A CHAPTER OF LITTLE THINGS
The success of every drive, whether with one horse, two horses,
four horses, or six horses, depends upon three things: the comfort
of your horse, yourself, and your passengers.
Of the comfort of the horse much has been said already, and all
that has been said may well be emphasized and even repeated. He
should be ready to go out, that is, not too soon after nor too
long after feeding. His bit and harness should be comfortable
and adequate to the work he is to do. His shoes and feet should
be in good condition. If a horse is properly looked after by
his caretaker in the stable, casting a shoe should be a rare
occurrence. The horse being comfortable at the start, everybody's
comfort behind him depends upon his being kept comfortable. He
should not be asked to go too fast or too slow, or asked to do too
much at one time, and his mouth should be kept fresh.
As for the coachman, his harness, too, should fit him. The writer
has seen a rein dropped and a horse in a four go sprawling on the
pavement, all on account of the ill-fitting hat of the coachman,
who was grabbing at his head-gear at an inopportune moment. It is
even a matter of consequence, if you are to be the custodian of
other people's safety on a drive, that your hat should fit you well
enough to stay on, even in a fresh breeze.
Gloves should be of dogskin, and at least a size too big. Your
hand should be able to bend as though there was no glove on it. If
the glove is not as big as this, or even bigger, your reins will
slip toward the middle of your fingers, where they should not be,
but held snug in toward the roots of the fingers; and you cannot
easily bend your hand round to make a pivot of your wrist, upon
which the whole easy give-and-take between the hand and the horse's
mouth depends. In our hot climate it makes for coolness in summer
to punch a few holes in the backs of the gloves, and turn over the
wrists on to the backs of the hands. Driving gloves with only one
seam up and down the fingers are the most comfortable (see plates).
A pair of woollen gloves should always be taken in tandem or
four-in-hand driving to use in case of wet weather. Nobody can
drive in tight-fitting gloves. You may steer and pull, but drive,
never. Every single suggestion as to holding and fingering the
reins is negatived if tight gloves are worn. It then becomes a
physical impossibility to so manœuvre hands, wrists, and fingers
that the horse's mouth shall have a chance. Wet gloves can be got
in shape and flexibility again by the use of Crown soap well rubbed
into them while they are wet. When they are dry again, they will be
as good as ever.
In the matter of the driver's cushion, it is well to be above
your horse, even in a runabout. This gives better control, more
power, and keeps the reins off the horse's back, so that they may
come back directly from the pad-terrets to the hand. The cushion
should always, in whatever vehicle, be of cloth, and tufted to
avoid slipping. You will have enough to do without using your
legs as props to hold you on your seat. So much depends upon the
physical proportions of the coachman that it is impossible to give
figures as to the proper size and slant of cushion. Three inches
and a half is a fair slant of cushion. The knees should be bent
at a comfortable angle, and the feet resting on the foot-board in
such a way that the ankles are not bent at an uncomfortable angle.
In driving two as a pair or tandem, or four horses, this matter
of a comfortable and secure seat is important, and will repay
considerable attention.
If for any reason--as in the case of a dog-cart balanced at
different angles--the distance between the seat and the foot-board
is altered, or where a child or short-legged person needs a
brace for the feet, never under any circumstances have a rail. A
foot-board covered with corrugated rubber made to fit in, and which
can be taken out when not needed, is all that is necessary. A rail
across the bottom of the foot-board, often seen in the lighter
style of vehicles, such as buggies, buckboards, and the like,
is an invention of the devil and most dangerous. It is entirely
unnecessary, and it is easy to catch your toe or toes underneath
it, and the consequences may be horribly serious. In one case a
lady, catching a low shoe under such a rail and struggling to get
it out, was thrown over the dash-board between her horses and
killed. Such a rail serves no real purpose and has no possible
defence except a very short-sighted economy. If your light vehicle
has such a rail as a rest for the feet, either take it out or put
another rail across parallel to it so that it is impossible to
catch even the toes underneath it.
