CH. XIV MOVING OFF 295 



the right length and so drawn up that each horse's 

 mouth is just felt, thus ensuring their being evenly 

 held, or evenly released, as the hand is moved. 



Since, in taking up a load, the coach is usually 

 close to a step or kerb, it follows that immediately 

 after starting an inclination must be made to the 

 right or left, and this is most neatly made by taking 

 a point with both the lead-rein and the wheel-rein 

 on the proper side (see Figs. 136, 137), which may 

 be done before giving- the signal to move. This 

 leaves the whip hand free for a prompt use of the 

 whip on a wheeler, sometimes necessary at the mo- 

 ment of starting, and as soon as the desired incli- 

 nation has been obtained, the points are dropped 

 and the reins are again even. In driving away from 

 the door of a house in confined grounds, nice hand- 

 ling is required, — for instance, to go round a curved 

 road, to the left out of a narrow gate, and then to 

 the right into the road or street, and to keep the 

 wheel tracks in the middle of the drive and not have 

 them almost on the grass, first on one side and then 

 on the other. 



If of two ways of going up to a door one is more 

 difficult than the other, it is best to go in by the 

 difficult way, when the horses are already moving 

 and well in hand, and to go out by the easier way. 



In going through a gateway, the leaders should be 

 taken back and the coach guided by the wheelers ; 

 then if the lead-bar touches the post, the bar will 

 yield and slip by, whereas if the traces are tight, the 



