398 STABLE SERVANTS. 



be of a rough and ready nature. In tram and omnibus yards, 

 a stable-helper will generally have to do ten or a dozen horses 

 in a " lick and a promise " kind of a way. 



A single-handed groom or an ordinary groom who is in 

 a subordinate position in a stable, will have a comfortable 

 job in grooming, feeding, watering and exercising two hunters 

 or two polo ponies, which he ought to turn out in first-class 

 style. If he is industrious and has a boy to help him 

 when the ponies are brought on the polo ground for play, 

 he will be able to do three ponies, which he can exercise 

 together by riding one and leading the other two, one on 

 each side. A single-handed or ordinary groom can do 

 all the stable work for three horses which are in work ; 

 but he cannot give them a sufficiency of exercise, suppos- 

 ing that he leads only one at a time. The difficulty 

 as to exercise would of course be obviated, if the master 

 or one of his family did all the riding. As a rule, a 

 single-handed groom would not have as much time to 

 devote to the grooming and exercising of his horses, as 

 an ordinary groom ; because he would have to do stud 

 groom duties in arranging about fodder, mending of gear, 

 replacement of stable tools, etc. Supposing that a single- 

 handed groom was not expected to ride or drive, and that 

 extreme smartness was not demanded, he ought to be able 

 to look after a two-wheeled trap and harness, as well as 

 three horses. A carriage groom will do about the same 

 work as an ordinary groom, allowing for the time he may 

 be absent from the stable. His duties are to go out with 

 the coachman, sit beside him on the box, perform the 

 work which a footman would otherwise do, clean harness, 

 and strap. 



A single-handed coachman would be able to do a carriage 

 and pair in first-class style, if the turn-out was not wanted 

 oftener than every second day. We must here bear in mind 



