled to the draught-reins _M_ and _N_. If the off
 horse bends his neck so as to bring his head nearer to his body,
 both the reins which run to his bit will be too slack, and he will
 run forward and do more than his share of the work, while the near
 horse is held back. To prevent this the off horse's coupling-rein
 to _BN_ is shortened by running it up the draught-rein to _N'_,
 the last hole, until it comes just tight to the bit; but this
 obviously leaves the off draught-rein _AM_ as slack as it was
 before, so that the coachman has to draw his hand back to bring
 it to bear upon the bit at _A'_. In so doing he draws back the
 coupling-rein _CM_ and pulls the head of the near horse to the
 inside. To prevent this the coupling-rein _CM_ must be let out
 on its draught-rein exactly as much as the other coupling-rein
 has been taken up, which is equivalent to pulling back the
 draught-rein, whereupon the coupling-reins will have the positions
 shown by the dotted lines with the buckle of _C_ rein in the
 first hole, and all the reins will act evenly upon both horses,
 notwithstanding that the mouth and bit of the off horse is nearer
 to the coachman's hand than that of the near horse."--FAIRMAN
 ROGERS, "A Manual of Coaching."

The most common fault in adjusting coupling-reins, next to that
of having one horse in advance of the other, is that of having
the horses coupled too closely, or too loosely, together; in the
first case the horses must go awkwardly, with their heads too close
together, with a tendency to make them stumble, and in the other,
with their heads yawing apart, and not under proper control. Some
horses are greatly irritated by being made to go on one side of
the bit only, and often enough a pair going all sorts of ways will
settle down and go well enough where their coupling-reins are so
adjusted that they can go level, with an equal pressure of the bit
on both sides of the mouth.

The matter of bearing-reins has been discussed already, but it is
worth repeating over and over again, especially in the case of
pair-horse driving, that bearing-reins should never be omitted.
The pole-end, or his mate's bridle, offer various opportunities
to a nervous horse who throws his head about to catch his bit or
some part of his bridle, and tear it off or break it; and a bitless
and bridleless horse is an equine anarchist, beyond human power of
judging or controlling. Where you have whiffletrees in front of
you, it is easy to see which horse is doing too much or too little
work; but when in heavy harness, with traces fixed to roller-bolts,
the traces and reins must tell the story. The object in this form
of driving is, of course, to make both horses do an equal amount of
work, uphill and down, and to keep them going at an even pace.

In determining which horse to put on the near side and which on
the off side, several things should be taken into consideration.
First, in this country we turn to the right, and as most roads are
made with a crown in the centre rather than absolutely level, the
off horse or horse on the right-hand side has a little more work to
do, in that he must do most of the pulling, when the carriage turns
off to the right, and must then be pulled back again. Therefore the
bigger or stronger horse of the two may go on that side. Second,
if one of the horses is more nervous or more inclined to shy than
the other, he is better off on the off side, where he is less in
contact with passing horses, vehicles, automobiles, and the like.
So far as the matter of punishment with the whip is concerned, in
pair-horse driving it is as easy to get at one as the other, though
some people prefer to have the less amenable animal of the pair
on the off side and under their hand. It is much better for the
horses, if other things are equal, to change them about, so that
they go one day on one side and another day on the other. Horses,
particularly in the city, where the tendency is to pole them up
tightly,--too tightly,--so that they may be easily handled in the
crowded streets, are apt to get into bad habits if driven always
on the same side. They get one-sided mouths, hit themselves, but
apparently brighten up, as though refreshed, when changed about.

It is generally accepted as an axiom, that horses should be as
close to their work as possible. As a matter of fact, this makes
little difference to the draught of the vehicle; but it does
undoubtedly make a very great difference in backing, starting,
turning, and the general management of the horses by the coachman,
and on that account it is well to have your horses as close to the
vehicle, and to your hand, as possible.

