Four Horse Harness.

DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XLIII.

RELATIVE PLACES OF HORSES.

In placing horses in a team, we speak of near and off horses. The term of “near” is probably a borrowed one. In a waggon, the near horse is the one which is nearest the driver, who always walks with the horses to his right hand; and the other, running abreast of him, is called the off or far horse, because he is the farthest from the driver. This term indeed does not refer to coaching so well as to waggoning, as the coachman does not walk by the side of his horses; but many of the terms of coachmanship are drawn from the same source, and the expression “near” horse seems to be among the number.

The word “near” having been thus made use of in its original acceptation, has, in some counties, gradually superseded the word left, in contradistinction to right; as we hear occasionally of the “near side of the road,” the “near wheel of a carriage,” the “near leg of a horse;” in short, it is substituted for the word left. Or the term may have arisen intermediately from this: that on the first introduction of carriages into this country there was no driving on the box, but on the saddle, and that hence the term “near” was used to distinguish the saddle-horse, and the term “off,” of course, the other horse. These terms were afterwards applied to the road, where, in meeting carriages, according to the adage, “If you go to the left, you are sure to go right;—if you go to the right you are wrong.”

Wheel-horses have the hardest place, as they are at work up hill and down. Nevertheless, if favour be shown, it must be to the leaders, because a tired wheeler may be dragged home; but, in the road phrase, if a leader cuts it, you are planted. It is a rule always to put the freest leader on the near side, as he is better in hand than on the other. If a leader be weak, and cannot take his bar, the wheeler that follows him must be tied up, and this will place him by the side of his partner. Leaders should be fast trotters for fast coaches; for, if they gallop, the bars are never at rest, and consequently much of the draught is lost in the angles described. To a coach-horse in fast work, wind is almost as essential as to a hunter. Many high-blowers, however, keep their time very well, with a little attention on the part of the driver. If he see them distressed, he ought to keep them off their collar, and let them only carry their harness for a hundred yards or so, when they will recover, if their condition be good. They work best as night-horses; and, if driven in the heat of the sun, they ought to be out of the throat-lash. Indeed, a leader should never be throat-lashed in very hot weather, if he can be driven without it. Many horses pull, and are unpleasant in it, but go temperately out of it.

In coach-horses, temper is much to be regarded. Some contend that a horse should never know his place,—should go either wheeler or leader, and on either side. If, however, a horse working constantly in a coach prefer any place, he should have it, and he will generally pay for the indulgence. Some horses, indeed, care not where they are put—working equally well or ill in all places. As to the mode of putting young horses in harness, the best way is to put one, for the first time, with only one other, which ought to be steady, good-collared, and quick. A great deal of room should be given his head, and he should be driven at the cheek of an easy bit, with his pole-piece rather slack. There is great want of judgment in throat-lashing a young horse—either wheeler or leader.

Many horses go perfectly quiet as leaders, that would never go as wheelers, because they will not bear being confined by the pole-piece. All ought to have their sides frequently changed, particularly young ones. As to horses’ mouths, some will not bear a curb-chain at all, while the bars and chins of others are so hard, that it is difficult to make an impression upon them; the latter being most prevalent.