136 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 



instrument of torture. I like to drive a horse with- 

 out check, martingale, blinders, or whip. 



One great point in all-day driving is to make the 

 noonday stop before the roadster begins to tire. Every 

 horse has his distance, which is easily ascertained by 

 experience, though allowance must of course be made 

 for the state of the weather and of the roads. To this 

 extent he will go along cheerfully, with ears and tail 

 in their normal position; but drive a little farther, 

 and he begins to lag, his curiosity is gone, his ears 

 lose their vivacity, his tail droops, and he wants to 

 stop. It is well to make the noonday halt before this 

 point is reached, even though half the journey be not 

 completed. 



When it comes to undertaking a really great dis- 

 tance, such as sixty or seventy miles in a day, or fifty 

 miles for two or three days consecutively, then in- 

 telligent driving and the best of care are indispensable. 

 Eveiy foot of the road must be watched, advantage 

 taken of all the good going and slight declivities, the 

 bad spots avoided as much as possible, and the move- 

 ment and condition of the roadster kept under vigi- 

 lant observation from morning till night. Unless the 

 driver can sympathize with the horse, so as to know 

 exactly what his frame of mind and bodily condition 

 are all the way along, he is incompetent to handle 

 him to anything like the best advantage. When a 

 day's work of extraordinary length is attempted, the 

 best plan is to stop for half an hour or so in the mid- 

 dle of the morning, and also in the middle of the after- 

 noon, in order to give the roadster a short rest and 

 a luncheon of oats, making a longer halt, of course, 

 at noontime. The recent Badminton work on driv- 