Before going into details as to the handling of the reins, one
very important error should be noticed at the start. Driving is
not knowledge of how to hold the reins, how to give the "offices"
to make "points," etc., but real driving is the knowledge and
practical experience of all those things which come before you
get up on to your vehicle at all. The writer was seated beside
the driver of an omnibus in London some ten years ago, at a time
when everything pertaining to the handling of horses in harness
was a keen interest. The heavy buss with its load of passengers
was stopped and started and guided through the heavy traffic
of Piccadilly without fuss or trouble and without jar to the
passengers. When I complimented the Jehu on his work, he replied,
"Well, you see, sir, there's plenty of drivers about, but there's
not many of us coachmen left!" That is the gist of the matter. A
coachman is one who, through knowledge, and experience, and natural
ability, keeps his horses, passengers, and himself comfortable and
safe while doing the best attainable work with least effort to all
concerned. The driver is a mere steerer of horses by artificial
shortening and lengthening of reins that he has been taught.

[Illustration: PLATE XXX.--DRIVING A PAIR]

It would be a trifling task to write a book on driving for those
who only wish to become drivers; but it is no small matter even to
hint at the variety of knowledge necessary to one who wishes to
become even a moderately good coachman. Now that we have arrived
at this subject of the handling and fingering of the reins, it
must not be overlooked that this is literally the superficial part
of the business, and if it is built upon a foundation of complete
ignorance of the horse, his house, his harness, his history,
and his physical make-up, it will always remain superficial and
unsatisfactory. On the other hand, once these fundamental matters
have been studied and understood, the handling of the reins becomes
all-important to the coachman. First of all, spare no pains to
get your reins in your left hand at the proper length, and once
there they should be kept there. All the nicety of driving depends
upon this. If the reins must be lengthened and shortened every few
minutes, none of the directions to follow can be of much use. Such
give and take as there must be between hand and bits should come
wholly from the gentle give and take of the wrist. When the reins
are to be shortened for going down hill, and lengthened again going
up, the two methods for this operation have been described in the
chapter on driving one horse. With a nicely bitted pair, the turn
to the left and the turn to the right may be made by turning the
hand as directed in the same chapter. Where more power is required,
the turn to the left may be made by looping or making "points" to
left or right as may be required. The point to the left is made by
taking the upper or near rein with the thumb and index finger or
with the little and fourth fingers of the right hand, pulling it
back a few inches, according to the angle of the turn, and placing
the bight of the rein under the thumb (see Plate XXX.). Close the
thumb down on the reins and hold it there until your horses have
fully responded, then lift the thumb and this near rein slips back
into place of itself. Be careful to keep your point under the
thumb until the turn is made, otherwise--and a common fault--the
slackening of this rein will land you in the middle of the turn
with the horses going exactly the other way. By thus looping your
rein the left hand is kept steadily in its place, and the right
hand is entirely free to be used in case the other horse is too
quick or too sluggish. If the off horse is inclined to go round too
fast and shove his mate over, the right hand is there to put on his
rein and restrain him. If, on the other hand, he is too sluggish,
and does not obey quickly enough, your right hand is there to touch
him up with the whip and make him do what is required of him. In
turning to the right, the under rein or off rein may be looped in
the same way, but this time under the index finger, rather than
the thumb, though the thumb may be used, and the turn made to the
right in the same fashion and with the same methods as before.
Although the making of points and opposition and so on are usually
for four and tandem driving, it is much neater and quieter to use
these methods on a much smaller scale for your pair. It is quieter
and less conspicuous than pulling the reins and gets one in, and
keeps one in, the valuable habit of fingering the reins accurately,
quietly, and mechanically, leaving the eyes and attention for other
and more important matters.

