6 DRIVING. 



gentle with him driving with as light a hand as you can, 

 never hitting him with the whip unnecessarily, or jobbing him 

 in the mouth with the bit. From long experience, and having 

 saved many broken knees by their use, we advocate bearing 

 reins especially in single harness put on with sense and dis- 

 cretion, so as never to be so short as to annoy a horse in any 

 way, and always when standing still for any time to be unborne. 



In course of time, when the beginner has had some experi- 

 enceunder good guidance if it can possibly be obtained, but 

 otherwise after careful observation of the circumstances and 

 conditions under which the horse goes most comfortably to 

 himself and his driver he may take a step in advance and 

 essay the task of driving a pair. On that we can only say that 

 the putting the horses properly to the carriage, as regards the 

 length of their traces and pole pieces, as well as of the coupling 

 reins, is the most important factor in enabling a coachman to 

 drive with satisfaction to himself and comfort to his horses : 

 points which, it cannot be too strongly emphasised, must always 

 be considered together. One great thing, which is much prac- 

 tised nowadays and is specially to be avoided, is poling up the 

 horses so tightly that they are like animals fixed in a vice. 

 This is alike cruel to the horse and dangerous to the driver 

 and his passengers. The greatest care should be taken always 

 to leave sufficient play upon the pole pieces. By the word 

 ' play ' we mean slackness when the horses are drawing with 

 the traces and also when the animals are holding back. 



In another part of this work we shall touch upon the ques- 

 tion of the application of the break for stopping the carriage ; 

 but we must here particularly impress upon the young (and 

 in not a few cases the hint may be judiciously and usefully 

 extended to the old) coachman that, as a general rule, a great 

 deal too much use is made of the break. It is a great relief 

 to a horse when he makes a slight descent to come out of his 

 collar so that the carriage travels along behind him without 

 any exertion on his part. Almost invariably, however, the 

 spectator will observe that the moment the carriage goes down 



