ALLOWANCES AND TIPS. 405 



intelligent supervision of one's own stable is a source of 

 great pleasure to anyone who is fond of horses ; it cannot 

 be successfully undertaken without special knowledge, which 

 it is the object of this book to supply. 



ALLOWANCES AND TIPS. 



When a riding lad is sent on a journey with or without his 

 horse, he is usually allowed six shillings a day for his extra 

 expenses. Considering the rapid manner in which the inci- 

 dental expenses of travelling mount up ; this concession might 

 be given to ordinary grooms under similar circumstances. 



In some places, chiefly those in the carriage line, the 

 master gives an allowance for extras and tools, which would 

 include brushes, combs, wash-leathers, rubbers, dusters, 

 sponges, soap, silver-sand, oil for dressing leather, harness 

 composition, scrapers, curry-combs, brooms, hoof-pickers, 

 plate powder, boot-top powder, breeches paste and burnishers. 

 Five shillings a week would be a fair allowance to a coach- 

 man for three horses, and a shilling a week for each saddle 

 horse. 



A shilling may be regarded as the recognised tip to grooms 

 for minor services, such as holding a horse, putting up a 

 horse while the owner is calling at the master's house, going a 

 message, etc. Half-a-crown may be looked upon as a fair 

 tip to the coachman who drives one away, after one has 

 been on a short visit at a friend's place. This might be 

 increased according to additional services rendered. A tip 

 to the stud groom for a mount out hunting in the Shires, 

 might reasonably vary from ten shillings to a sovereign, 

 with, say, half-a-crown to the man who had to strap the 

 horse. It might here be objected that the strapper and not 

 the stud groom should receive the larger tip, as he had to 

 do all the work. We must, however, remember that in 

 establishments in which the master is not his own stud groom, 



