CHAPTER IX
FOUR-IN-HAND. VARIOUS USEFUL HINTS—WHAT SPARE ARTICLES TO CARRY, ETC.
The beginner must not suppose that a team, or for that matter even one horse, can be driven with the left hand only; even the very best of whips is obliged to have constant recourse to the right hand, especially when passing through traffic.
At the same time, he must remember to resist the temptation of keeping the right hand permanently on the reins, nor should it ever be employed like the coachman’s hand in fig. 3, in holding on to a bight of the off reins in order to keep the horses straight.
The team ought to run perfectly straight at any time with the reins in the left hand only; and as a continuous pressure of the right hand is very liable to cause any one of the reins to slip, especially the near wheel when the horses are pulling, this practice is objectionable. Of course if the left hand gets tired, the right must come to its assistance, and then it should be placed either on three or all four reins (see figs. 18 and 35).
|Always keep a steady pressure on reins.| Mind and keep a good steady pressure on the reins at all times, and keep the horses up to that pressure with the whip. The most common fault among amateurs is that they do not hold their horses nearly tight enough by the head. |Reins slipping a common fault.| Always have a good hold of them, and above all things remember never to let the reins slip through the fingers. This is a constant cause of horses getting out of hand, and pulling for a long way, when they would otherwise have gone quite comfortably after the first mile or so.
|Resin or wax on gloves.| To prevent the reins from slipping, if the horses are pulling, and especially with new gloves, it will be found very convenient to put a little powdered resin or beeswax on the fingers and palm of the hand.
|Start slow.| If you have time, always start slowly (at first six or seven miles an hour); by adopting this plan the horses will go more kindly, and after a bit your arm and fingers will feel much less tired than if you had started at a rapid pace.
|Right wrist well rounded when right hand on reins, back inclined downwards.| It is very important to keep the right wrist well rounded when pulling the reins on either side, and the back of the hand rather inclined downwards.
|Point of whip to be kept well up and to the front.| By keeping the hand in this position it will be found that the point of the whip is kept well to the front and high up. If the back of the hand is turned up at all, the whip is sure either to cause considerable inconvenience to the person on the box seat (fig. 26), or else to hit the near wheeler close to his tail. This will most probably make him swish it, and if it should by any chance get over the thong, the result may be disastrous to the boot.
|Team boring to one side—how to remedy.| If the horses are all boring to the left, it is no use simply pulling at the two off-side reins with the right hand, but at once shorten these reins in the left.