250 PUTTING-TO CH. XII 



places. If possible, they should be led up along- 

 side of the pole from behind, instead of being 

 brought with their heads to the pole and then 

 pushed round, during which movement they are apt 

 to strike against the splinter-bar, or to slip on the 

 floor. The hooks of the pole-chains are hooked to 

 the kidney-link rings ; the whole length of the chain 

 allows the horse to go back far enough to permit 

 the traces to be put over the roller-bolts. 



The outside trace is first put on its roller-bolt, to 

 prevent the horse from turning his croup away from 

 the pole, and afterward the inner trace. In unhar- 

 nessing- the inside trace is taken off first. 



Since the pole-chains keep the horses somewhat 

 close to the pole, the distance from the collar to the 

 inner roller-bolt is less than that to the outer one, 

 and with traces of the same length the collar will be 

 pulled toward the outer side, and will bear harder 

 on the outer side of the neck, sometimes rubbing 

 the neck at that spot. To obviate this, the inner 

 trace should be shorter by one hole than the outer 

 one. The usual distance apart of the holes in 

 traces (about 1 % inch) is rather an over-correc- 

 tion, but it brings the collar more nearly right than 

 when the traces are of the same length. A better 

 way of making the correction is to cover the inside 

 roller-bolts with several thicknesses of leather to 

 increase their diameter and thus take up more of 

 the length of the trace. The inner roller-bolts 

 mioht be set back from the line of the outer ones 