Whenever a loop is taken or any other indication attempted of what
you want your horses to do, avoid confusion by giving a variety of
signals at one and the same time. For example, in taking a loop, if
you allow your left hand to slide forward to receive it under the
thumb instead of letting the right hand bring it back, you slacken
your reins and your horses start forward just when they should be
well in hand. If a horse feels this tightening of the rein from the
point you are making and then feels the pressure lessen, he will
whip back again; hence the necessity for holding your point until
the horses have responded fully. It is much better to hold a point
too long than to let it go before its work is done. In pulling
reins toward you, do not draw the rein to one side, thus drawing
the hands apart, but pull directly toward the body--straight
back, in short. Never let your right hand get so far away from
the left that it cannot be used instantly when wanted. If you are
a beginner, get a steady pair and keep at this fingering of the
reins; the starting, with pressure of the right hand in front of
the left just enough to feel their mouths; the stopping, with right
hand properly grasping the reins; the points to the left and the
right, and the shortening of the reins, until these matters are
done quickly and automatically without the necessity of looking
at your hands at all. And though this be a treatise on driving,
let us be frank and say that a good teacher is better than any
book. Sit beside a good coachman as often as you can and watch him
like a lynx. Get a good coachman to sit beside you and tell you
and explain to you; then go back to your book again, and you will
get much more out of it than before. A brilliant Frenchman has
said that he studied books while he was waiting to study men. The
book-learning is far more valuable when supplemented by practice.
On the other hand, it is only the very ignorant in these days
who do not make what use they can of other men's experience and
practice, by studying up in books any subject in which they are
interested.

To read a good book on driving helps your teacher even more than
it helps you, in that you have at least some inkling of the
elementary principles of what he is to teach you. Even with one
horse these manœuvres may be gone through with, and every turn, and
start, and stop, made with the same nicety and care, as though one
were driving his drag at a meet of the coaching-club.

Mr. Underhill's sumptuous book is entitled "Driving for Pleasure."
There is an amusing chapter to be written on Driving for
Punishment, with illustrations from life, if one cared to write
it. The distortions of face, hands, and body, through trying to
do simple things in an awkward and roundabout way; the mixing up
of whip, hands, and reins, through not having toiled sufficiently
over the elementary stages of the art of driving; the brake on or
off when it should not be, and a complete loss of head, the horses
any way, and their owner in roseate confusion, are phases of the
driving for punishment one often sees. And be it said, driving is
a punishment indeed, when bad bitting, ill-fitting harness, horses
badly put to, and awkward handling of reins, whip, and brake, are
of one and the same combination.

CHAPTER XIV

DRIVING FOUR

About the year 1840, with the advent of railways in England,
coaching, for a time at least, practically came to an end. Before
that time, all transportation of passengers, mail, and small
merchandise was by coach. The mail-coaches were under government
control, and as representing the Sovereign, had rights and
privileges, and were entitled to respect. Many of the present-day
usages are reminders of that time, and relics of ancient customs.
That other vehicles should give way to the mail-coach, that the
constables should salute as it passed, that other coachmen should
recognize it by saluting, can be readily appreciated. In England
to-day, the coaches running out of London with their loads of
passengers, bent on a day's pleasant outing merely, are treated
much in the same way. All but surly drivers make way for them, the
police salute, many of the other coachmen salute, and the forms of
what were once realities still obtain.

Both there and here many people forget, that these coaches must
take out a license, and are bound by the laws governing other
vehicles employed for the transportation of passengers. The coach
put on each season by the Coaching-club of New York, and which has
run latterly from the Holland House to Ardsley on the Hudson and
return, although it may be done primarily for sport, is none the
less governed by the terms of its license. Hence it is that a good
sportsman, in undertaking such a duty, goes rain or shine, makes a
point of being on time, insists upon promptness, not as a fad of
his own, but because these are the implied articles of agreement
between him and the city when he takes out his license. Like all
other good sport, there is an element of hard work and tyranny in
it. The coachman must at all times obey the laws of the sport.

To buy, train, and drive the horses, and carry out a successful
schedule for six weeks or so, with the innumerable details
involved, is a task requiring knowledge, experience, tact, and
patience. The man who can do this may be said to have passed his
postgraduate examination as a first-class coachman.

There are not many men who can do that, but there is plenty of
sport to be had in driving four horses, this side of that supreme
ability. Men who lack the time, money, knowledge, and experience to
put a coach on the road may still, with benefit to themselves, and
to the inmates of their stables, drive four horses. Although there
was coaching in a sense in this country, from Revolutionary times
and before (see Chapter III.), the first regular English coach
sent to this country to be used for pleasure driving was imported
in 1860 by Mr. Lawrence of Boston. The first public coach was put
on the road in 1876 by Colonel Delancey Kane, and ran from the
Brunswick Hotel, New York, to Pelham.

