Riding and Driving

by Edward L. Anderson; Price Collier

As for the bearing-rein, here again the question is one of use. For the misuse of the bearing-rein there is no defence. The bearing-rein prevents shaking about of the head, rubbing off of the bridle, catching the bit or bridle, getting the head down between the legs, obstinate boring; and, driving in town, it is a valuable piece of auxiliary harness. Its misuse, to hold a horse's head in an unnatural position and to make him lift his feet, is not only cruel, but vulgar—vulgar being used to express the type of mind that measures everything by appearances.

The crupper keeps the saddle in place, helps materially to prevent the horse from getting his tail over the rein, and disinclines him to kick.

The breeching is, or ought to be, considered indispensable in a hilly country, even with light vehicles, and is a proper precaution in all cases where women or children act as coachman.

Brakes are a French invention, and might be supposed to come under much the same strictures as the breeching. But while a breeching is useful and never out of place, except perhaps on the leaders where horses are driven in front of each other, the brake is so often misused, with consequent damage to the horse, the harness, the vehicle, and the skill of the driver, that it almost deserves a chapter by itself. In the old days of heavy coach-loads, the wheelers, helped by the skilful coachman, took the coach down hill. But a mistake, or a break in the harness or the pole, meant disaster. The brake, which cramps the wheels and takes some of the strain of holding back off the horses, was a valuable invention.

A limited amount of alcohol given at the right time is an indispensable medicine and a boon to the race. Alcohol taken at all times and generally by the wrong persons, in the wrong places, is the curse of the Anglo-Saxon race. England, with one in forty of its population classed as incompetent, is the story of the misuse of alcohol.

The brake shoved on violently at every declivity racks the vehicles, burdens the horse by not allowing him to go part of his road without the weight of the vehicle behind him, puts unnecessary strain on the harness at the wrong time, and tends to make the coachman careless. The brake shoved on with a jerk at every stop jars everybody in the vehicle, and has been known, not once, but often, to actually chuck people clean out of the vehicle, both behind and in front, besides bringing the horse into his collar with a painful galling of his shoulders. On a level place the brake should never be used to stop the vehicle. After the vehicle has been stopped, particularly if it be a heavy one, the brake may be put on and left on until the next start is made—this as a measure of precaution.

Never put on the brake in any case with the whip in the right hand. Transfer your whip to the left hand and avoid the danger of flicking the horse in front of you by dropping it toward him; or of flicking the passengers behind you by dropping it toward them; and above all avoid the danger of breaking or losing your whip altogether. When the brake is to be put on, you need your whole hand to do it. Put on and take off the brake quietly. Knowing horses will often start off at the sound of the brake. The brake should not be regarded as a regular part of the harness. It is good for a horse to do some holding-back work, and a bad habit to get him to the point where he shirks this part of the work, or refuses to do it at all. Then in case the brake does not work, or you are without one, the refusal may cause trouble. The brake is only for use when there is too much strain on horse and harness—not for use every time we go down the smallest declivity. Such use of it spoils rather than helps the horse. It is torture to a passenger to see and feel the brake go on, before the descent is reached even, and then kept on yards after there is no need of it. As a matter of fact, good men and good horses are able to negotiate any ordinary road, without any brake at all; it is a precautionary measure and a convenience. But for all driving in hilly country by the average coachman it should not be omitted, nor should it be misused. Where other people share the danger, it is always best to err on the safe side. Do not start down any hill fast. With a heavy load, and horses well in hand, you may put on steam toward the bottom and give the cattle a little relief. In going up a hill, do not become impatient and urge horses into a faster pace before you reach the brow of the hill. It is hard on a horse to pull up a hill, and then to be forced into a trot just before reaching the top, where the strain is hardest. Once on the level, give a little breathing-space and then start along. Remember always, whether going down hill, or approaching a troublesome crowd of vehicles, or with a corner to turn ahead of you, that the time to slow up is before you get there. You should slow up with your eyes, and stop with your hands. That is to say, you should begin operations as soon as your eyes discover trouble ahead, and not leave it to the last moment; and then, with your hands in the air, your back at an angle of 45°, your horses on their haunches, and the carriage on top of them, just save yourself. It is much easier to avoid trouble than to get out of it. If you are alone, and with no one dependent upon you for support, your neck is your own; but with passengers, for whose safety you have tacitly pledged yourself, the moment you take the reins you have no right to take the smallest risk, and besides you are in honor bound to use your very best efforts for their safety and comfort. Above all things do not fancy that you are a coachman, because you own horses and can drive them. Bad driving in New York is responsible for one death a day the year round.

The hands should be carried under average circumstances at about the level of the watch chain when worn in the lower waistcoat pocket; the arm horizontal from the elbow, which position puts the hands slightly lower than the elbow. But this direction should not for a moment be taken as a hard and fast rule. You will see first-rate coachmen, some with the hand higher, some with the hand lower than this. The reasons for the differences are simple. With a nicely bitted team in a show ring or in the Park, where a touch is enough, the left hand if raised a little can be turned more easily, the points can be made by the right hand with less movement, and there is no danger of tiring either hand or arm. On the other hand, the coachman who has a fifty-mile drive before him, with many different horses to handle, will place his hand lower, with more comfort to himself, and with less risk of numbing his hand and arm.

Driving with the hands held up under the chin, or out in front of one, as though presenting a visiting-card on a tray, are merely the monkey mannerisms of the ignorant. This is often the result of having seen others drive without understanding the reasons for their position of the hands. Those most accomplished coachmen, Howlett, father and son, in teaching hold the hands higher than the ordinary for the very sufficient reason that they can handle a team admirably, this way or any other way, and because it is much easier to show the pupil what is going on with the reins and fingers in that position. But when young Howlett so easily distanced his competitors, and won the five-hundred-dollar prize at the Madison Square Garden, he did not handle the reins in an exaggerated or conspicuous fashion. Holding the hands too high is conspicuously awkward, besides showing the performer to be ignorant of his business and making it exceedingly difficult to pull up quietly and quickly. It may be set down as an axiom, that the coachman who looks self-conscious and in a strained position is doing something he does not understand, because he guesses it is right. A snob may be borne with on dry land; but on the cushion he is dangerous. The institutional bore who illustrates the evident, explains the obvious, and expatiates on the commonplace is merely an irritant at dinner; but at the helm of a boat or behind horses his slovenly omniscience presages, or prepares for, disaster.

But more than any other one thing, inattention is the cause of most accidents. Something goes wrong because the coachman, through inattention, was unprepared for it, and then things happen that cannot be avoided. Nine runaways out of ten begin with carelessness; once started there is no help this side of a smash-up. You may see not once, but ten times, a day the owner of a vehicle put down his reins, get out, and instead of going to the horse's head, until the groom can get to the reins, walk off. The writer has seen two expensive smash-ups due to the fact that a high-strung horse, startled by a noise or an unexpected sight, broke away while the groom was getting from the horse's head to the seat. A horse finding himself entirely and unexpectedly at liberty, loses his head more often than not, and then does any mad thing, from kicking to running away, that comes easiest.