366 HANDLING CH. XV 



Handling. — While driving-horses in England are 

 usually thoroughly handled by the dealer before 

 being offered for sale, in America they are ' broken 

 to harness,' as it is called, and only so far prepared 

 that they can be driven with safety, but with little or 

 no finish, and, for a man who likes to have his horses 

 light and handy, are rarely very agreeable to drive. 



On a private coach the pleasure of driving de- 

 pends greatly upon the manners of the horses, and, 

 unless the owner employs some professional trainer 

 who can handle and prepare them for him, he ought 

 to be able to put some work upon them himself to 

 make them anything like perfect. 



A London dealer has at least one man in his 

 employ, to show and to handle horses, who is a 

 master of his business, and who, without any sys- 

 tem that he could describe, will in a comparatively 

 few lessons make a pleasant horse out of a green 

 one. The man himself has had trood training and 

 large experience, and has patience, courage, and 

 hands. Usually he puts a new horse, assuming it 

 to be ' broken to harness' in the ordinary sense of 

 the phrase, to a dealer's break (Fig. 58), alongside 

 of an old horse, ' the schoolmaster,' and soon de- 

 cides upon the bit and the details of harnessing 

 which suit the horse best. After a few lessons he 

 puts him alongside of the horse with which it is 

 desired to mate him, and, driving them together 

 with great judgement and skill, makes them fit to 

 show and to sell. 



