Hints on Driving

by C. Morley Knight

We will suppose that the harness has been put on the horses and correctly fitted to them, and that they are standing in the stable ready to be put-to; then the correct way of bringing them out would be as follows:—

|How to lead horse out of stable.| The traces having been placed across his back, the horse should be led out by the nose-band, not by the rein or the bar of the bit, otherwise the groom is very apt to job him in the mouth without intending to do so, a performance to which he may object and run violently back, or rear up and fall over. Great care should be exercised when leading out of the stable. It not infrequently happens that horses hit their hips against the walls, which is liable to chip them, and cause lameness, besides teaching them the extremely bad habit of rushing out of the stable-door.

|Hooking in alongside of pole.| Bring the horse carefully up alongside of the pole, so that he does not hit either the pole or the bar, and at once insert the hook of the pole chain into the ring of the kidney link of the hames, to prevent his running back on to the splinter bar.

Now place the outside trace on the roller bolt, and afterwards fix the inside one. The quicker the latter is done with uncertain horses or kickers the better, as this operation renders it necessary to reach right over behind their quarters. If only one horse is likely to kick, he should be put in first, to avoid this danger. When taking out the exact reverse should always be adhered to.

|Polling up.| Never pole up the horses too tightly, as it is very uncomfortable for them, more especially with a team, when the pole is a heavy one, because if the pole chains are tight the weight of the pole will be always resting on their necks. See that the end of the hook on the chain is pointing downwards, as otherwise a horse with a bar across the bottom of his bit may get caught in it.

|Pole pieces.| For ordinary pair work leather pole pieces are commonly used instead of chains. They do not require so much cleaning, and are much less trouble. They must be made of strong leather and kept soft with dubbing or salad oil, otherwise they may become rotten and dangerous.

|Adjustment of coupling reins.| The correct adjustment of the two short inside reins, called coupling reins, requires great care. They should be so fitted that an even pressure is brought on both sides of the horses’ mouths, and in such a way also that both horses shall go straight and pull evenly on the traces (fig. 8).

FIG. 8.—COUPLING REINS PROPERLY FITTED—HORSES’ HEADS STRAIGHT.

With a view to this the outer reins have a number of holes punched in them, up and down which the buckles of the coupling reins can be shifted, thus enabling them to be shortened or lengthened to suit each particular horse’s mouth.