Monotony probably destroys more people than any one form of
dissipation. Humanity wearies of the round of duties day after day,
and attempts by drink, or dissipation, or by running away from
duty, to break in upon it or to break away from it. It takes the
very highest qualities to stick it out, whatever may be the duty.
Plato maintained that change is rest. Many men work all the time;
their only rest is change of work. He is a diplomat in life who
remembers this dangerous quality of monotony, and in his own life,
and the life about him, seeks to diversify it.

This principle can be applied to the subject of driving as well, if
not better, than to most others. To drive one horse, over one road,
day in and day out, becomes a weariness to the flesh, instead of
a refreshment. If you have only one horse, you can at least both
ride him and drive him. If you have two, you can drive them abreast
as a pair, or one in front of the other as a tandem, and both can
be ridden. As soon as your stable enlarges to four, you can have
no end of variety if care and patience are exercised. Strange to
say, too, the horses join in the fun. A horse likes a new road and
enjoys going in a new way. It will take time and trouble to teach
your horses to go tandem, and in a four; but once they are taught,
they enjoy it quite as much as you do. Of course we are writing
now of those who wish to get practice and pleasure out of their
stables, not merely for those who use their horses for purposes of
transportation only. Do not start out with the notion that the only
way to drive a tandem, or a four, is to have exactly the proper
vehicle, the right harness to the shape of a buckle, and horses of
just such and such a character. The show ring is one thing; driving
for sport and pleasure is quite another.

Practically any man who will spend enough money can win prizes in
the show ring; and it is only occasionally nowadays, when so much
money is spent for show-ring horses and equipages, that a man of
moderate means can hope to win in these tournaments. He may by good
judgment, in buying and training, bring out a winner now and then;
but he has little chance against those who are willing to pay any
price for a ready-made winner.

[Illustration: PLATE XXXI.]

It is a good thing to know how horses and vehicle should be turned
out, even down to minute details; but a book, a coach-builder,
a harnessmaker and a bank-account never yet made a sportsman,
at this, or any other game. As has been said before in another
chapter, "form" is only rational when it is the proper clothing of
an idea; it is ridiculous and unworthy when it is merely an idea of
proper clothing.

Of tandem driving we have written in another chapter. If you cannot
have a four, costing, with coach, horses, and harness, $15,000
or more, why not have just as much sport, and far more valuable
experience, by a more economical arrangement? Buy your horses with
a purpose, to begin with. Let the saddle-horses serve as leaders,
the blockier, heavier harness horses in the wheel. Or if you run to
smaller sizes, two of 15.1 in the wheel and your polo ponies 14.2
in the lead, with a pony break behind them, make a capital four. If
a second-hand harness is not procurable, terrets on your wheelers'
saddles and bridles make any stout double harness serviceable; and
an extra pair of long reins and long traces fit out your leaders,
and there you are. Any man who can afford to keep four horses can,
if he will give the problem time and trouble, have the practice of
driving four.

Be it said at once that the best practice is that of driving
different teams every day, and that can only be obtained where
there is a good deal of road coaching, and you are of an ability
to be permitted to drive. Next to that, probably, comes the
experience and knowledge to be derived from getting together,
harnessing, bitting, and getting to go, a four out of your own
stable. Most books and most teachers deal with the subject of
driving four as though appearances counted ninety-seven per cent,
and your own pleasure and profit three per cent.

We are dealing with four-in-hand driving here as a pastime, as an
opportunity for variety in your own driving, and as a refreshing
change in their way of going for your horses. Remember always that
it is not hard on, but good for, your horses to give them variety
of work. Horses that are well housed, carefully fed and watered,
comfortably harnessed, and discreetly driven are much better for
change of scene and change of work. This is not intended to mean
that a light, high-strung lady's saddle-horse is improved by being
put to work in the wheel of a break; or that, of any horse, too
much work or the kind of work to which he is palpably unsuited
should be required of him. What is maintained here is that very few
owners of horses get all the fun out of them that there is to be
had.

