If there is kicking, the best punishment is a cut over the ears. In hitting the off leader, swing the point of your stick out to the right; once the thong is unwound, make a turn, and bring the stick forward quickly, when the thong will travel forward under the stick. Always aim to hit a leader under his traces, and when you hit him let him know that he has been hit. Always aim farther ahead than you mean to hit. You cannot go too far, and you may be short. To catch the thong again, take it back, away from your horses, and point the stick over your left arm, allowing the thong to fall first, or point your stick up, and let the thong slide down the inside of it to your hand. Pull the thong through with the finger and thumb of the left hand till the point is within a few inches of the right hand, then put up the thong as directed.
To hit the near leader is a little more difficult, and a good reason, by the way, for putting the lazier leader on the off side. Untwist your thong as before on the right side of you, swing the thong over all your horses so that it hangs on the left side of the coach, then with a turn of the stick shoot your thong as before, stopping the point of the stick at about the pad of the near wheeler, when the point of the thong will hit the near leader's hocks. In getting your thong back from this position, swing it from left to right over all your horses, and point the stick again over the left arm, when the thong will fall over the reins near the hand or, if well done, into the hand. Then proceed as before. The near wheeler may be hit on the quarters also, by throwing the lash between the heads of the wheelers, though this is condemned by many as a bad practice. This needs practice, particularly in getting your thong back to your hand.
Never attempt to use the whip while the right hand is on the reins or holding a rein. First, because you cannot use the whip with any effect, and second, because you are sure to jab one of your horses in the mouth by a jerk on the rein you happen to be handling. See that your thong is all clear before attempting to put it up. You will find that it has a disconcerting way of catching on the rein buckles, the handles of the foot-board, or even on the lamps. If in using your thong it catches in any part of the harness, treat it gently; do not pull at it, which only makes it hold faster; and if it will not come loose by these measures, send the servant down to loosen it. If your thong catches in boughs of trees or the like, do not hang on to the stick, but let the whole thing go and send back for it.
In saluting, drop your whip into your left hand and take off your hat if it be a lady you would recognize. Few things are more parochial in these matters than to see a man making a conspicuous sword salute with his whip to a lady who is either in another vehicle or on the road. In saluting others, a movement of the whip from left to right with the forearm is enough. It has the merit of not taking the right hand far from the reins, and is less conspicuous than the use of the whip as a sword, by bringing the handle up to your chin.
PLATE XXXII.—DRIVING FOUR
It is an old-time custom among the drivers of road-coaches in England to take off the hat to a chimney-sweep. Just why it is supposed to bring luck, like killing spiders in the morning and letting them live in the evening, and fifty other fancies of a like kind, the writer cannot explain. In approaching trouble, where you are likely to need your thong, unwind it and hold only the point under your thumb. A cut in time may save a whole side of harness!
Four horses with a heavy vehicle behind them—a drag weighs from twenty-one to twenty-four hundred pounds, a public coach from twenty-four hundred to three thousand pounds—and loaded with passengers occupies a good deal of space, gathers a good deal of momentum, and needs a good deal of skill in its governor. The very assumption of the task of driving is a great responsibility. No man should undertake it lightly.