CHAPTER IX

FOUR-IN-HAND. VARIOUS USEFUL HINTS—WHAT SPARE ARTICLES TO CARRY, ETC.

THE beginner must not suppose that a team, or for that matter even one horse, can be driven with the left hand only; even the very best of whips is obliged to have constant recourse to the right hand, especially when passing through traffic.

At the same time, he must remember to resist the temptation of keeping the right hand permanently on the reins, nor should it ever be employed like the coachman’s hand in fig. 3, in holding on to a bight of the off reins in order to keep the horses straight.

The team ought to run perfectly straight at any time with the reins in the left hand only; and as a continuous pressure of the right hand is very liable to cause any one of the reins to slip, especially the near wheel when the horses are pulling, this practice is objectionable. Of course if the left hand gets tired, the right must come to its assistance, and then it should be placed either on three or all four reins (see figs. 18 and 35).

This can be done either by shortening them singly, or by catching hold of the two off-side reins as usual, placing the forefinger over the near lead, and the middle finger over the near wheel, and then allowing the near-side reins to slide a little through the fingers of both hands, while still retaining a firm grip of the off-side reins. Of course, however, only a very little can be got out at a time by this method.

Another plan is to grip the reins tightly with the right hand, the first two fingers over the near-side reins, the lower fingers over the off, and then to open the fingers of the left hand, when the off-side reins can be pushed through them by turning the lower part of the right hand towards the left (see figs. 18 and 35).

If any horse is out of his place, find out the cause, and adjust the rein or use the whip accordingly.

Hold the off-side reins under little and third fingers of the right hand; then take hold of the near-lead rein with the forefinger some three inches away from left hand; and holding it tight bring it up as much as possible towards the body, at the same time quickly passing the left hand down so as to catch the near-lead rein in front of the right forefinger with the left thumb; then bring the left hand back to its original position, and you have a good loop, and the wheelers are checked from rushing the corner by the lower part of the right hand pressing on the off reins.

If both the above methods fail, stop the coach at once, when a man must get down and release the rein by lifting up the leader’s tail, and not by pulling the rein away from under it.

The reins can also be run through the head terrets or loops on the top of the wheelers’ heads, but if this is done it is better to use a bearing-rein, because, if the horse shakes his head up and down, he will inevitably jerk the leader in the mouth.

These terrets have been almost entirely done away with, as, if the leaders pull, they put a great strain on the wheelers’ heads, and if the latter throw their heads up and down to any great extent, they continually jerk the leader’s mouths, [Sidenote: Objection to lead reins passing through head terrets.] whereas by passing the lead reins through the ring on the throat-lash of the wheeler there is almost a straight pull from the leaders’ mouths to the terrets on the pads of the wheelers.

If on the outside, they should be fixed to the buckle of the horse’s own trace, but on the inside to that of the other horse.

A very useful kind of side rein has a brass ring sewn into one end of it instead of a buckle; a short strap or loop is passed through this ring and buckled to each side of the bit, while the other end of the rein is buckled to the inside trace of the other horse.

The ordinary rein used by the Artillery Driver on his off horse will do equally well. This consists of a long rein buckled to the outside of the bit, and a short coupling piece to the inside. If a horse pulls very hard and tries to get in front of the other horse, either of these reins will bring all the pull on to his bit and keep him in his place.