84 HORSES 



meant more for ornament than for use. What 

 does it matter how you hold your reins, if you can 

 put your fingers on those you want at the right 

 moment ? Here I must explain, or you will mis- 

 understand my meaning. The beginner will take 

 his lesson from those who have had experience, 

 and he must acquire those methods which they 

 have found best, but remember they are only the 

 means to attain an end. When the pupil has 

 mastered and become thoroughly familiar with 

 recognised methods, he can then rely on his own 

 judgment as to which he thinks best. 



Most of us have been to the W^ild West show, 

 and there seen Colonel Cody drive a coach round 

 the ring with four rough ponies. There was 

 nothing stiff or laboured in the way he held the 

 ribbons, and yet he did it with an easy grace with- . 

 out doing it for effect. That is my idea of how 

 four horses should be driven. I can recall another 

 excellent exhibition of the art which I once wit- 

 nessed, equally effective, but in an entirely different 

 style. This w^as Lord Lonsdale's drive against time, 

 in which he had backed himself, or others had, to 

 do twenty miles under the hour with four different 

 conveyances. The whole thing was wonderfully 

 well done, and was accomplished in about fifty-one 

 minutes, but what impressed me most wa§ the way 

 in which he handled the four horses. There was 

 no sudden jerk or jumping into the collar by one 

 horse as the heavy char-a-banc started, but every 

 trace drew taut, and in another second the four 



