Just as he should be started quietly, so he should be stopped quietly. It is not the mark of good driving to bring your one horse, or your team, up to the stopping-place at a quick pace, and then to pull up with a jerk—the horse's head in the air, his mouth open because he has been jabbed by the bit, the shafts pointing up, the breeching tight, and the horse almost on his haunches. This kind of stopping takes more out of a horse than a mile of hard work. Begin to stop some time before you stop. Shorten your reins, decrease your pace, and whether it is driving in the traffic of the street or at your own door, slow up gradually. You can tell with certainty whether a man knows his business by the way he starts and stops. If you have stopped as you should, the horse is not sitting in the breeching, with his collar sliding toward the top of his head; but horse and vehicle are stopped, and yet the horse and the vehicle and harness are all in position to go on again without a jerk. This is of the utmost importance in driving in the city streets, where you may find yourself in serious trouble if, through inattention, you have driven well into trouble, before planning to stop. Your horse's nose, or your pole, has poked into another horse or vehicle, or you are obliged to pull up so suddenly that you throw your horse, or horses down.
In America, where we turn to the right, pull well over to your own side and slow down before you get to the street corner around which you wish to go, whether to the right or left. Leave ample room for another vehicle to pass, even though you should meet just at the turn. Many horses, awkwardly enough, get their legs crossed when turning, and on slippery pavements, where the pull up and the pull round come at the same time, a horse is very apt to stumble, and even to fall. Because you have turned many corners without accident is no reason for not taking pains. Many young coachmen escape perils through sheer ignorance, but persistence in error and inattention bring their punishment sooner or later, and the horse skins his knees, or slides under the shafts in a crowd, or kicks and hammers harness and trap to bits. It is too late then to remember to keep an eye out for what is going on ahead of you, to turn corners carefully, and to slacken speed gradually, and not all at once.
It is a safe rule in turning a corner to turn only when the hub of your front wheel has reached the line that the curb would make if prolonged, then there is no danger of running on to or against the corner itself. Even when turning a corner to the right, and you are close to the curb, this rule, if obeyed, will keep both front and back wheels clear. If this is not done, the back wheel, and sometimes both, go rubbing around the curbstone, which, aside from the slovenliness of the performance, is damaging to the wheel, and racking to every bolt in the carriage. If in the country, where often a large stone marks the angle of the turn, to hit this stone or to go over it is often to go over altogether.
The safest and quickest way to shorten the reins, when it must be done in a pinch, is to pull them through from behind. If there are two reins, grasp them between the thumb and second finger of the right hand, open the fingers of the left hand enough to let them run through, shorten them to the required length, and take your grip on them again, with the fingers of the left hand. Every man finds, now and then, either through the foolish driving of some one else, or through unavoidable accident, that he must shorten his reins quickly, and without risk of dropping one. Under those circumstances the best way is to pull them through from behind, though such exigencies occur but seldom with a careful driver. Under ordinary circumstances the best and gentlest way is to place the right hand on the reins, in front of the left, with thumb and finger over near rein and last three fingers over off rein, and slide the left up the reins the required distance. Here again it is the mark of the careful driver that he never seems to be obliged to do things in a hurry. When it is necessary to stop, he has already shortened up his reins, and is ready to stop. When it is necessary to turn a corner, he has already advised his horse by giving him the office, and the corner is negotiated with scarcely the movement of the hands. When it is time to start, the horse seems to have been informed via the reins and bit, and off he goes without a jerk. In passing other vehicles from behind, pass to their left. Do not pass at all unless you are going at a quicker pace, and propose to maintain it. To turn short across another man's horse, and then go on at the same pace he is going, is the veriest and vulgarest rudeness. The only excuse for passing is that you are making faster time than he is, and that you propose to keep it up.
Drive with one hand. In the show ring, where horses must show pace in a small ring, use the right hand on the off rein. It gives better control, and keeps the horse steadier. Keep the right hand cautiously near, that you may use it to shorten the reins, to steady the horse, or to add force when the left hand is not sufficient. Carry your whip pointing upwards, and slightly to the left, say toward the left ear of your horse, in driving one. Start slowly, drive at the same pace, once you are started; it saves the horse, and is far more agreeable to the passengers. Pull up gradually. Turn corners slowly, and do not start to turn too soon. Be continuously careful to keep your horse's mouth fresh, by giving and taking between your hand and his mouth, with just enough pressure to keep him informed that you are behind him, and no more. If you hang on to his mouth, be sure that he will end by pulling your arms out. If you use the whip on him, do not tap him continually, or flick him, here and there, from time to time, out of sheer idleness and inconsequence; but if you use it, do it so that the horse knows it is punishment and not play; otherwise you waste the benefit to be derived from the whip, by accustoming the horse to think that in your use of the whip you are merely playing with him. Above all, keep a good lookout ahead, and if you have a horse that is worth driving at all, you may be sure that it is also worth your while to keep an eye on him all the time.
CHAPTER XIII
DRIVING A PAIR
So much depends upon the comfort of the horse in his harness that it is well worth the owner's time and attention to learn how the harness should be put on, how the horses should be put to, and then to see that both are done properly.