' MANAGEMENT OF ROAD AND DRIVING HORSES. 267 



nor any other time, for that matter. On the road I am very 

 particular that my horse, if checked at all, is only very moder- 

 ately so, and that he hangs quite loose in the harness. Most 

 people, to my notion, bupkle the hold-backs too tight ; a horse 

 cannot travel nearly as easily with the breeching drawn tight 

 across him. _ I want it quite loose or left off altogether, 

 although a hilly country road calls for the breeching ; but be 

 sure it hangs right, not too taut nor too low. Have it well up 

 on the thighs and not so low as to have a tendency to trip in 

 descending steep hills. So particular am I over this point of 

 the hanging of the breeching that many has been the time 

 when driving a horse harnessed by others, I have got out of 

 my buggy and adjusted the same to suit myself, even though I 

 were driving but a short distance. 



As to the whip ; there are few men who Jike a good whip, 

 perhaps, better than myself; and I have thought that few 

 could use one more dexterously when required to do so. I 

 always want a good whip in my buggy when driving, no mat- 

 ter what the distance may be ; yet, if kept for my use alone, a 

 good whip would last me a long time, as I have but little occa- 

 sion to use it. 



One of the worst possible pernicious features of road driv- 

 ing is an almost continual clucking, tapping with the whip, and 

 jerking on the reins. 



I very much dislike to see the hair worn off horses from 

 wearing the breeching too tight. 



I have often thought were I a horse hitched to a fine buggy 

 or carriage and compelled 'to stand the -irritable driving that 

 many good horses are subjected to, I would play " Old Ab- 

 dallah" with the carriage, and serve it as he did the Long 

 Islander's fish-cart many years ago, even though I were made 

 to pay the same penalty for my rashness as he did for his — - 

 being turned out on a sandy beach to starve to death. 



I have often observed that the best drivers, whether of 

 teams or single horses ; whether those teams were composed of 

 oxen, stags, mules, or horses ; whether being worked on the 



