388 THE HORSE 



is no fear of becoming entangled in the wheel ; the whip 

 is therefore held low, almost horizontal in fact, but still 

 parallel with the dashboard. 



It should be an invariable rule to start the vehicle at a 

 slow pace, which can be quickened immediately as much as 

 desired. A lesson may be learned from the splendid drivers 

 on the fast express trains, which glide off so smoothly that 

 it is really difficult to know the actual moment of starting ; 

 whilst on some of the bye-lines one is almost jerked off 

 one's seat, to the accompaniment of sundry groans and 

 squeaks from the wheels, owing to the violence of the start 

 from a state of rest. 



The Eeins. 



There is often a considerable superfluity of rein, which gets 

 entangled with the driver's feet or slips over the side of the 

 carriage if allowed to remain at liberty; but if the driver 

 just hangs the buckle end over the little finger of his left 

 hand he will find he has conquered the difficulty, and will 

 have no more trouble with it. In low-seated carriages, if 

 care is not taken with the reins they are constantly getting 

 under the tails of the steeds, especially when they have 

 short docks ; and nothing is more provocative of a bout of 

 kicking and bolting than such an occurrence, particularly if 

 the driver tries to unhitch the reins by dragging violently at 

 them. The more he pulls the tighter the animal tucks 

 down its tail, and the more it kicks and gallops ; but if the 

 driver can only keep his wits about him and at once lets 

 down a long loop of the reins, their own weight causes 

 them to slide down, and, feeling no resistance, the horse no 

 longer tucks its tail in close. When long-tailed horses were 

 in fashion for carriages — and the writer was thirty years old 

 before he ever even saw a short-docked horse — it was very 

 rare indeed to hear of a horse getting the reins under his tail, 

 for the long tail down to the hocks never had sufficient sweep 

 to rise over the reins. It is now often urged as a reason for 

 docking horses short that it is done to prevent horses doing 

 such a thing ; but if those using this argument had only 

 had sufficient experience, they would know that they were 



