HINTS ON DRIVING
Regulate the pace by the distance that you have to go, and, whatever the
distance, keep going at a steady pace--from seven to nine miles an hour
is a good average--and it is a great mistake in long driving to go
sometimes very fast and then try to balance it by going very slowly. In
the old coaching days, when long distances were covered and the horses
had to be kept in good condition, the general principle was to keep the
horses going at about the same gait uphill and down, and this applies
quite as much with a pair or a single horse. It is easier for a horse,
and tires him less, to keep a steady gait than to walk up and down hill
and then go very fast on the flat.
The most important thing about driving horses, especially for distance
driving, is to find by experience their natural fast gait and then to
keep them to it, and never to urge your horses beyond their natural
gait, as nothing tires them so quickly. On the other hand, it tires a
high-spirited horse almost as much to keep holding him back from his
natural gait. Horses, after they have been driven a bit, know better
than their drivers how to cover the ground, and they generally had much
better be left to pick out their own gait than be forced to what the
driver thinks is the gait they should take. So, in going up or down
hill, if a horse shows a natural inclination to trot up even a steep
hill, let him trot if he wants to; it will tire him less than holding
him back.
[Illustration: DRIVING A PAIR TO A GEORGE IV PHAETON]
It is also a great mistake, which many drivers make, to walk horses down
every hill they come to. Unless a hill is very steep, it is far easier
to keep up a steady even trot, and if you have a heavy trap and find it
straining your horse, drive him in the soft part of the road, which will
hold back the trap. In going up or down very steep hills, it is easier
for the horses to zigzag from side to side, though of course at a walk,
as a hill as steep as that cannot be undertaken at a trot.
Start your horses slowly and let them gradually warm up to the work
before them, and drive them slowly, or even walk them, for the last mile
or two, so as to cool them before they go to the stable. As in riding,
follow the old adage, “Walk the first mile out and the last mile in.”
When you are bringing your trap up to the house or to the curb, so as to
get out yourself, or to let some one else out, you should rein in your
horses gradually; keep them going at a gradually diminishing trot, until
just before you are at the point at which you are to stop, and then stop
them quietly but firmly. Do not attempt to dash up to the stopping place
and then throw the horses back on their haunches, but do not bring your
horses down to a walk twenty feet sooner than you need to and then creep
up to the stopping place. Follow the same general principle when you are
coming to a corner or entering a gate. That is, keep your horses well in
hand and slow them down before you make the turn, but it it is very bad
style to bring your horses down to a walk, or anything approaching a
walk, before turning a corner and to make the turn at the walk. When
going at a trot you should not make a turn at the walk unless you wish
to turn the trap entirely around and go in the opposite direction, or
unless you have to make a turn of more than a right angle.
In going up driveways, as in approaching a country house, be sure to
keep your trap in the middle of the road, and to keep your horses up to
their gait, always with your horses well in hand. Needless to say, it
looks very badly to cut in on the grass on either side or to look as if
you were cutting W’s.
It must be borne in mind when you are driving into a country place, that
many of them have their drives so arranged that there is a turn to the
stable near the entrance gate. Be sure that your horses are well in
hand, and that you are prepared to turn them to the other side, as they
are sure to see the stable turn and very apt to try to take it.
When you come to a hill, remember that your horses in going up need to
stretch their heads out in order to exert their full strength. You
should, therefore, give them their heads as much as they want, provided
always that you keep them in hand. In going downhill, on the other hand,
the horses should always be reined in, though, as I have said, not
enough to bring them down to a walk unless the hill is very steep; they
should, however, be kept well in hand in going down as there is then the
greatest danger of stumbling.
[Illustration: BASKET PHAETON
Note position of groom and livery]
If you are driving a trap with a brake, with which some basket phaetons
are equipped, as are all traps for use in hilly countries except
runabouts, do not use the brake too freely. It is much better for the
horses to accustom themselves to hold the trap back than it is to have
them pulling it downhill. If your horses become accustomed to having the
brake on at every hill you go down, you will find great difficulty in
holding them when you drive them without a brake. The brake should be
reserved for use in going down very steep hills and for emergencies,
such as having the horses get away from you when going down a moderate
hill; but the brake should never be used, in single or pair horse
driving, in pulling up.
The rule of the road in this country is “keep to the right,” but why
this rule has ever been adopted, instead of the English rule of keeping
to the left, I have never heard explained. A little reflection will show
one that the English rule of keeping to the left is the naturally
correct and sensible rule, and that the whole theory of correct driving
is based upon it. Thus, the driver sits on the right side of the trap in
order to be able to avoid hitting a trap passing in the opposite
direction, as he is on the side where he can best watch his own trap and
the trap that might strike him. So the whip is held in the right hand,
pointing toward the left in order not to engage with the whip of a
passing vehicle, and the reins are held in the left hand that the whip
may be held in the right.
Similarly, I may add, in riding, a man rides on the woman’s right, in
order that he may have the point of danger, the middle of the road,
when, if the riders are going to collide with persons or vehicles coming
in the opposite direction, he will be the one to suffer the collision.
That keeping to the left would be the common-sense way is quite clearly
shown by the fact that many automobiles are now made with the
chauffeur’s seat on the left, so that, keeping to the right, he may see
and not collide with vehicles coming in the opposite direction. However,
this rule of keeping to the right is established in this country, as it
is in many of the Continental countries, and probably will never be
changed. All vehicles, riders, etc., coming in the opposite direction,
therefore, must be passed on the right, and on crowded roads,
particularly in parks and on the streets or avenues of the city, the
driver should habitually keep to the right of the middle of the road. If
you are driving slowly, wherever you may be, you should keep to the
extreme right in order that vehicles going faster may be able to pass
you on the left. In passing any other vehicle or rider going in the same
direction you should keep him on your right.
For driving in the show ring, the park, or any crowded thoroughfare, the
whip should be used to indicate to those behind you what you are going
to do. It is held up straight to show that you are slackening speed or
that you intend to stop. It is carried to the right of the trap and
twirled from left to right to indicate that you are turning to the
right, and it is kept to the left and twirled from right to left if you
are turning to the left. You should not only give these signals
yourself, but you should always observe the driver ahead of you to see
what signals he may give, and be sure when you are driving in any
crowded place to keep your horses absolutely under control so that they
may be stopped in a moment if need be. This is particularly important in
driving in the city, where conformity with traffic regulations makes
sudden stops necessary.
For all formal occasions, when you are driving any kind of a phaeton
with a rumble, you should always have a servant on the rumble. For any
formal occasion, where it is correct to drive a trap with a rumble, it
is incorrect not to have the servant. It is better form, even for
country driving, if you take a servant, to have him on the rumble, where
he should always be if there is a rumble. It is not correct, where you
have a rumble, to have the servant at your side. If the horses are
pulling too hard, it is quite permissible to pass the reins back to the
servant, or he may even drive them from the rumble, where he can
control them quite as well as he could if he were sitting beside you.
For this reason the reins are made longer for a woman than for a man.