70 DRIVING. 



you alter your course on the road, or to cross it, in 

 order to have them alert and handy for any emergency. 



When travelling in damp weather, the roads being 

 sticky, half wet and dry, your horse requires saving 

 and consideration, no matter to what extent the wind 

 may be blowing, if it goes only in the same direction 

 as himself. When the roads are perfectly dry with a 

 light wind blowing against your horse, he travels under 

 the more favourable circumstances. 



Neither blinkers nor bit should ever, upon any con- 

 sideration, be removed from a horse while he is attached 

 to a carriage, whether to feed or for any other purpose. 

 Want of caution in this respect has been a fertile source 

 of most serious accidents. 



When a horse falls irretrievably in harness, the 

 driver should avoid leaving his seat till some assistant 

 can go to the animal's head, who, placing his coat or 

 some soft substance between it and the road, to prevent 

 injury to the eyes, presses one or both knees lightly on 

 the neck, but so as to prevent the beast from rising ; 

 which done, the driver can get down from his seat, and, 

 availing of all the aid he can procure, frees all the har- 

 ness as rapidly as possible, and, running back the car- 

 riage from the horse, assists him to rise. To disengage 

 buckles easily in such cases, instead of dragging at the 

 point of the strap in the usual way, force both ends of 

 it to the centre of the buckle, which will cause the 

 tongue to turn back, and so free the strap. 



When a fall in harness occurs on slippery pavement 

 such as some of the London streets, or in frosty weather, 

 before the horse is permitted to make any effort to rise, 

 some ashes, dry clay, sand, sawdust, hay or straw, or 

 even any old rug or piece of cloth or carpet, should be 



