CH. XXIII ACCIDENTS 503 



in the foot, which slip and render the horse quite 

 helpless ; to prevent this, india-rubber balling-pads 

 are used, but in their absence, filling the hollow of 

 the foot with tallow or with common soap is a 

 satisfactory substitute. 



Sometimes an unruly leader, held too tightly at 

 starting, will rear, and throw himself and the other 

 leader down ; but they generally manage to scramble 

 to their feet without any damage since they are so 

 loosely attached to the coach. 



The fall of a wheeler is a much more serious 

 matter ; the proper thing is to hold him down until 

 the other wheeler is got out of the way to avoid 

 his being kicked by the fallen horse, and then to 

 release the latter by unbuckling his hame-strap, 

 which will loosen all his harness and permit his 

 traces to be unfastened. In cases of this kind, the 

 trace-end shown in Fig. 103 is useful. 



If a leader kicks over the trace, it is, usually, 

 easier to unhook the trace from the bar than to 

 unbuckle it at the tug ; and an objection to the 

 arrangement, otherwise good, of lapping the traces, 

 is that if the horse kicks over an inside trace he has 

 his lesj over both traces. 



A wheel horse's kicking over his inside trace and 

 getting his leg between it and the pole, is a serious 

 matter. The traces will be drawn so tight that it 

 will be impossible to unbuckle them, and the proper 

 way is to unbuckle the hame-strap on the top of 

 the collar ; the trace will then be slackened and can 



