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