160 HOW TO USE A HOBSK. 



It is far better f^r horses, to drive tliem steadily at a 

 regular pace, even if it be ten or twelve miles an hour, 

 than to send them along by fits and starts — now spinning 

 them over the road at sixteen or eighteen miles, now plod- 

 ding along at six or seven ; and of two pairs of horses, 

 driven the same distance, after the two different methods, 

 that which is driven evenly will, at the end of the day, be 

 comparatively fresh and comfortable, while the other will 

 be jaded and worn out. 



In regard to punishment, the less that is administered 

 the better. A sluggish or lazy horse must, it is true, be 

 kept up to his collar and made to do his share of the work, 

 or the free-goer will be worn out before the day is half 

 done ; and for this the whip must be occasionally used. 

 Even good and free-going horses will occasionally be seized 

 with fits of indolence, at moments, induced perhaps by the 

 weather, and it may be necessary to stimulate them in such 

 cases; again, at times when roads are bad, when time 

 presses, and certain distances must be accomplished within 

 certain times, recourse must be had to punishment ; as it 

 must occasionally, also, in cases where the animals are 

 vicious or refractory, and where the master must show him- 

 self the master. Still, as a general rule, punishment should 

 be the last resort. It should never be attempted with a 

 tired, a jaded, or an exhausted horse ; for to apply it in 

 Buch cases is utter barbarity ; little or no immediate ad- 

 vantage is gained to the driver, while it may probablj" 

 result in the loss of an excellent animal. It is common to 

 nee horses punished for stumbling, punished for starting; 

 and whenever a new horse, which one may chance to be 

 trying, starts off into a gallop after committing either of 

 these offences, one may be sure that he is an habitual startei 

 or stumbler, and that he has frequently undergone chastise' 

 ment for them, and undergone it in vain. It is altogethei 