If a horse gets his tail over a rein, stop him and lift his tail
off the rein; do not jerk the rein from under the tail. A clever
whip, driving tandem or four, can often, by a judicious turning
of the horse and a flick with the whip, make the horse take his
tail off the rein himself, but this is for the _cognoscenti_; the
beginner had best take the safest and surest way out of trouble and
either let the groom or his passenger help him out. If alone, slow
up, do no tugging and jerking, loosen the rein, turn your horse
quickly and decidedly the other way, and flick him on the quarters
with the whip. If it were not that every now and then some one is
kicked in the head by leaning over the dash-board to get hold of
the horse's tail, it would seem unnecessary to forbid absolutely
such a copper-fastened fool proceeding.
Of docked tails, bearing-reins, cruppers, and the like, there
are, season after season, endless discussions. The cause of the
discussion is usually due not to a wise, but to a cruel, use of
these, and is generally carried on in a legislature where only a
small minority know anything of the horse except as a quiet farm
animal, seldom driven out of a walk. As soon as the Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals adds to its board of directors
half a dozen theoretically and practically competent horsemen,
there will be a change for the better in these matters, both
practically and legislatively.
There are many competent horsemen who maintain, and with reason,
that the long tail is dangerous, particularly where women and
children drive; that a tail over the rein may mean a mishap,
and probably injury; that it is dirty, bedraggles and wets the
legs, and with the fast-moving, well-cared-for carriage horse is
unnecessary, even to his comfort. This does not, on the other hand,
imply that horses' tails should be docked and "set up"; but it
does point to a happy medium between the dangerous and dirty long
tail and the unnecessarily short dock. The question should not
be looked upon as having but one answer. Men who have themselves
docked horses and seen scores of horses docked, and who take the
most instructed care of their horses, are naturally provoked by
criticism from citizens who hardly know that a horse's tail has
joints in it, let alone anything about the feeding, housing, or
handling even of their own horses.
So very few people know how much there is to know about the horse,
that their ignorance neither oppresses, nor suppresses them.
As for the bearing-rein, here again the question is one of use.
For the misuse of the bearing-rein there is no defence. The
bearing-rein prevents shaking about of the head, rubbing off of the
bridle, catching the bit or bridle, getting the head down between
the legs, obstinate boring; and, driving in town, it is a valuable
piece of auxiliary harness. Its misuse, to hold a horse's head in
an unnatural position and to make him lift his feet, is not only
cruel, but vulgar--vulgar being used to express the type of mind
that measures everything by appearances.
The crupper keeps the saddle in place, helps materially to prevent
the horse from getting his tail over the rein, and disinclines him
to kick.
The breeching is, or ought to be, considered indispensable in a
hilly country, even with light vehicles, and is a proper precaution
in all cases where women or children act as coachman.
Brakes are a French invention, and might be supposed to come under
much the same strictures as the breeching. But while a breeching
is useful and never out of place, except perhaps on the leaders
where horses are driven in front of each other, the brake is so
often misused, with consequent damage to the horse, the harness,
the vehicle, and the skill of the driver, that it almost deserves
a chapter by itself. In the old days of heavy coach-loads, the
wheelers, helped by the skilful coachman, took the coach down
hill. But a mistake, or a break in the harness or the pole, meant
disaster. The brake, which cramps the wheels and takes some of the
strain of holding back off the horses, was a valuable invention.
A limited amount of alcohol given at the right time is an
indispensable medicine and a boon to the race. Alcohol taken at all
times and generally by the wrong persons, in the wrong places, is
the curse of the Anglo-Saxon race. England, with one in forty of
its population classed as incompetent, is the story of the misuse
of alcohol.
