3i8 HIGHWAYS AND HORSES. 



would be the case with a servant, or some one in a 

 lower class of life. One thing in his favour is that he 

 has lighter hands — this is the result of his never having 

 done hard manual work of any kind ; in fact, a man 

 who wrote a great deal, or an artist, sculptor, or 

 engraver, were he to engage in hard manual labour, 

 would soon lose his delicacy of touch ; even were he to 

 row or do anything requiring a continuous use of the 

 muscles of his hands, his touch would be impaired. It 

 is on this account that ladies have such good hands, 

 and by their delicacy of touch can manage a restive 

 horse when with a man he would probably run away. 

 Grooms have always bad hands ; I never knew yet a 

 gentleman's servant who could drive really well. There 

 is a tale told of some gentleman whose horses always 

 pulled when driven by his coachman, simply because 

 he pulled at the horses. In order to convince him 

 that he was wrong, the gentleman tied a rope to an 

 iron post, and placed the end of the rope in the groom's 

 hands. " Now pull," said he, and the groom pulled. 

 " Do you feel it pulling ?" said the gentleman. " Yes," 

 replied the groom. '"' Now slacken it off; does it pull 

 now ? " " No," answered the groom. " Now, you 

 fool," said the gentleman, " that post is like your 

 horses ; if you don't pull at them, they won't pull at 

 you. 



The above remark is very true ; horses with good 

 mouths are often spoilt by grooms with bad hands. 

 It must always be remembered that riding and driving 

 is like married life, one must give and take ; it is only 

 upon this principle that a horse and his rider can get 

 along comfortably. Of course, a great deal depends upon 

 the way a horse is bitted. I would not recommend 

 any one to use severe bits, even with a horse that 



