210 DEAUGHT AND HARNESS. 



in different countries, and this requires corresponding 

 modifications in the details of harness, draught, and 

 the general construction of vehicles. The short traces 

 and pole-chains or straps that suit perfectly a London 

 omnibus or a Viennese fiacre which, by the way, is 

 an artistic specialty would be quite unfit and very 

 harassing to horses that have to do their work on roads 

 full of ruts and holes, or at a gallop over hill and dale, 

 like artillery - trains. Again, although two -wheeled 

 vehicles do very well and are very handy in a level 

 country like England or parts of Italy, they are quite 

 unfit for hilly districts, and punish the horses very 

 severely and unnecessarily in going down-hill. 



These things are mentioned here for the purpose of 

 showing that our dear old friend and constant guide in 

 practical matters, the highly-respected " rule of thumb," 

 cannot be always depended on implicitly, and is, in 

 fact, by 110 means an infallible guide ; and therefore, 

 as a discerning British public has so favourably received 

 our method of inviting people to find out how things 

 should be done, by pointing out how they should not 

 be done, we shall endeavour to apply the same principle 

 to draught and harness, and proceed to show the why 

 and the wherefore of these matters also. 



This subject of draught and harness is one that 

 might be equally well begun upon at either end that 

 is to say, by taking in the first place either the 

 horses or the carriage ; and this is, in the scientific 

 books, the course usually pursued. But in order to 

 show that we are not addicted to pedantry, we have 

 determined to begin in the middle, and with what forms 

 the most important link between the two namely, the 

 trace. And for this reason, more especially with the 



