Riding and Driving

by Edward L. Anderson; Price Collier

The kicking-strap in a single harness is fastened on one shaft and passes up and over the horse's quarters through a loop in the crupper and down on the other side to the other shaft. In double harness two straps are needed. They are fastened to the pad and run alongside the crupper to the splinter-bar and are connected by a strap across the quarters. No advice is necessary here. When a kicking-strap is needed, the necessity is obvious. Pains should be taken, however, to have the kicking-strap well back on the quarters, otherwise it is valueless, and also to have it loose enough not to be the cause itself of kicking.

Though the whip is not part of the harness, it is an important adjunct. The best stocks are made of holly or of our own white hickory. The stock should be five feet long, and the thong, for four horses, ten feet six inches—for one or two, four feet long. The balance of the whip to one who drives much is as important as the suitable balance of a fishing-rod, golf-club, or rapier. If badly balanced, it adds a surprising burden of weight on the hand, to one who has not experienced it. A good maker's whip will balance at its best, at the collar; that is to say, when grasped at the collar it is carried with the weight most evenly distributed for its holder. The thong should be kept pliable with mutton tallow or soap,—crown soap is the best,—and never pipe-clayed, which rots the thong. It should never be left standing, but, in order to keep its shape, it should hang, when not in use, on a spool. Even heavy poles will warp, if not properly cared for, by keeping them lengthwise on proper rests; much more true is this of the far lighter and more delicate whiphandles. The large or butt end of a good stock will be nine-tenths of an inch round, the small end six-tenths. For a heavy whip the handle should be covered with pigskin, and sewn down its length, or, even better, wound in a spiral, each fold overlapping, which makes the handle less slippery in wet weather; the chief value of pigskin here and elsewhere in saddlery and harness-making is that it is not made rough by friction. Imitation pigskin is made in quantity. In genuine pigskin, the bristles reach clear through the skin, so that there are holes on the flesh side. In the imitations the holes only reach part way through. The thong on every whip should be of the same material throughout, and not terminate in whipcord, or silk, or ribbons, or any other fussy material. The whip is for use—important use—to a good coachman, and should be made accordingly.

Of the care of harness, it would be difficult to say too much. The whole pleasure and safety of driving depend practically upon the watch that is kept to see that it is safe and strong. When there is question about wear, it is better to replace the worn part at once. Better throw an old harness aside, than run the risk of its being used by leaving it in the stable. It may be put on in muddy weather, or through carelessness, and disaster follows. As long as leather remains dry and clean, it needs little attention. Once it is wet, it should be carefully cleaned and well rubbed with oil. Neat's-foot oil is the best. Vegetable oils, with the single exception of castor-oil, which is disagreeable by reason of its odor, are apt to become hard. All brass or plate on harness tarnishes easily, and should be kept from the ammonia of the stable and from the fumes of gas, if it is burned; as well as from gas from the stove. A good mixture for black harness is one pint spirits of turpentine, four ounces of beeswax, one ounce prussian blue, half an ounce lampblack; after the application, plenty of hand polishing. It would seem almost unnecessary to warn against soaking any part of leather harness in water, if the writer had not seen on more than one occasion parts of harness literally left to soak in the water-bucket! In the case of the parts of the harness made of patent leather, no wax preparation should be used; vaseline and a soft rag will do the cleaning sufficiently well.

What has been said of the care of harness is equally, and for the same reason, of safety, true of the carriages in your stable. All carriages profit by an airing occasionally. If they are not often used, they should be run out and left for an hour or two in a dry, warm place. Carriages newly painted and varnished should be washed several times before they are used. This sets and hardens paint and varnish.

Carriages should not be merely dusted or wiped over, but washed when they come in, and thoroughly dried—a soft sponge on fine carriages, a hose on rougher vehicles, and a soft chamois to dry both, and patience—never hot water and never picking off of dried mud, lest paint and varnish come with it. Carriages with plain axles should have the axles seen to after every outing. Men who do much driving of heavy vehicles with Collinge or Mail axles, unless they have competent servants or are competent themselves, find it safer and better to have the carriage builder look after their axles at regular intervals. Collinge axles will go from one to two months; Mail axles a week without oiling, on a private coach. On public coaches it is the custom to examine the axles each day.

