Читать книгу Hints on Driving Horses (Harness, Carriage, Etc) - Captain C. Morley Knight - Страница 10

CHAPTER II.

DRIVING—SINGLE HARNESS.

The start.

Getting into dog-cart.

How to hold reins.

BEFORE starting, always have a good look round, and see that all the harness is put on correctly; then go to the off side of the horse and take the reins in the right hand, the near rein under the forefinger and the off rein under the third finger. Get up into the cart and sit down immediately; now transfer the reins into the left hand, the near rein over the forefinger, and the off rein under the middle finger. Thus you have two fingers between the reins (fig. 2). The reason for this is that it gives much more scope for play of the wrist on the horse’s mouth than if you only have one finger between the reins. The thumb should point straight to the right, and the forefinger be held well out, pointing to the right rear. This will keep the near rein close up to the knuckle, and the horse may easily be moved across the road to either the left or right by turning the back of the hand up or down respectively.

FIG. 2.—SINGLE HARNESS—POSITION OF THE HANDS.

Sit well up.

Sit well up; nothing looks so bad as to see the driver leaning forward over the reins.

How to start.

Finally, take the whip in the right hand at the place where it balances most comfortably, and you are ready to start. Then give the horse the office to start by feeling his mouth gently and speaking to him; if he does not respond touch him gently with the whip.

The moment he starts drop the hand slightly; jibbing is often caused by neglect of the latter precaution.

Elbows must be close to sides.

Keep your elbows close to your sides, with the points almost touching the hips. The wrists should be well bent, as by this means you are enabled to keep a perfectly steady bearing on the horse’s mouth without any jerking. This is a very important point.

Fore arm horizontal.

The fore arm should be horizontal, and the fingers from two to four inches from the centre of the body, with the knuckles to the front.

Lower fingers to grip the reins.

How to turn.

The thumb must not be pressed down on the rein, exeept when a loop is taken up to turn a corner to the right or left (see fig. 23), when the right hand is available for shortening the other rein to prevent the horse turning too rapidly, or else to use the whip to bring him round.

The fingers which should grip the reins, (so tightly that they should never slip), are the three lower ones. The forefinger should be held as in fig. 2.

Whip not to be used when hand on reins.

Never keep a large amount of slack of the off rein in your right hand (fig. 3) as then you cannot use the whip; and remember never to hit the horse while the right hand is holding a rein.

The reason for this is obvious, because if you do try to hit him when you have the off rein in the right hand, you must slack that rein off, and the horse immediately dashes away to the left.

FIG. 3.—SINGLE HARNESS—RIGHT HAND IN WRONG POSITION.

Never move reins in left hand.

It cannot be too strongly impressed on the beginner, that whether the right hand is on the reins or not, they should always be of the same length in the hand, and never be allowed to slip.

The right hand should never on any account take the off rein out of the left hand. It is the first and most important law of driving, that the reins, as held in the left hand, should be of such a length as to keep the horse straight, and should remain at that length, whether the right hand is being used on one or other of them or not.

No coachman who drives with a rein in each hand can be said to know his business, and yet it is one of the commonest things to be seen in London.

Do not job horse’s mouth.

Never use the whip on the horse unnecessarily, and never job him in the mouth except to punish him for doing something wrong. Nevertheless, for a horse which is inclined to kick, jobbing is very useful when applied at the right time, more especially if accompanied by a sharp hit with the whip over his ears.

Never hit a shier.

Use the voice.

The whip should never be used on a shier, it will only frighten him, and confirm him in the habit, which is caused by nervousness and not by vice. Encourage him rather by speaking to him, as there is nothing a horse learns to understand quicker than his master’s voice.

Do not flap the reins on his back either to start him or to make him increase his pace.

Pace should be steady.

Learn to drive at a steady and even pace. From eight to nine miles an hour will usually be found most suitable to average horses, but do not on any account drive sometimes at six miles and sometimes at ten. Nothing tires a horse so much as constantly changing the pace.

Start slow.

It is usually better to start a little slower, especially if you have a long way to go.

Once fairly started, keep your eyes well fixed in front of you, and watch exactly what other vehicles are doing, so that you may never have to pull up suddenly. You should be able to see from a distance whether you can get through or not, and if you see that you cannot, begin to slow down at once.

Jerky pace very bad.

Never increase your pace, or check it, suddenly. Nothing is more uncomfortable for the passengers or more wearying to the horse.

Shortening reins.

It is far better for the beginner to slow down at once, if he is not sure of getting through a tight place, than to go fast up to it, and then have to pull up quite suddenly, if he can pull up at all. This cannot always be done at the last moment, and an accident is the result. As a rule, when it is necessary to pull up in a hurry, the reins cannot be shortened except by throwing up the hands, which, to say the least of it, looks very unbusinesslike. The proper course to pursue is to catch hold of the reins with the first finger and thumb of the right hand just behind the left, and shorten them as much as necessary by pulling them through (fig. 4).

FIG. 4.—SHORTENING REINS.

It is far better on such an occasion to have the reins rather too short than too long, but if only a small amount of shortening is required the right hand can be placed on the reins in front of the left and the left hand slid up to the right (fig. 5).

Signal with whip to carriage behind.

When driving in a town, it is the rule to swing the whip stick round once or twice as an indication to the drivers of vehicles behind you that you are going to slow down or turn a corner.

Turn corners carefully.