These questions of pole-chains or leather pole-pieces, this or that
shape of bit,--so long as the bit fits the inside of the horse's
mouth,--housings or no housings, stable-clothes or breeches and
boots, are all matters that come after, not before, driving. The
study of appearances comes after the knowledge of essentials,
not before. Appearances as the result of knowledge take care of
themselves; but the mere study of appearances teaches nothing. When
you have learned to harness and put to your horses, start, stop,
turn them, and keep them going evenly, at a proper pace; and when
your thong is as easily handled as a walking-stick, then will be
time enough to investigate matters of buttons, hat brims, curve of
bit-shanks, whiphandles, cut of greatcoats, and methods of saluting
with the whip.

A certain amount of strength is the first requisite in driving four
horses. It is calculated that the weight on the hand of the four
reins, averages from six to ten pounds for a light, well-bitted
team, less perhaps for a perfect team, and running up as high as
twenty-five, to even more, pounds in holding a team going down
hill. The writer remembers the painful numbness of the left forearm
when he first drove four, years ago. It is well to invigorate the
arms, and to begin a very little at a time at this exercise, or an
overdose at a first lesson may put the forearm out of commission
for some days. Pulleys, dumb-bells, Indian clubs, or carrying a
loaded walking-stick will muscle up the arm and put it in condition.

The use of the four-in-hand whip is so all-important that it
should not be left to the last, but practised persistently from the
start. Many teams, bitted and trained by professionals and only
driven in the park by their owners, require almost no use of the
thong; and as a result many drivers of four horses can hardly put
up a thong, let alone use it with any success.

Place the point of the thong under the fingers, grasping the stick,
not at the end, but at the point where the ferrule encircles it
(Plate XXXI.). Swing the point of the stick from left to right with
a slight downward movement, then make a quick half circle from left
to right and upward, and your thong will curl around your stick
three or four times and hold there. The lower part of the thong
will curl around the handle the opposite way. Between the upper and
lower coil will hang a bight of the thong (Plate XXXI.). Move your
stick over to the left or driving hand, pull out the lower coil
with the thumb and forefinger of that hand, and place the point
of your thong again under your right hand, the thong now going
around the stick in the same direction all the way down so that
it is easily unwound when wanted (Plate XXXI.). The point of the
thong is more secure in your right hand if it is wrapped a couple
of times around the handle, though there is high authority against
this practice, on the ground that it is not so easy to unwind your
thong when wanted. If you are a beginner, you will find it safer
to make the couple of turns around the handle. Mr. Bronson, who was
one of the very best of our American whips, held, and with justice,
that the point of the thong should not be wrapped around the stick,
maintaining that just when the hands were needed it required two
hands to undo it. The whip should be held pointing upward and to
the left. When the thong hangs over the middle of the back of the
near wheeler, your whip will be in about the right position.

The way usually recommended for putting up the thong is to make a
large S on the wall and follow this with the point of the whip,
beginning at the bottom and moving across from left to right. To
do this, start slowly from left to right, and let the upper curve
be made with a turn of the wrist which will bring the fingers
uppermost at the finish.

It is exasperatingly easy, and exasperatingly difficult. Once you
get the knack, it is like skating and swimming, you wonder how you
were ever puzzled. If these directions are not clear, get some
one to pound it into you by persistent instruction; for, of all
awkward things, none is more so than the confusion arising from a
dangling thong, that cannot be made to go up, and stay up, where
it belongs. Nothing but constant practice makes one comfortable
with the whip. If you are driving in the country, unwind and put
up your thong constantly; even take out your four-in-hand whip
with one or two horses, and practise, practise, practise. Some
day, in a crowded street or in the park, when a cut of the whip
is imperatively necessary and a quick return of the thong to its
place as necessary, you will not regret a moment of the time spent
in this way. Do not trust to luck in this matter. What is usually
called "luck" is, after all, the happy way ability and opportunity
have of often meeting. Keep your thong pliable, otherwise it will
not stay in its place and be difficult to put up.

In using your whip, make as little fuss and noise as possible; each
horse should be hit so that the other three hear nothing and know
nothing. Do not flick a horse, but hit and draw the thong at the
same time, then it means something. In putting up your thong, do
not make a flourish with the arm. It is just as easy to put the
thong up with the right elbow at the side.

The wheelers should be hit in front of the pad, down the shoulder;
it is better to hit the off wheeler on the off shoulder if his mate
is restive.

