20 DRIVING. 



then setting to work to kick, it is not a bad plan to run his 

 rein, if he is off side, through the ring on the inside of the near 

 wheel-horse's head, and if he is near side, through the ring on 

 the inside of the off wheel-horse's head. .This keeps the rein 

 out of his way. In taking the horses off, it is often the custom, 

 directly a man pulls up, to throw the reins down on their backs : 

 I think it is better to wait before doing so. 



In these luxurious days, when everybody has two grooms 

 with a team of four horses, it may scarcely seem necessary to 

 say where the place of the groom ought to be when the horses 

 are standing ; but in the event of a gentleman having only one 

 man with him, let him remember above all things that that man 

 must not go to the leaders' heads ; he should go straight to the 

 wheel-horses' heads and catch hold of both leading reins with 

 one hand whilst he is standing there, and make use of the 

 other to stop the wheel-horses should they move. Should he 

 go to the leaders' heads with no one standing at the wheel- 

 horses, the latter might jump forward, and the leaders knock 

 the man down standing in front of them, when away would go 

 the coach and horses ; whereas one man at the wheel-horses' 

 heads is perfectly competent to control the whole four. 



