68 



MODERN HORSE MANAGEMENT 



[CHAP. 



wheeler with high action must have four feet 

 in front of him to avoid stepping on the heels 

 of the leader. (See P. 34.) Above all things, 

 the horses must be started away very steadily, 

 the speed being increased very gradually. If a 

 long-lashed whip is used, the lash should be kept 

 twisted round the handle, and only untwisted 

 when it is required to be used, which is seldom 

 if the leader is well trained. One rein can be 

 shortened by pulling it with the right hand 

 through the left hand from behind the left, i.e. 

 between the left hand and the driver's body. In 

 letting one rein out, the right hand is used on it 

 in front of the left hand. The first and second 

 finger of the right hand, or the first finger and 

 thumb of the right hand, will be used to grip 

 the rein that is to be shifted ; for this reason the 

 whip must be held well in the palm of the right 

 hand, and not in the fingers, so as to leave the 

 fingers free. The off-side reins will be held, 

 when necessary, between the second and third 

 and third and fourth fingers. To "ease" the 

 leader means to tighten his rein in the hand, 

 and therefore to slacken the leader's pace. The 

 leader is always eased when going downhill or 

 along the level, but let out when going uphill. 

 Easing and letting out must be done gradually 

 and not in jerks. If it is desired to tighten the 

 traces of the leader, the wheeler can be eased or 

 the leader encouraged to go faster. 



The wheeler's head should always follow 

 the leader's tail when making a turn. When 

 making a sharp turn, the wheeler must be held 

 well in hand, the leader being turned almost 

 round before the wheeler is allowed to turn the 

 cart. The leader must never be pulled round 

 suddenly with a loose outer rein. The feeling 

 on the outer rein must always be retained. If 

 the leader should start to buck or kick, he must 

 be let out, and not eased (i.e. reined in), so as 

 to tighten his traces. If he were eased, which is 

 so commonly done by nervous drivers, he would 

 become loose in his traces, and would be very 

 liable to get his hind legs over them. The 

 tighter the traces the less liable he is to get his 

 legs over them. As a rule, the larger horse 

 should be behind, and, in a four-in-hand, on the 

 near side. 



266. Runaways. The way to stop a runaway 

 horse is not to pull at his mouth or to saw it, 

 but to give him his head for a little distance, 

 and then firmly to draw his mouth in towards 

 his chest, then to let him have his head once 

 again and to draw it in again. In this way, if 

 he should have the bit in between his teeth, 

 there will be no trouble in making him drop 

 it. He should be drawn up in the same way as 

 a man pulls in a tug-of-war. He should not be 

 jerked severely, as this may damage his jaw. 

 This method is far more effective than sawing 

 with the reins, which practice only makes 

 excited horses far worse, because it causes them 



pain. Pain causes fear, and fear makes a horse 

 go faster. Hence he must not be shouted at. 

 The practice of holding on tightly to a runaway's 

 mouth is the best way of keeping him at full 

 speed ; the more he is pulled the faster he will 

 go, if he has really made up his mind to go, 

 and he will probably have the bit in between his 

 teeth. I have stopped several runaways within 

 a hundred yards by the former method without 

 doing them any harm, and I have tried the old 

 method with the same horses and given it up as 

 hopeless. I have often seen drivers kicking their 

 horses while sitting on the front of the vehicle. 

 Such usage is most foolish, because the best way 

 to get the maximum of work out of a horse is to 

 treat him as a friend, and not to let him regard 

 his driver as an enemy. A horse will do almost 

 everything in his power for a kind master. 



267. Horses when left standing, if they will 

 not stand untied, should be tied securely with 

 a rope from the nose-band, or a halter put on 

 over the bridle, to a post or other rigid object. 

 Great care should be taken, if the rope is looped 

 around a smooth post, that upon the horse 

 lowering his head the loop will not slip 

 down the pole, because, upon the horse 

 raising his head and feeling that his head is 

 tied, he will probably pull hard and break the 

 rope or bridle and get away. A horse objects 

 very much to the feeling that his head is tied 

 down. Some country houses supply rings, about 

 four feet from the ground, attached to a wall, 

 fence or post, to which delivery horses can be 

 tied up. 



268. Notes on the Treatment of Pullers. A 

 horse pulls from different causes : want of work, 

 excitability, fear, pain and a bad mouth. If he 

 pulls from want of work, the remedy is to give 

 him more work ; this extra work should be 

 given, for preference, on the lunging-rein, and 

 the feed of oats should be decreased. It must 

 be remembered that it takes two to pull, and 

 that the fact that a horse is fresh is no excuse 

 for the driver allowing him to pull. Good 

 hands, and the best of these, are required to 

 stop pullers from pulling. If from excitability, 

 the horse requires plenty of good work in com- 

 petent hands ; such horses go best if driven in 

 harness by the side of a quiet horse ; harness 

 work is always better than saddle work for such 

 horses. If from fear, then the cause of the mis- 

 chief must be removed ; the horse must be 

 accustomed to the object that causes the fear ; 

 the voice will do much good, as a rule, to such 

 horses. If from pain, then the mouth must be 

 very carefully examined ; the teeth must be 

 examined for sharp points and for pieces of 

 wood, etc., that may have become wedged 

 tightly between them, especially the molars ; the 

 bars (gums between the nippers and the molars) 

 must be examined ; the lips and tongue and the 

 hard palate on the roof of the mouth must be 