If there is kicking, the best punishment is a cut over the ears. In
hitting the off leader, swing the point of your stick out to the
right; once the thong is unwound, make a turn, and bring the stick
forward quickly, when the thong will travel forward under the
stick. Always aim to hit a leader under his traces, and when you
hit him let him know that he has been hit. Always aim farther ahead
than you mean to hit. You cannot go too far, and you may be short.
To catch the thong again, take it back, away from your horses, and
point the stick over your left arm, allowing the thong to fall
first, or point your stick up, and let the thong slide down the
inside of it to your hand. Pull the thong through with the finger
and thumb of the left hand till the point is within a few inches of
the right hand, then put up the thong as directed.

To hit the near leader is a little more difficult, and a good
reason, by the way, for putting the lazier leader on the off side.
Untwist your thong as before on the right side of you, swing the
thong over all your horses so that it hangs on the left side of the
coach, then with a turn of the stick shoot your thong as before,
stopping the point of the stick at about the pad of the near
wheeler, when the point of the thong will hit the near leader's
hocks. In getting your thong back from this position, swing it from
left to right over all your horses, and point the stick again over
the left arm, when the thong will fall over the reins near the hand
or, if well done, into the hand. Then proceed as before. The near
wheeler may be hit on the quarters also, by throwing the lash
between the heads of the wheelers, though this is condemned by many
as a bad practice. This needs practice, particularly in getting
your thong back to your hand.

Never attempt to use the whip while the right hand is on the reins
or holding a rein. First, because you cannot use the whip with any
effect, and second, because you are sure to jab one of your horses
in the mouth by a jerk on the rein you happen to be handling. See
that your thong is all clear before attempting to put it up. You
will find that it has a disconcerting way of catching on the rein
buckles, the handles of the foot-board, or even on the lamps. If in
using your thong it catches in any part of the harness, treat it
gently; do not pull at it, which only makes it hold faster; and if
it will not come loose by these measures, send the servant down to
loosen it. If your thong catches in boughs of trees or the like, do
not hang on to the stick, but let the whole thing go and send back
for it.

In saluting, drop your whip into your left hand and take off your
hat if it be a lady you would recognize. Few things are more
parochial in these matters than to see a man making a conspicuous
sword salute with his whip to a lady who is either in another
vehicle or on the road. In saluting others, a movement of the
whip from left to right with the forearm is enough. It has the
merit of not taking the right hand far from the reins, and is less
conspicuous than the use of the whip as a sword, by bringing the
handle up to your chin.

[Illustration: PLATE XXXII.--DRIVING FOUR]

It is an old-time custom among the drivers of road-coaches in
England to take off the hat to a chimney-sweep. Just why it is
supposed to bring luck, like killing spiders in the morning and
letting them live in the evening, and fifty other fancies of a like
kind, the writer cannot explain. In approaching trouble, where you
are likely to need your thong, unwind it and hold only the point
under your thumb. A cut in time may save a whole side of harness!

Four horses with a heavy vehicle behind them--a drag weighs from
twenty-one to twenty-four hundred pounds, a public coach from
twenty-four hundred to three thousand pounds--and loaded with
passengers occupies a good deal of space, gathers a good deal of
momentum, and needs a good deal of skill in its governor. The very
assumption of the task of driving is a great responsibility. No man
should undertake it lightly.

To know the whole game, and to do it supremely well, requires many,
many months of constant and studious practice. The easier it looks,
the more capable is the man who makes it look easy to you. Do not
for a moment be deceived into thinking that it is really easy. The
consequences of thinking so may contain, not only disasters of the
most awkward kind, but death also.

Begin at the very beginning, with the harnessing and putting to of
your horses. Depend only upon a good and trustworthy builder for
your vehicle. If you buy a second-hand one, choose it with a friend
who knows what such a vehicle should be, and then have it gone over
thoroughly by your carriage builder.

