RACING, OR TURF HORSES. 245 



A shift with the right hand is made just in the same way, by taking hold 

 and steadying the rein behind that hand with the thumb and forefinger of 

 the left hand. 



" I have often observed, that, with other methods of holding the reins, 

 there was great difficulty in shifting the reach. The driver tries to do it; 

 but, for an instant, he has let go of the horse's head on one side alto 

 gether, and broken his stride. When this is found to be the case, th* 

 dead pull all the time is adopted ; and this spoils the freedom and elas- 

 ticity of the horse's stride, and chokes off his wind. I do not intend 

 this to be taken as instruction for professional drivers. Every driver has 

 a way of his own ; and some of them have very good ways, for, as I 

 have taken occasion to state before, they drive well. But what I have 

 set down above may be of service to gentlemen who drive their own 

 horses, and to those young men who, having as yet no settled method of 

 their own, may think it well enough to try that which I have found to 

 answer. Another word about bits. I am opposed to the use of severe 

 bits, and complicated things of that sort. Some of the inventors of suc^> 

 things say I am prejudiced; but I don't think I am. If a man has m 

 horse that cannot be driven with a bar-bit or a snaffle, he may as well sell 

 him, except it is a very exceptional case. Where are these kinds of 

 severe complicated bits most in use? Why, in England ; five hundred or 

 a thousand of them are used there to one that is used here : and where 

 do the horses trot the best? These bits are mostly invented by men who 

 have had no practical experience whatever as to what sort of driving a 

 fast trotter requires to keep his gait square and b«ld, and induce him to 

 do his best when it is called for. When a horse has a good mouth — and 

 a bad one is almost always the fault of bad breaking and driving — the 

 easier the bit you use, the better he will act for you, and the more speed 

 he will show you." 



Trotting Horses. 

 It has often been said of Northern and Eastern men, that they do not 

 take kindly to the saddle. In a sense this is true, especially in the 

 North. In England the passion for riding in the saddle grew up at a 

 time when there were, so to speak, no roads. In the earlier settlement 

 of America, throughout the then vast timber region, the same state of 

 things existed ; but a people who settle a new country have somethmg 

 else to think of than riding to hounds or other pleasure riding. So the 

 country became settled ; the level or gently undulating nature of the 

 country rendered good roads passable at light cost, and the absence of 

 preserves of game, a landed aristocracy, and the improvement in vehicl'^^'* 

 for pleasure and use, tended to force public taste in the direction of driv- 



16 



