126 DRIVING. 



little, and then push them back with your right the required 

 distance. Always steady your horses going over the crown of a 

 hill ; you can drop your hand to them as you please afterwards, 

 but if you begin a hill too quickly you will, and so will your 

 horses, be uncomfortable until you are some distance beyond 

 the bottom. When absolutely requisite, use your break, but 

 always put it on gently ; a break suddenly applied irritates a 

 nervous horse, strains the coach, and shakes the passengers. 

 Always put it on and take it off yourself "; do not let anyone 

 sitting behind touch it except under any exceptional circum- 

 stances, and then only when asked to do so ; and never put it 

 on to stop the coach when pulling up ; let your horses do that. 

 The misapplication of breaks has manufactured more bad 

 coachmen and more useless wheelers that will not even try 

 to stop a coach than can possibly be believed. 



To hark back a bit. In starting a coach, do so, if possible, 

 with the wheelers ; a leader jumping away may break a bar, or 

 pull the coach on to the wheelers, when one of them may go 

 down, or a kicking match ensue ; but all this, as everything 

 else in coaching, must be regulated by what is going on at the 

 moment. A wheeler may not be ready to begin, and he must 

 be waited for, or else he will be spoiled ; a leader may be a 

 little too eager and jump up, and if held too tight will rear, and 

 perhaps fall back ; so it comes to pass that very often the team 

 must be allowed to start themselves, and the reins put right as 

 they go. But this is not exactly a team for a beginner. 



One of the most important, and at the same time the most 

 difficult, things to do is to use a whip properly. It is all very 

 well to say that bad workmen complain of their tools, but it is 

 quite certain that no one, however good he may be, can get 

 along comfortably with a badly-made whip. The best way to 

 learn is to get a first-rate tutor who will provide you with a good 

 article, make up your mind not to lose your temper or patience, 

 sit on the box of a coach without any horses in it, and practise 

 as long as you can. After several hours of abject failures and 

 days of irritating disappointments, all at once you will find your 



