The morning call., 1894-07-01

horseman. who overheard me, 81 once
drove a pony of mine ninety miles in a
single day." knew about that perform
aance of his and reminded him that his
horse: had not been. able to do an other
stroke of work that summer, while mine
had not suffered at all. from her really
very hard mountain trip, :on which she
had for several days in succession Travelled
fifty miles a day. might have made the
trip in half the time, but the mare would
not have been able, as she did, to make
another long trip within week after her
return from that one.
Women, when driving. tire horse out ;
not so much by too fast driving, or too
long trips, as by worrying the animal. As
a rule they are nervous themselves, and
they generally succeed in mparting their
nervousness 10 the creatures they are
driving.
'Pushing on the reins" is one irritatin e
trick that many women drivers possess
shall never forget the remark Of a gentle
, man with whom | once took horse from
a livery stable to go and look al some land.
We were In hurry and our concerted
efforts failed to make that horse go. At
last, 81 know what's the matter! he eX-
claimed, and taking the relns from my
hands be let them hang loosely on the
.herse's back an instant, then tapped them
wildly about and jerked them up suddenly.
clueklng all the while like veTitabie hen.
There was an instant acceeratiOD. OF
speed on The part of the horse. For
goodness sake" l cried, whatever
prom bted you TO do such thing as thatP',
"0h,'" he said, Il concluded this animal
was used to being driven by women, aud
that's the way my sister does" So we
pushed on the lines" during the rest of
the trip, and got quite a satisfactory rate
of progress out of the horse.
But such manipulation of the reins is
10 i1- IF
convenient to use the rein instead Of the
whip to tap the horse, but the way TO do it
is TO hold the left rein perfectly taut and
still, raise the right one, swapping II as
you do so, so that IT will give the animal a
smart tap on the Group. This Is effective
and does OF jerk his mouth.
The whip ie usually mere toy in the
hands of a woman. She is gOod-natured
and kind hearted, and is apt 10 fall into
the habit of using the whip as fly screen
for the horse, flecking these pests from his
back and sides until he may be pardoned
for forge etting that the whip is ever put TO
any other use. This circumstance is
fraught with many dangers. There may
come time when your h0rSe'S quick re-
sponse to the whip may be all that stands
between you and death, so be careful how
you destroy his habit cf obedience to it.
The same NAV be said OF the word
whoa" The horse that does not respond
promptly to it should be condemned to
some painless death; aud yet many driv-
ers, men as we'll as women, are III tile
habit of using this supreme word of com
mand when thew only wish a hOrse to
slacken speed. Never use it unless you
want him to come to dead stop. You
should aecustom him to do this without
any accom- Danying pressure OH the relns.
L was once driving young and very
skittlsh colt on a hill road when, to my
dIsmay, the buckle having become unfast-
ened, one rein slipped from my hand and
slid down into the dust. How to reach II
knew not. a pull on the single rein would
have turned US to the preeipice; l could
not reach out and get IL without alarming
the colt, who had no binders on. | rec
membered with thankfulness that he un-
derstood the meaning OF every word of
command used by horsemen. whoa"
said. quietly, and he stood in his tracks.
while got HOut and secured my rein.
never took so much comfort with any ami
nal in my life as with q driving animal /
had trained TO stop instantly at the word
"whoa," to moderate her speed at the
command STEADY" and TO walk" when
/ told her to do so. A whip she would
never. bear, and a tap of the rein would
bring her 20 full speed; but l sold her, aud
year later she was a confirmed pulleI,
hard-mouthed, utterly needless of any
thing but a muscle-wrenhjug pull at the
bit.
If you are driving strange horse. whose
ways you do not knew, be careful how you
experiment with him: Do not. for in
stance, lei down his check rein, though, il
it seems too tight, as is rtquenily the case
with livery horses, you can lengthen II a
little. Some horses used TO the overdraw,
are apt TO get excited and kick II theil
heads are let down while travelling. Be on