33o ANNALS OF THE ROAD. 



and by the two ends of the thong not being spread, but 

 close together at the time of the blow, it falls with in- 

 creased force. When the off-side wheeler is struck, the 

 coachman's right arm should be put out from his body, in 

 the same position in which he presents it to his tailor to 

 measure him for a coat, but the blow should proceed 

 entirely from the wrist. The part on which the horse 

 should be struck is about four inches behind his false 

 belly-band, or somewhere near the short rib on his right 

 side. The stinging part of the blow is then felt under 

 the belly, and, unless a horse is quite beaten, or of a 

 sulky and bad disposition, he seldom fails to answer it. 

 If he do not answer it here, he must be struck before the 

 belly-band, when the blow falls just behind the fore-arm, 

 on a part on which the skin is very thin. If a wheel- 

 horse shows symptoms of vice, such as a disposition to 

 kick, etc., or, in short, if he refuses to answer either 

 of the other calls upon his exertions, a blow with the 

 double thong on his ears generally brings him to his 

 senses. I very much dislike seeing a coach horse struck 

 over the ears — the parts being so very sensitive — and 

 nothing short of absolute necessity justifies it. I have, 

 however, seen the time, and often too, under the old 

 system, when nothing short of this severe punishment 

 would have got a coach home. 



In hitting a near wheeler, the coachman brings his 

 right hand exactly opposite to his face, and, turning the 

 crop three turns around as before directed, he lets the 

 thong fall sharply across the horse's loins for three times 

 in succession, if he do not answer sooner, observing that, 



