CH. XVIII DUTIES OF THE MEN 417 



as if the coachman were not competent to manage 

 his horses. 



All the men about a four-in-hand establishment 

 should be carefully instructed that, should a team 

 suddenly start, the proper way to stop it is by 

 seizing the heads of the wheel horses; there is 

 always an impulse on the part of bystanders to 

 rush to the heads of the leaders ; if they succeed 

 in stopping them, the point of the pole runs into 

 the leaders' rumps, resulting in confusion worse 

 confounded. It is the wheelers alone that can 

 hold the coach ; if they are stopped, the leaders 

 can do but little. Therefore, the proper thing is 

 to reach the wheelers first, and bring them under 

 control. 



When wheelers are troublesome, the man at their 

 heads can hold them by taking all four of their 

 reins in his hand, about two feet from the bits, and 

 every man should be shown how he can hold all 

 four horses at once, by taking in his hand, or in both 

 hands, the leaders' reins in addition, — a much safer 

 way than merely standing at the leaders' heads 

 when there is no one to look after the wheelers. 



In large establishments, the head coachman fre- 

 quently brings the coach to the door, but goes no 

 further, in which case, the two grooms come round 

 in the rumble, and take their stations as above 

 described. Under these circumstances, the head 

 coachman is not in livery. He places the ladder 

 and discharges the duties described above as be- 



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