FIG. 35.—TANDEM—POSITION OF RIGHT HAND ON REINS.
The two off-side reins should in all cases, except for a sharp back turn to the right, be treated as one rein, and always kept under the little and third fingers of the right hand. |Three-rein principle.| This, which may be termed the three-rein principle, will be found to simplify matters very considerably, owing to there being practically only three reins to think about instead of four.
|Difficult to get right hand quickly into the reins.| The beginner will experience considerable difficulty at first in passing his right hand quickly on and through the reins in the proper manner, the reason being that they are all close together, much more so than with four horses, so that he is obliged to stretch the right hand much further forward in order to get it in between them. For this reason, carry your hand well out to the front, where the reins open out a little, and when once you have hold of them correctly slide it back towards the body. It looks very awkward to drive with the right hand held out a long way from the left, and it is also quite unnecessary.
|Always keep right hand on reins at night. | For those who have not much experience, it is far better to keep the right hand always on the reins, and particularly so at night, when the hand should never be taken away unless it is required for the purpose of using the whip. Rarely pull one rein singly, as described for pointing the leaders in a coach, except when looping a lead rein in order to turn a sharp corner, or to execute a quick bend to get through traffic. If you pull a rein singly, especially a lead rein, you are very likely to overdo it or jerk it.
|Never pull rein as if ringing a bell.| Never jerk a rein at all except in an emergency, but apply the pressure steadily and gradually. The only excuse for “ringing the bell” with a rein is when driving a slug which is not going quite up to his bit, when you want to turn a corner.
It is generally advisable, whenever possible, to advance a few paces before turning round in a road from the halt. The best methods of avoiding any jerking when going round corners with free-going horses are as follows:—
|Turning to the left.| To turn to the left, slide the right hand slightly to the front and catch hold of the near-lead rein with the forefinger, and then bring the right hand back towards the left, allowing the other fingers to slide over, but not to move away from their proper reins. The near-lead rein will then be looped under the first finger (fig. 36). When the leader is turning nicely round the corner, tighten the little and third fingers on the off-side reins, and apply as much pressure as is necessary by turning the wrist away from the body; thus bringing the little finger closer to it. This will have the effect of checking any tendency of the leader to turn too fast, while also preventing the wheeler from following round too quickly after him, and cutting the corner.
FIG. 36.—TANDEM—TURNING TO THE LEFT.