HINTS TO BEGINNERS. 125 



' Looping a rein ' simply means taking a few inches of it up 

 in the form of a loop and holding it in that shape under the 

 thumb until the desired turn is made or obstacle passed, when 

 the loop is allowed to run free again. 



' Pointing the leaders ' means, in plain English, giving them 

 the hint that you are intending to go round a corner to the 

 right or left as required ; if sharp to the left, you should loop 

 your near-leader's rein (it is the easiest rein to loop) by taking 

 it up, <?7'<?r-handed of course, with your right hand the length 

 you require, and placing it back under the thumb of your left 

 hand ; when it is secure there your leaders will begin to bear 

 round gradually to the left ; at the same time you should, put 

 your right hand upon your off-reins, both of them together, and 

 thereby prevent the turn being made too abruptly ; l by doing 

 this you can regulate the change of front to a nicety. When 

 you are safe round the corner, take your whip-hand away, raise 

 up the thumb of your left hand, .the loop will run out, and 

 your team will be straight. Making a turn to the right is the 

 exact opposite, but will require more practice, as^the off- 

 leader's rein is more difficult to loop ; and in the same way 

 a complete circle to right or left must be made, and if the 

 figure 8 is to be cut (as they say in skating), the looping, &c., 

 must be transversed every time you complete one circle and 

 come to the centre of the figure. With a well-broken team on 

 a good road the less horses' heads are interfered with the better, 

 and nothing looks so bad as to see a coachman continually 

 changing and fingering his reins, and trying experiments with 

 his whip. j 



. If the horses are going well, and you come to a slight 

 descent, there is no necessity for you to shorten your leaders' 

 reins more than your wheelers' ; sometimes they do not want 

 pulling back so much ; it will be quite enough if you take the 

 whole lot in your right hand, open out the fingers of your left a 



1 This is better done by drawing your left hand to the left, which shortens 

 the off- reins and leaves the right hand free to use the whip to keep the near 

 wheel-horse off the post or corner. B. 



