TANDEM-DRIVING. 157 



is right according to his ideas. He should then take the reins 

 in his left hand, standing on the off side of the cart. The 

 wheeler's reins should be put on the second finger, and the 

 leader's on the first finger. He must then hold them in his 

 right hand while he gets into the cart, changing them again to 

 the left as soon as he is on his box. The whip must then be 

 in the right hand, with the thong neatly caught on to the stick. 

 The driver must just feel the mouths of both horses, and draw 

 the leader back slightly, so that the traces of the latter are 

 slack. He can then start the animals both together if any- 

 thing, the wheeler should move first. On no account should 

 the leader do so. Having then moved a few paces, the leader's 

 reins should be slackened, and he should be allowed to go 

 more into his collar. Not till both animals are fairly started 

 and beginning to settle down to their work should the leader 

 absolutely assist in drawing the cart ; the reason is, that this 

 would probably make the leading horse pull, and the shaft horse 

 hang back as soon as he felt the weight behind dragged on to 

 his quarters. Many drivers make the mistake of letting the 

 leader do too much work ; this is the source of many difficulties, 

 and may drag the wheeler on to his nose. When both horses 

 have been going for a short time, then both should be made to 

 do their fair share of work. One of the difficulties experienced 

 at first by all who drive tandem is to keep both horses straight 

 that is, following each other in a direct line. This is done by 

 altering the position of the reins, either letting out one, or 

 drawing in another, but always by lifting them with the right 

 hand, never drawing them in from behind the left hand. The 

 simplest manner of straightening a team is by shortening or 

 lengthening the two reins lying between the first and second 

 fingers, for the upper rein of these two is the off-side leader's 

 rein, and the lower one the near-side wheeler's rein. Therefore, 

 by slackening or tightening these two reins it stands to reason 

 the two animals are pulled reverse ways. 



We will now follow the driver, who has mounted his cart 

 and is fairly started, and let us hope has found sufficient 



