386 COACH-HORSES CH. XVI 



the whip on that side than on the other. If they 

 are equally free and there is any difference in size, 

 the taller horse should be on the off side, since he is 

 likely to be on the side of the road, which is lower 

 than the centre. 



Of the wheelers, the lazy horse should be on the 

 near side, under the whip, and it is well to put the 

 stronger wheeler on the gutter side (the off side in 

 America and the near side in England) so as to pull 

 the coach out of the low ground to the centre of 

 the road, after having gone to the side in meeting 

 a vehicle, and that is also a reason for putting the 

 taller horse on the gutter side, since he may be 

 generally assumed to be the stronger. 



It is a good plan to accustom the horses to go in 

 any place in the team ; but if a horse does better 

 in one place than another, it is well to keep him 

 there, and this will often be the case, especially in a 

 public-coach team, where the horses cannot be so 

 carefully selected in the beginning, as for a drag, and 

 where one horse sometimes fancies a place, and 

 will, therefore, work cheerfully in it, and unsatisfac- 

 torily in any other. 



As to the pace : horses, to be pleasant to drive, 

 should be able to go eleven miles an hour. On a 

 good level road, a team should take a coach along- 

 at nine miles an hour for two hours, but they will 

 not do this unless they can go a good deal faster ; 

 a horse continuously pushed to the top of his speed 

 never travels pleasantly, and soon tires, but if he 



