I04 RIDING, DRIVING AND KINDRED SPORTS 



it be only needed to drive a dog-cart. There 

 is, in fact, a very wide difference in the comfort 

 and pleasure in driving beside or behind a man 

 or woman who really knows how to drive. 

 There has been a great advance in the driving 

 power and the skill of women of late years, and 

 the driving competitions held at Hurlingham 

 and Ranelagh have not been without their 

 uses, as for single harness, pair, or tandem the 

 light hands of a woman are well suited. When 

 it comes to drive four horses — well, I have 

 never seen a woman drive a team really well, 

 not perhaps so much from want of skitl as from 

 want of strength. A fairly light carriage and 

 a team of cobs or ponies I have seen handled 

 with grace and skill, but never a heavy coach 

 with four big horses. 



All who drive, then, should endeavour to 

 gain a knowledge of sound principles, and the 

 first matter — I had almost said the most im- 

 portant — is harnessing the horse or horses. 

 Everything should fit. Many good horses 

 are spoilt and accidents happen because the 

 harness pinches them somewhere. The best, 

 and by far the simplest way to learn, is to 

 put a horse to yourself sometimes. This, as 

 a matter of fact, most country-bred children 

 do learn, and in my boyish days I never missed 

 seeing the horses put to if I could possibly 



