WHAT TO DRIVE. 85 



WHAT TO DRIVE. 



I may surprise some of my readers who have been 

 driving perhaps for several years and who believe chat 

 they are perfect, having notliing to learn, if I inform 

 them that being able to drive well does not make them 

 coachmen any more than being able to drive a fire 

 engine makes a man an engineer. There is nothing, 

 in my opinion, looks more ridicnlous than to see, as 

 is often the case, persons driving a cart with a horse 

 entirely out of proportion to the size of the cart, the 

 harness ill fitting and not in its proper place. The 

 pad (or saddle), in most cases, instead of being on the 

 horse's back forward on the withers, the crupper 

 strap too long, the collar too big, and, worst of all, 

 the cart not properly balanced, causing the occupants 

 to pitch backward and forward in the most uncom- 

 fortable manner. This is no fault of the cart, but the 

 fault of those who drive not knowing whether the 

 height of the shafts and wheels are in proper proper- 

 tion to the size of the horse and the body weight of the 

 cart in order to have it properly balanced. Properly 

 balancinoj a cart insures ease and comfort to the oc- 