Washing and caring for carriages is not a difficult matter, except that the human qualities of patience and painstaking are more difficult to find even than mechanical ability. Time should be taken on the wash-stand, if nowhere else. Of the care of the cushions and stuffed parts of carriages, and the metal parts, common sense, and the well-known commercial pastes sold by all harness and carriage makers, will fit a man out to do his duty. With styles of carriages and appropriate vehicles for exhibiting and the like, this book does not deal. The most scientific treatise on the subject of the coach and carriage is "A Manual of Coaching," by Fairman Rogers. The author was of high attainments as an engineer, and of great practical experience as a coachman. A valuable book of reference, with complete and very good illustrations covering the ground of appropriateness and "good form," is "Driving for Pleasure," by Francis T. Underhill. A very useful compilation, very complete and clear as to all details of the stable is, "The Private Stable," by James A. Garland.

All parts of steel, bits, curb-chains, pole-chains, kidney-links, and the like, after washing, may be put into lime-water—dissolving as much common lime as the water will take; this does steel no harm and keeps off rust. To polish these parts, they should be shaken in a bag with fine sawdust and sand. Sand and emery paper scratch, and do not burnish satisfactorily; a steel burnisher is the only way in which the original polish can be regained or retained.

That harness should be appropriate to the horse, the vehicle, and the use to which it is to be put, goes without saying. The pony-cart, the runabout, the drag, the miniature Victoria, the station wagon, need harness to suit them. But this by no means entails different harness for every vehicle. On the contrary, a few changes, and a pair of leaders' reins, both for four and tandem, will fit you out for almost any kind of driving. Collars, bits, saddles, should fit their wearers; and of these, if there are many horsemen and horsewomen in the family, you must have an adequate supply. But the light pony-pair harness with long reins, and the heavier harness if a larger pair fitted with removable terrets, gives you a four-in-hand harness. A similar arrangement with two single harnesses will give you a tandem harness; and it is well to remember that the greater variety of driving you have, the more confidence you will gain and the better you will drive. It is hard on the men in the stable to have too little harness, and it is a burden to have a lot of harness that is never used. Leather up to a certain age improves with use and deteriorates when left to hang and become dry, so that it is almost as necessary not to have too much harness as to have enough. Let it be repeated that any question of worn parts of a harness should be investigated and attended to at once. This is not merely economy; it is gross extravagance not to do so, and a peril besides.

When men wore close armor and a beaver down, they could only be distinguished by emblems on their shields or harness. When reading was an almost unknown accomplishment, it was necessary that men should have over their tents in the field, or over their gates or doors at home, signs and symbols that could be easily seen and distinguished. Hence arms and heraldry. The more conspicuous the man or the family, the more necessary that he and they should be easily recognizable. Hence the inns of the local village, the servants, the carriages, and the like were distinguished by a particular badge.

The reason for this has passed. The overpowering instinct in man to prolong his existence, by having been, by being, and by affirming that he will be, as shown in genealogy, in ambition to be well known, and in the belief in immortality, is the explanation of heraldry. That the army, navy, or diplomatic officer should put a cockade in his servants' hats, is therefore not difficult to understand. That almost every man should wish to make the best of his ancestry,—to cut out the tailors, and hatters, and tinsmiths, and tanners, and make prominent the worthies,—is also not difficult to understand. To the American, however, the conspicuous use of insignia of this kind, unless the authenticity thereof be verifiable by proofs unquestionable, is rather childish. There is no doubt whatever but that we all have a strain of the right to bear arms blood; there is also no doubt that we have all more or less lived through days of small and tradesman-like things in this country, and perhaps your own initials on your harness are the safest badge. If you are a gentleman, it will probably show itself most conspicuously by the fact that you never remind others of it and never forget it yourself. If either technically or morally you are not a gentleman, no sign and motto will make you one. Indeed, some badges on harness only serve to make conspicuous the fact that the horses are better bred than the owners. This is a comparison that should be avoided. It is not fair to the horses.