Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-21
COACHING IN AMERICA

THE announcement that the Presidents
daughter can drive coach and can tool a
four-in-hand team at rafting clip recalls
to mind that teams of this character have
been in existence as a sport for many
years. said old horsemau this morning
"As most people know. coaching in the
old days filled the void now occupied by
the railroads. and. except by boat or indi-
vidual travel, was the sole means of ma ssine
from one point to another. Not in any
other country has the history of coaching
such stirring scenes to embellish fl as the
coach history of the United States
Queen Elizabeth was practically the one
to introduce the coach into England about
1864, and with but one horse in front her
four wheeled vehicle. fooled by a stolid Hol-
lander, drove the ladies of the realm to de-
spafr with envy. Not until 1850 did the
first four-in-hand appear, the original phae-
ton. vehicle with wonderful seat sup
ported on four rigid arms. which elevated
the driver about ten feet in the air and
was much affected by the beauX of that
period. From that by slow degrees evolved
the stage and mail coach for general travel
In 1884 coaches appeared in the United
States, and in 1872 the government ran a
service to Philadelphia from New York
making in three years a profit of 1920
In 1884 the railroads began TO crowd the
utility coach to the frontier, and that re-
marka bic institution, unequaled in the
world elsewhere. the overland mail. was es-
tablished. A truly marvellous undertaking.
I'm 1854 a four-in-hand mule team came
from San Francisco TO the frontier states,
driven by Ben Halliday, and in 1857 he made
a ten-year contract for the service In 1857
a bill was passed for the running of a coach
service between st. Louis and San Fran
cisco, but wherever the coach service started
sooner or later the railroad superseded Ii,
and the utility coaching passed away. For
many years it was not seen until Col. De
Lancey Kane put on the first American
amateur coach, horsed and fooled to per-
lection and, as coach titles were in the old
days the correct thing he labeled his THE
Tally-Ho. New York. which title gave the
first impression to the metropolitans that
four-in-hand was a taliy-ho and the idea
appears now too deeply seated to ever be
uprooted.
"Since then many men of leisure and
wealth have made the art of coaching ia
miliar, until today amateur coaching is
recognized feature of summer and fall
jauntS.
There is, however much to desire I'm the
handling of the coach teams. Men with
very few brilliant exceptions. do not drive
with the skill of the old dragsmen. One
exculpatory fact Is they do not get the
practice, and that much of the possible
practice is the wrong kind Then, in too
many cases the team is made for them. The
driver can choose his own clear track and
make his own pace, while the dragsmen of
this country and England learned In a far
rougher school. The neophyte of those days
assembled the box and took the reins and
learned the mysteries of handling three
blind uns and a bolter, or a kicker, a pull
ing leader, a wheeler that objected to start
and a fourth animal rich In assorted vices
With such a team road time had to be
kept or there was trouble. but it was be-
hind such teams expert dragsmen were
made.
I'm such hard school the good seat
came perforce; it was easier to learn to
hold them together without pulling the
horses. because the less interference when
going free and together the better the time
made. 1t was soon demonstrated that IL
the leaders were started first they simply
broke the bars. and the wheelers must be
stopped first or they would overrun the
leaders and start them kicking.
THE qualification Of an embryo drags-
man was the ability to drive pair well and
with due judgment, which Is distinctly
gift rather than an requirement and 1t Is
the possessor of this gift who makes the
real four-in-hand driver, the man who
makes the great horse show contestants
turn green with envy in an obstacle con-
test. The driver must have strong and
steady nerves, exceeding strength in fore
arm and wrist. and for any man without
these qualities tions to attempt to handle a
fourth hand Is little short OF criminal"