Before coming to the turn the pace must always be checked, particularly in a town, where the streets are generally slippery and there is nearly always a curbstone. Many an accident occurs daily through corners being negotiated carelessly. This advice appears almost superfluous, but the reader will find that to drive, even fairly broken horses, collectedly round sharp turns requires great care and precaution.

Starting a jibber.

In conclusion, it is worth pointing out, that a horse which is inclined to jib, may often be started either by turning him to one side with the rein, or if this fails, by getting some one to push him over. The reason is that he is thus made to move before the pull comes on his shoulders.

FIG. 5.—SHORTENING REINS BY SLIDING LEFT HAND UP TO RIGHT.

Fit of gloves.

The fit of the gloves may seem a very trivial matter to the uninitiated, but it is not considered such by the expert coachman.

Any one attempting to drive with tight “masher” gloves will find his hand cramped in a very short time. All his power is taken up in trying to keep his hand shut and wrestling with his gloves, and not as it should be in holding the reins tight.

It is difficult in fact to have them too large.

They should be made of dogskin, and when new, at least one inch longer than the fingers, and rather larger, also very loose indeed across the palm of the hand and wrist. They will very soon shrink down and become the right size, after the hand has got damp in them once or twice.

It is a good plan to punch a few round holes in the back of the gloves to keep the hand cool.

The leather should be hard and tough, but not too thick. Strapping inside is apt to make gloves clumsy and very awkward for driving, especially with four reins.

Woollen gloves.

Woollen gloves should always be carried, as they are the most comfortable in wet weather, and the reins do not slip through them.

Carriage rags.

Never drive without a rug or apron of some kind. A light cloth or cotton one may be used in summer, but for the winter it is far better to have a thick one of box cloth warmly lined. When choosing an apron, remember to get one with a V-shaped piece let in at the top; this adds greatly to one’s comfort if there are two people in the cart, as it allows of the sides being tucked under, and thus keeps out both cold and wet very much better than one without the V let into it.

Hints on building dog-cart.

A dog-cart is the handiest of two-wheeled carts for all-round purposes, and therefore the one in most general use; so that a few hints on the selection or building of such a vehicle may be of use to those who have not had much practical experience in that line. At the same time I would strongly recommend that when buying a carriage of any kind professional advice should, if possible, be obtained, since no one without experience can possibly find out faulty workmanship or detect defects in the material.

The following would be built for horses about 15.2 in height:—

Height of wheels.

The wheels should be fairly high, say about five feet, as this enables the horse to pull the cart over any small obstruction with greater ease than with low wheels.

Track of wheels.

The track should be from five to five feet three inches wide. This gives plenty of room insi e, and makes the cart less likely to upset.

Bent shafts.

Bent shafts are the most convenient for driving horses of different heights, and should be pivoted on the front part of the cart and adjustable behind. A cart so constructed will easily admit of horses from 14.2 to 16 hands being driven in the same vehicle.

FIG. 6.—DOG-CART.

Body of cart should be wide and low.

The body should be as wide as possible, because nothing is more uncomfortable than being cramped on a narrow seat. It also ought to be low on the axle, thus rendering the cart far more safe and also more comfortable.

A fixed body is better than one that moves backwards and forwards on the shafts, because it always remains the same distance from the horse, and enables the cart to be built lighter.

Seat of cart.

Heath’s patent seat the best.

The seat should be low enough to prevent the driver from feeling he is in want of a footstool or that he is half standing, and should slide in a groove out of which it cannot come if the horse falls down. Many men have been thrown out and had bad accidents simply because of the seat coming away. It is moreover more comfortable if slightly below the top of the sides of the cart. The back and front seats should be so arranged that the cart will balance equally well with one person or four—a result which can be arrived at by having the seats to slide backwards and forwards when more than two people are in the cart. I consider Heath’s patent the best for this purpose; it is very light and effective.

Adjustable foot-rest necessary.

Bar foot-rest dangerous.

Position of lamps.

If the seat is a sliding one, the driver must have an adjustable foot-rest, and this can easily be managed by having about half-a-dozen pairs of holes in the floor of the cart for the foot-rest to fit into. It should be a plain board covered with indiarubber to prevent the feet slipping, and tilted at an incline which will keep the feet at right angles to the legs. A bar foot-rest is most dangerous, as the feet may be easily caught under it in getting out of the cart. The lamps should be fixed between the wheels and the sides of the cart, care being taken that there is plenty of room for them, so that should they get bent by any accident they will not interfere with the wheels. This position is much the best for tandem driving; in any other position they are continually catching the lash of the whip, and are consequently a perpetual source of annoyance.

Best trace attachment.

The best system of draught for a dog-cart is that in which the traces are attached to a swingle-tree, from the centre of which two chains pass down to loops fixed to the axle close to the inside of the wheels.

Swingle-tree.

The swingle-tree is held up by two straps which pass through metal loops in the front part of the cart. These straps should be pretty strong; were they to break, the bar would fall on the horse’s hocks and cause an accident.

Chains on swingle-tree not to be too long.

Be careful that the chains are not too long, and that the pull is really on them, and not as is frequently the case entirely on the straps. In the latter case of course the swingle-tree ceases to be of any use.

Advantages of swingle-tree attachment.

The swingle-tree attachment enables the horse to pull directly from the axle-tree by means of the chains, and in this way the best line of draught is obtained; moreover a certain amount of play is given to the horses’ shoulders and the chance of their galling is less than with the ordinary method.

FIG. 7.—DOUBLE HARNESS ON HORSE.