Of the harnessing of the horses we have already written. It needs
to be added, that in harnessing four all the details of fit and
stoutness of leather and proper bitting should be more than ever
looked after. Before your horses are brought out have the pole in
its place and the lead-bars hung on the pole-hook. Have a look
yourself to see that the pole-pin is securely in its place. Bring
out your wheelers, hook the pole-chains to the kidney-link ring,
giving ample room to back them so that the traces may be put over
the roller-bolts,--outside trace first, then the inside one,--then
tighten the pole-chains by passing the hook through the kidney-link
ring from the inside out so that it will come out away from the
pole. The length of this chain must depend upon the good or bad
roads you are proposing to drive over, and upon other things
already discussed (Chapter XIII.). When your horses are poled
up, they are drawn toward the pole, and you will notice that the
inside trace is therefore shorter than the outside trace. This
difference should be taken up by enlarging the inside roller-bolt
by wrapping it, never by punching holes in the trace, and thus
weakening it. Then fasten the coupling-reins to their bits, and
fasten your reins over your off wheeler's pad-terret, or let them
be drawn through above the trace and tug-buckle from the front,
back.

Then bring out your leaders and fasten their traces to their bars.
The leaders may be put to with their traces on their own bars; with
the traces crossed on the inside, each horse working off his mate's
bar; with the traces crossed, but each horse working off his own
bar. The first is best for well-trained, evenly working horses. The
second is advocated by those who consider that this method makes
the work more even, and keeps the lazy horse up to his work. The
third is mainly to keep the leaders more together. The bars of the
leaders may be fastened together with a strap for the same reason.
Never use a chain for this purpose as, in case of a leg over the
trace or any similar accident, a chain cannot be cut and promptly
undone.

This lapping of the traces is a matter each man should work out
for himself, after noticing how his particular leaders go most
comfortably. This lapping of the traces also keeps the traces away
from the horses' sides, and in hot or muddy weather this is a
consideration.

Buckle your coupling-reins to the bits, run them through their
terrets, and, together with the wheel-reins, push them through from
in front above the trace and tug-buckle of the off leader.

Put up your thong, lay the whip over the wheelers' backs, and as
a precaution push the end of it between the back-strap. If your
whip is in the socket, it is in your way in getting up, it may be
broken by your passengers, or it may be played with by an ignorant
passenger and dropped, or at any rate, the thong loosened. If
the whip is placed across the toe-board no one can mount to the
box-seat while it is there. If you are driving alone and studying
your team, the whip is better on the toe-board, where it is not
easily displaced and does not annoy the wheelers; otherwise the
best place is across the backs of the wheelers. A piece of steel
covered with leather on the lead-reins (Fownes of London used
ivory) just in front of the coupling-buckle prevents these slipping
through the lead-terrets, as may easily happen if either horse
plunges or hangs back.

If no bearing-reins are used, the throat-latches should be snug,
since they alone hold the bridle on the horse's head. In breaking
in a team, bearing-reins properly adjusted do no harm and are a
safeguard. If necessary, start with them very loose and shorten
them when the horse is warmed up, and his neck muscles are more
pliable. If the bearing-reins are fastened up before the start,
there will be backing, rearing, and jibbing, all of which may be
obviated by tightening the bearing-reins after the start.

If you are to drive over good level roads, your wheelers may be
placed as near the coach as will enable them to go at a good
gait without hitting the splinter-bar or wheels. The length
of wheel-traces should be about ninety-seven inches, of the
lead-traces about ninety inches. With smaller horses the traces
are, of course, proportionately shorter. A long drawn out team
is hard on the arm and hand, not so easily manœuvred, and, being
farther from their work and from you, not so likely to be easily
handled.

On Western roads in this country, the four horses are put much
farther from the coach and from one another, and given plenty of
leeway as to traces and pole-chains. Driving over their heavy,
rough roads necessitates this. If one of our compactly harnessed
teams attempted to work over their roads, the coach, passengers,
and horses' shoulders would be badly racked. Indeed, it is to be
doubted whether closely harnessed horses would not pull one another
down. The experienced coachman from the East does not sneer at the
long drawn out teams in the West; nor does the Westerner sneer at
the closely coupled teams of the East. Each is adapted to do its
own work. It is only the neophyte who sneers here or elsewhere,
and a stupid neophyte at that; for to sneer at ignorance is stupid,
and to sneer at stupidity, ignorant.

