152 MOUNTED INSTRUCTION 



If left alone one driver will make his near horse do all the work while 

 another will require his off horse to do all the pulling and his saddle 

 horse will loaf. They must all be required to work equally. If your 

 pair is pulling too much hold them back until the traces in front of you 

 are taut. I 



The whip and spur should be used with great caution and never 

 violently, the whip by a wrist motion only and on the off side of the off 

 horse and in rear of the blanket. The less the whip and spur are used 

 by the majority of the drivers of field artillery the better pulling bat- 

 tery you will have. Never allow the whip to be used on any horse of a 

 stalled team as it will only make matters worse and make the team 

 much more liable to quit on the next pull. Remember to never use 

 whip, hand or foot on near side of off horse. Any such treatment will 

 cause the off horse to pull away from near horse. The best position 

 for draft is with both horses of a pair working close together. The 

 voice is decidedly the best aid for the off horse ; teach horse to move 

 when you speak to him. If whip is used, use voice at same time, so 

 that horse will always associate these two. 



Ditches: In driving down all steep slopes — take the slope at right 

 angles, otherwise you will surely turn over caisson or gun carriages. 

 In negotiating a ditch, all drivers hold back until wheel horses are in 

 bottom of ditch, then lead and swing move out at an increased gait to 

 get out of the wheelers way and to get into collar in time to help on 

 the pull up the other side. 



The wheel driver is responsible for the movement and guidance of 

 his carriage, for except in hard pulls, he can always increase the gait 

 of his pair and slack the traces ahead thus obtaining control of his car- 

 riage. In a hard pull the wheel pair alone is not capable of doing this 

 and in this case the lead driver should be held responsible for the 

 guidance of the carriage. 



STARTING THE TEAM 



Traces at all times should be stretched when the team is halted. 

 To move forward the pairs should be gathered by their drivers. The 

 near horse is gathered by the reins and legs of the driver, the off horse 

 by the reins and voice. At the command MARCH all pairs should 

 move out together. If a team has been stalled from any cause and the 

 horses are more or less up in the air and will not make a fair effort to 

 pull, they can generally be persuaded to pull again by the following 

 method : Back all horses up until they are as close together as possible, 

 then move the lead team out quietly and at the same time pass them 

 to the right ; have the swing driver watch the lead traces and as soon 

 as they start to tighten he should move his pair forward going over 

 the same ground that the lead pair passed over; the wheel driver 

 watches the traces of the swing pair and moves out when they tighten. 

 As soon as all traces tighten the horses must be required to give their 

 maximum effort by use of the aids and voice. In some cases due to 



