Four-horse Teams. 383 



as a pair, see if they can trot a mile in four minutes ; if they can do that without making a 

 fuss or a trouble of it, they are fast enough for anything in England. 



Then set the pair to trot up a steepish hill, say to the "Star and Garter" at Richmond, 

 at about eight miles an hour. If they will do that freely, without the whip, you may be 

 satisfied that you have something quite above the average. 



Formerly there were teams merely intended for the park and parade, but the present 

 taste (1875-8) is for horses that can go down to Epsom from London, or some such distance, 

 at a fair pace, with a full load, and return in the evening in good style. A well-matched 

 team that combines brilliant action with pace is worth at least a thousand pounds. Extra- 

 ordinary beauty is not to be e.xpected in wheelers that have both pace and action, but if 

 intended for ornamental purposes they should have "character." The leaders should have 

 plenty of courage, carry themselves well, with, as the dealers say, "two good ends," and be 

 both free and docile. The coachman, with a heavy coach behind him, has great command 

 over his wheelers, but he has to trust a good deal to the honour of his leaders. 



For utility in the country a team may be made up with a pair of barouche horses as 

 wheelers, and a couple of hunters, or other riding-horses, as leaders. 



The leaders are often an inch lower than the wheelers ; although some contend that 

 they should be taller, and others that all four should match in height. The most expensive 

 teams match in height, action, character, colour, and age. But such are quite the exception- 

 Most four-in-hand amateurs are glad to get two good pairs of horses, about the right size 

 and character, with really good action, viz., two real machines as wheelers, two blood ones 

 as leaders. As to colour, where the action is above average and the character right, there 

 are often two, sometimes three, colours, and occasionally four shades of colour in the four. 

 Brilliant step and go action cover a multitude of defects. As to age, some of the best 

 horses in London teams arc perfect patriarchs, but then they have never done any real 

 work. 



In the country for driving to cover, to races, to picnics, &c., scratch teams are made up 

 anyhow, utility and pace being the principal considerations. In such cases a real coachman 

 is required, if safety, not to say despatch, is an object. 



There is one condition essential for driving four-in-hand pleasantly, and that is that the 

 driver should have a high seat, overlooking and commanding his horses. Four ponies driven 

 in hand from a low phaeton may be an amusement to the wagoner, and may be useful over 

 very bad roads, but they always look like a draggle-tailed, make-shift affair, and they would 

 be much better harnessed in the Russian or Hungarian style, three or four abreast 



The Queen of the Belgians, who is a capital whip, used to drive four ponies in hand 

 from a low cliar-a-banc on the sands at Ostend, but there the sands are so soft and deep 

 that four ponies are really wanted to go into the collar all at once to get along even at a 

 moderate pace. 



There are at least three different kinds of carriages in common use for four-in-hand teams 

 in this country. 



First, the old-fashioned coach, which will stand a great deal of work and carry a great 

 load — passengers and luggage. This is the pattern much affected by regiments, which make 

 it, in thejr marches from station to station, amusing, useful, and ornamental. Secondly, what 

 may be called the park drag, which is not meant to carry any luggage heavier than a ladder 

 for the ladies to ascend and descend, an ice safe, and other materials for a picnic. Invention 

 has been exhausted by such firms as Messrs. Peters, Barker, Hooper, Holland, and Shanks, 



