CHAPTER V. 



ON THE BOAD. 



Scope of the Chapter — Driving a Single Horse — TIow "not'* to 

 Drive — Hurry at the Start to be Avoided — Holding the 

 Reins — Holding the Horse's Head — Running vp to the Bit 

 — Use of the Whip — Bearing-reins an Abomination when 

 Driving Single — Driving a Pair — Kickers in Harness : 

 Treatment of — Washing Out the Mouth — Advantages of 

 being Early on the Road — Vices manifested on the Road : 

 Jibbing ; Rearing ; Lying Down ; Shying ; Kicking in 

 Saddle; Buck-jumping ; Bolting, 



fN such a small book as the present, it would obviously 

 be out of place to deal with such charioteering efforts 

 as those required by the ambitious driver of four-in- 

 hands and tandems ; so, leaving these higher walks for those 

 of the more humble everyday one-horse and pair-horse vehicles, 

 [ will proceed to offer a few remarks and suggestions which 

 I hope may be found useful to the amateur driver, and also 

 to the road rider. There are very few of us, I assume, who 

 have not, at some time or other, driven a single horse. It 

 is not an arduous undertaking, and yet it is quite possible 

 for the biped in charge to make something more than an ass 

 of himself in the performance. Writing these words brings 

 vividly before my mind's eye a certain professional gentleman 

 of my acquaintance who, invariably, on gathering up his reins, 

 allows his horse to dash at once into a full swing trot, lets 

 him outpace himself to such an extent that he trots with 

 his fore legs and canters with the hind ones, and then pulls 

 him up with such a sudden jerk that the poor beast almost 

 sits down in the middle of the road. I say "the middle of 



