The Stable Handbook 



the whip. Most tandem whips as sold have three 

 faults, they are too long in the crop, too long in 

 the lash, and too expensive. Five feet is quite 

 long enough for the stick, and the thong and 

 lash should not be more than another six feet. 

 This is a very manageable whip, and we should 

 proceed to practise with it until we have a 

 mastery over it and can use it in a moment 

 directly it is required. Our control of the leader 

 only lasts so long as he is going fairly straight, and 

 the whip is sometimes necessary to supplement the 

 reins. The tandem whip is primarily an instru- 

 ment for the guidance of the horse, not for his 

 punishment. A horse or pony that requires a 

 great deal of the latter is out of his place in a 

 tandem. We do not want him to be afraid of the 

 whip, but to regard it as a signal. For example, 

 the leader in a tandem should only just carry his 

 bar, doing little or no work on the flat and none 

 at all down the easiest slope. Nothing looks 

 worse or is more dangerous than for a leader to 

 be doing all the work on the level ; directly we 

 come to a hill or a bit of deep ground the whip 

 gives the signal to the leader, makes that easy 

 which would have been but labour and sorrow 

 without him. I claim that you can go further, more 

 pleasantly, and with less fatigue to your horses in 

 this way than in any other. There is a great deal 

 in practice, and though at first you want easy 

 horses, yet after a time, when you thoroughly 



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