Now that you have your horses harnessed to your vehicle, have
another look round, for at this business a quiet start is more than
half the battle, and it is worth while to see to it that you may
get away without at once stopping, to arrange something about the
harness that has been neglected.

Now step back to the off wheeler's quarter, and with the right
hand take hold of the leaders' reins and place them in the left
hand where they belong, with the forefinger between them; then
take the wheelers' reins, and place them in the left hand with the
middle finger between them. You will then have: near leader's rein
over forefinger, off leader's rein under forefinger and on top of
the near wheeler's rein; the near wheeler's rein over the middle
finger, and under the off leader's rein, and the off wheeler's rein
under the middle finger. Then with your right hand pull out twelve
to eighteen inches of both off reins; see that the buckles of the
wheel-reins and the stitchings of the lead-reins are at an even
distance from the left hand, so that when you are seated on the box
the reins will be level. It saves time, trouble, and embarrassment
to be able to do this quickly and accurately. If you are beginning
or out of practice, it is well to get up and down with the reins
until they are the proper length in your hand.

Then put the reins in the right hand exactly as they were in the
left (or one finger lower down, so that the forefinger is free to
hold on in getting up; this is advised by some coachmen, but is
not necessary), throw the ends of the reins over your right arm,
take your whip in your right hand, and you are ready to mount. To
do this, put your left foot on the hub of the wheel, right foot
on the roller-bolt, left foot on the step, and right foot on the
foot-board, using your left hand to hold on with and leaving the
right hanging down. Sit down at once, for, having climbed so high,
it would be humiliating to tumble off if a horse started. Then put
the reins back in the left hand, where you should find them all of
about the proper length (Plate XXXII.). If they are not, get them
level without touching the mouths of the horses. In taking the
reins from their place to put them in the hand, it is usual to drop
the ends on the ground. If, however, you are on a muddy street or
wet pavement, put the ends of the reins over the little finger of
the right hand, which will keep them out of the mud and wet while
you are arranging them in your hand to mount.

Another way of taking up the reins is, instead of drawing out the
two off reins before mounting, to allow the two off reins to run
through the fingers as you mount to the box, which has, to be sure,
the advantage of keeping control of all four horses from the moment
you take up the reins. It is rare that a man drives four without
men at his horses' heads when he gets up, and for the beginner, at
any rate, the first-mentioned method is the simpler of the two.

Start quietly. Feel your horses' mouths gently as a reminder that
something is coming, give the word, let them have sufficient rein,
let the wheelers into their collars first, and go off quietly at a
walk. If you are driving a green team, or a mean team, or a team
you are making, always start from the stable yourself. Even if
your coachman is a better coachman than you are, it is best to get
away with them yourself, and to keep them amenable from the start.
Although it is advised here to let the wheelers start the coach,
the ideal way is to let all four horses feel their traces at the
same moment; but it is only under ideal circumstances and with an
ideal team that all four horses will dip into their collars at the
same instant, and walk off with the coach, without so much as a
flurry or a shake of the head at starting. Such horses are too good
to be true, and need very little driving.

Let the rugs or quarter-blankets be taken off quietly, not grabbed
off as a sort of "get-up" signal, and if your horses are at all
inclined to waver, let the grooms run ahead a few steps so that
the horses can see them and be tempted to go on with them, and
then, the team fairly started, they can drop back and take their
places on the coach. Let them have their heads at the start and get
them in hand after they are all in the traces. By checking a horse
suddenly at the start, with a too tight rein, or jabbing a leader
under the tail with the pole, or, worst of all, forgetting to take
the brake off and jerking the whole team back on their haunches at
the start, you may, you will indeed, so irritate your horses that
it will take your gentlest and most skilful behavior to get them
right and going pleasantly.

The writer knows one mare at least who behaves perfectly if
everything goes smoothly at the start, but if she is upset at
the start, the whole drive is spoilt by her behavior; nor is she
appeased till safely back in the stable. So, by all means, use
every endeavor, every artifice even, to get a good start.

As was duly emphasized in Chapter XIII., by far the greater part
of the comfort and skill in driving depends upon the give and take
of the left hand from the wrist, or with a slight movement forward
or backward of the hand itself. Turning the left hand up or down
with a movement to the right or left will, if your horses are