CH. XIV CENTRE REINS SLIPPING 323 



' four-horse box, and I should think, when it was 

 ' completed, that the reins must have very much 

 'resembled a pack of cards well shuffled and ad- 

 ' mirably calculated to land the coach in the ditch 

 ' after dark.' 



' Nimrod' (Essays, Malet, p. 345) says : 'There 

 ' is an excellent way of handling reins not gen- 

 ' erally adopted. That is, when you want to take 

 'a pull at your horses, to open the fingers of the 

 ' right hand and to put the reins into them. Then 

 ' pass the left hand, with the fingers open, in front 

 ' of the right hand, and receive the reins into it 



O 



' again. Thus you get extra power over your team 

 ' without disturbing their mouths.' * 



Who shall decide ? At all events, it is well to 

 have charity toward those who think differently 

 from ourselves. 



One of the first troubles that the beginner will 

 encounter is that of having his centre reins, the 

 off lead and the near wheel, slip through his 

 fingers. He will discover that this has happened 

 by finding his leaders going to the near side of the 

 road, while his wheelers are going to the off side, 

 and it need hardly be said that at all times, except 

 in turning, the horses must be exactly in front of 

 each other and the team perfectly straight. This 

 inequality of the reins must be corrected by push- 

 ing the two centre reins in from the front, and it 



* This is what French writers call la reprise des guides. 



