156 DRIVING AS I FOUND IT. 



one. A horse will choke and work uncomfortably with 

 fs tight collar, but very seldom gets sore, as it fits too 

 snug. It is the collar being too large and therefore 

 continually working up and down, causing a certain 

 amount of friction; but where a horse is galled and 

 bleeding from the top part of the neck and withers, 

 especially wheelers working in a team, it comes from 

 having the pole pieces too tight. The leaders pull 

 from the pole; therefore, if the pole is not allowed to 

 hang free and entirely without the assistance of the 

 pole pieces, it stands to reason that the leaders must 

 pull on the wheelers' necks. 



When i^utting too, let the i)ole pieces or chains hang 

 loose. They might appear too slack while the team is 

 standing on a level floor, but wlien on the road and 

 especially going down hill they will be found tight 

 enough. Alluding to trotting down hills I allow that 

 with a driver that has no hands it is to a certain degree 

 dangerous, but there is danger in most things; but go- 

 ing a fair pace down hill is not so dangerous when a 

 coachman does it as many people imagine. If an ac- 

 cident does happen while doing so the effects may or 

 may not prove more fatal than if it had happened at a 

 slower pace, but of this I am quite satisfied that where 

 one horse falls in going eight miles an hour half a dozen 

 would do so at five. When I use the term "hill '' of 