The brake shoved on violently at every declivity racks the
vehicles, burdens the horse by not allowing him to go part of his
road without the weight of the vehicle behind him, puts unnecessary
strain on the harness at the wrong time, and tends to make the
coachman careless. The brake shoved on with a jerk at every stop
jars everybody in the vehicle, and has been known, not once, but
often, to actually chuck people clean out of the vehicle, both
behind and in front, besides bringing the horse into his collar
with a painful galling of his shoulders. On a level place the brake
should never be used to stop the vehicle. After the vehicle has
been stopped, particularly if it be a heavy one, the brake may be
put on and left on until the next start is made--this as a measure
of precaution.
Never put on the brake in any case with the whip in the right
hand. Transfer your whip to the left hand and avoid the danger of
flicking the horse in front of you by dropping it toward him; or
of flicking the passengers behind you by dropping it toward them;
and above all avoid the danger of breaking or losing your whip
altogether. When the brake is to be put on, you need your whole
hand to do it. Put on and take off the brake quietly. Knowing
horses will often start off at the sound of the brake. The brake
should not be regarded as a regular part of the harness. It is good
for a horse to do some holding-back work, and a bad habit to get
him to the point where he shirks this part of the work, or refuses
to do it at all. Then in case the brake does not work, or you are
without one, the refusal may cause trouble. The brake is only for
use when there is too much strain on horse and harness--not for use
every time we go down the smallest declivity. Such use of it spoils
rather than helps the horse. It is torture to a passenger to see
and feel the brake go on, before the descent is reached even, and
then kept on yards after there is no need of it. As a matter of
fact, good men and good horses are able to negotiate any ordinary
road, without any brake at all; it is a precautionary measure and
a convenience. But for all driving in hilly country by the average
coachman it should not be omitted, nor should it be misused. Where
other people share the danger, it is always best to err on the
safe side. Do not start down any hill fast. With a heavy load, and
horses well in hand, you may put on steam toward the bottom and
give the cattle a little relief. In going up a hill, do not become
impatient and urge horses into a faster pace before you reach the
brow of the hill. It is hard on a horse to pull up a hill, and then
to be forced into a trot just before reaching the top, where the
strain is hardest. Once on the level, give a little breathing-space
and then start along. Remember always, whether going down hill,
or approaching a troublesome crowd of vehicles, or with a corner
to turn ahead of you, that the time to slow up is before you get
there. You should slow up with your eyes, and stop with your hands.
That is to say, you should begin operations as soon as your eyes
discover trouble ahead, and not leave it to the last moment; and
then, with your hands in the air, your back at an angle of 45°,
your horses on their haunches, and the carriage on top of them,
just save yourself. It is much easier to avoid trouble than to get
out of it. If you are alone, and with no one dependent upon you
for support, your neck is your own; but with passengers, for whose
safety you have tacitly pledged yourself, the moment you take the
reins you have no right to take the smallest risk, and besides you
are in honor bound to use your very best efforts for their safety
and comfort. Above all things do not fancy that you are a coachman,
because you own horses and can drive them. Bad driving in New York
is responsible for one death a day the year round.
The hands should be carried under average circumstances at about
the level of the watch chain when worn in the lower waistcoat
pocket; the arm horizontal from the elbow, which position puts the
hands slightly lower than the elbow. But this direction should
not for a moment be taken as a hard and fast rule. You will see
first-rate coachmen, some with the hand higher, some with the hand
lower than this. The reasons for the differences are simple. With a
nicely bitted team in a show ring or in the Park, where a touch is
enough, the left hand if raised a little can be turned more easily,
the points can be made by the right hand with less movement, and
there is no danger of tiring either hand or arm. On the other hand,
the coachman who has a fifty-mile drive before him, with many
different horses to handle, will place his hand lower, with more
comfort to himself, and with less risk of numbing his hand and arm.
