514 MEETS OF COACHING CLUBS CH. XXIV 



The time of assembling, by which time all the 

 coaches should be on the ground, is usually fifteen 

 minutes before the hour of starting. The coaches 

 take their places in the order of arrival, either in 

 one or two lines or in a single column, depending 

 upon the locality. One place at the right, or at the 

 head, is left for the President of the Club, and the 

 Vice-President takes the rear. Inasmuch as punc- 

 tuality is a coaching virtue, the start should be made 

 on the minute by the President, and the coaches 

 should follow at intervals of a coach length ; that is, 

 about forty feet. These intervals should be kept 

 with great precision, since, if they are alternately 

 lost and regained, the changes of pace will be much 

 increased toward the rear of the column, where the 

 coaches will be frequently compelled to go very 

 fast, to make up the gaps. It is a good plan for 

 the leading coach, ten minutes or so after the start, 

 to stop for a few minutes at the first convenient 

 place ; the horses are very apt to get fretted by the 

 waiting and by the start, and an opportunity is 

 hereby afforded of calming them and of changing 

 the couplings or the bitting, if desirable. 



The pace should not be slow ; eight miles an hour 

 is not too fast, and an even pace should be kept up 

 all the time, up-hill and down ; this ensures the in- 

 tervals between the coaches being properly kept, 

 even if the line is long-. 



If the route chosen permits, it is well to have a 

 countermarch at some place, around a circle in a 



