278 THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



science that was given to me by the best and quickest man 

 on his box that I have ever yet seen. ' Something must 

 be done,' said he, ' to keep him from killing himself. Try 

 a check-rein to his partner ; if that won't check him, it 

 will bring his partner up to him, and that is something 

 gained. If you attempt to pull him back by his bit, do 

 it gently ; if violently, you pull him back on his bar, 

 which only makes him worse. The best way is, when 

 there is no check-rein used, to bring him back by his 

 harness ; that is, to keep the wheel-horses back, so that he 

 may feel the collar and his bit at the same time, which will 

 tend to soothe his temper.' Then he taught me another 

 move, which I have ever since practised. ' When a whole 

 team are overdoing it,' said he, ' don't draw all your reins 

 through your fingers at the same moment. By doing so, 

 your horses' mouths (i.e. the proper feeling of them, 

 which you may have taken some trouble to acquire) will 

 very often be lost. The following is a better plan : 

 Open the fingers of your right hand, and put the reins 

 into them, and with a good gripe, about two inches in 

 front of your left hand, and then catch them again with 

 your left hand, by passing it in front of your right. You 

 then have their mouths just as they were, with only a 

 stronger pull upon them.' He also gave me the following 

 hints, which I never lost sight of : ' The powers of a 

 horse in fast work, and with a heavy load,' said he, ' can 

 be measured to a mile. He may be very good for seven 

 or eight miles, but bad for ten or twelve. The priming, 

 indeed, is soon taken out of most of them, with a heavy 

 load, and they must be looked to. Wheelers have the 

 hardest place, everything considered, as they are at work 

 up hill and down ; nevertheless, they must chiefly regulate 

 the speed, by keeping them up to the leaders, instead of 

 forcing the leaders to get away from them ; in fact, if 

 favour be shown, it should be to the leaders. You may 

 drag a tired wheeler home, and he can shift a little in his 

 work ; but if a leader cuts it, you are planted add to 

 which, the wheel-horses are generally the strongest of the 

 team. Always put your freest leader on the near side, as 

 you will have him better in hand than if he were on the 

 other. If a leader is weak, and cannot take his bar, tie 

 up the wheeler that follows him, and it will place him 

 by the side of his partner. Leaders should be fast trotters ; 

 when cantering or galloping, the bars are never at rest, 