Driving with the hands held up under the chin, or out in front of
one, as though presenting a visiting-card on a tray, are merely
the monkey mannerisms of the ignorant. This is often the result
of having seen others drive without understanding the reasons for
their position of the hands. Those most accomplished coachmen,
Howlett, father and son, in teaching hold the hands higher than the
ordinary for the very sufficient reason that they can handle a team
admirably, this way or any other way, and because it is much easier
to show the pupil what is going on with the reins and fingers in
that position. But when young Howlett so easily distanced his
competitors, and won the five-hundred-dollar prize at the Madison
Square Garden, he did not handle the reins in an exaggerated or
conspicuous fashion. Holding the hands too high is conspicuously
awkward, besides showing the performer to be ignorant of his
business and making it exceedingly difficult to pull up quietly
and quickly. It may be set down as an axiom, that the coachman who
looks self-conscious and in a strained position is doing something
he does not understand, because he guesses it is right. A snob may
be borne with on dry land; but on the cushion he is dangerous.
The institutional bore who illustrates the evident, explains the
obvious, and expatiates on the commonplace is merely an irritant
at dinner; but at the helm of a boat or behind horses his slovenly
omniscience presages, or prepares for, disaster.
But more than any other one thing, inattention is the cause
of most accidents. Something goes wrong because the coachman,
through inattention, was unprepared for it, and then things
happen that cannot be avoided. Nine runaways out of ten begin
with carelessness; once started there is no help this side of a
smash-up. You may see not once, but ten times, a day the owner of
a vehicle put down his reins, get out, and instead of going to
the horse's head, until the groom can get to the reins, walk off.
The writer has seen two expensive smash-ups due to the fact that
a high-strung horse, startled by a noise or an unexpected sight,
broke away while the groom was getting from the horse's head to the
seat. A horse finding himself entirely and unexpectedly at liberty,
loses his head more often than not, and then does any mad thing,
from kicking to running away, that comes easiest.
The harness-horse, it is to be remembered, is always under control,
and just to feel no restraining hand is in and of itself enough
to upset him. Very few horses if restrained in time can get away
with a fairly strong man, but no man living can stop two, or even
one, much less four horses, once they get the jump on him and a
good galloping start. The important thing is to keep such watch
and ward that the horse gets no chance to get even one jump before
he is pulled up, and that means ceaseless vigilance. If you have
had accidents,--and if you have ridden or driven much, you have
had accidents,--you will recall that the cause was unexpected, and
things happened just at that particular fraction of a second when
you were off your guard. In teaching any one to drive, particularly
children, this point cannot be too much emphasized. The eyes, so
to speak, should be in the boat, or in equine parlance on the
horse, the whole livelong time,--from the moment you take up the
reins till some one has the horse's head at the end of the journey.
Lacking this fundamental axiom of all driving, everything else goes
for nothing.
The whip should be used smartly and for a purpose, or not at all.
It is best to hit your horse forward of his pad or saddle, except
where in tandem or four-in-hand driving the leaders should be hit
on the hind legs, under, not above, the trace. Never, in any kind
of driving, use your whip with the rein in the same hand as the
whip. To hit a horse with the whip, and to jab him in the mouth at
the same time, renders both signals incomprehensible.
The reins should never be flopped about on the horse's back in lieu
of the whip. This jabs the mouth, confuses the horse, and puts
him not only to confusion, but out of your direct control. The
connection between hand and bit should never be cut off while the
horse is in motion, any more than you should unship your rudder
while sailing a boat. Do not turn corners too fast nor too soon.
When the hub of your front wheel is opposite the corner you are to
turn, even if you be too close on that side, there is little danger
of hitting even with the hind wheel. Above all things, look where
you are going and watch your horse! In any sport where the pleasure
and safety of others are in your keeping, to show off or to take
risks is unpardonable and dangerous folly.
"Form," of which we hear so much in relation to driving, is
here as everywhere else either rational or ridiculous. Form
is rational when it is the proper clothing of an idea; form is
ridiculous when it is merely an idea of proper clothing. When you
dress comfortably, and sit securely, and hold the reins firmly
and lightly, you drive in good form because you are obeying the
well-thought-out laws of the sport. When you merely copy the
externals without knowing why, you are ridiculous. This is the
whole secret of form. One is matter, the other is merely manner.
One is rational, the other ridiculous.