Part 14 (1/2)
With all formal ladies' traps, plain square lamps are more appropriate, and round lamps belong rather with sporting vehicles. Ill.u.s.trations of a number of smartly appointed ladies' traps will be found on page 209.
The owner's rain coat and storm gloves should be carried folded in the hood. The rubbers, comprising the rubber ap.r.o.n and groom's rain coat and cover for his hat, should be folded and placed under the seat of the rumble.
CHAPTER XV
HINTS ON DRIVING
Regulate the pace by the distance that you have to go, and, whatever the distance, keep going at a steady pace--from seven to nine miles an hour is a good average--and it is a great mistake in long driving to go sometimes very fast and then try to balance it by going very slowly. In the old coaching days, when long distances were covered and the horses had to be kept in good condition, the general principle was to keep the horses going at about the same gait uphill and down, and this applies quite as much with a pair or a single horse. It is easier for a horse, and tires him less, to keep a steady gait than to walk up and down hill and then go very fast on the flat.
The most important thing about driving horses, especially for distance driving, is to find by experience their natural fast gait and then to keep them to it, and never to urge your horses beyond their natural gait, as nothing tires them so quickly. On the other hand, it tires a high-spirited horse almost as much to keep holding him back from his natural gait. Horses, after they have been driven a bit, know better than their drivers how to cover the ground, and they generally had much better be left to pick out their own gait than be forced to what the driver thinks is the gait they should take. So, in going up or down hill, if a horse shows a natural inclination to trot up even a steep hill, let him trot if he wants to; it will tire him less than holding him back.
[Ill.u.s.tration: DRIVING A PAIR TO A GEORGE IV PHAETON]
It is also a great mistake, which many drivers make, to walk horses down every hill they come to. Unless a hill is very steep, it is far easier to keep up a steady even trot, and if you have a heavy trap and find it straining your horse, drive him in the soft part of the road, which will hold back the trap. In going up or down very steep hills, it is easier for the horses to zigzag from side to side, though of course at a walk, as a hill as steep as that cannot be undertaken at a trot.
Start your horses slowly and let them gradually warm up to the work before them, and drive them slowly, or even walk them, for the last mile or two, so as to cool them before they go to the stable. As in riding, follow the old adage, ”Walk the first mile out and the last mile in.”
When you are bringing your trap up to the house or to the curb, so as to get out yourself, or to let some one else out, you should rein in your horses gradually; keep them going at a gradually diminis.h.i.+ng trot, until just before you are at the point at which you are to stop, and then stop them quietly but firmly. Do not attempt to dash up to the stopping place and then throw the horses back on their haunches, but do not bring your horses down to a walk twenty feet sooner than you need to and then creep up to the stopping place. Follow the same general principle when you are coming to a corner or entering a gate. That is, keep your horses well in hand and slow them down before you make the turn, but it it is very bad style to bring your horses down to a walk, or anything approaching a walk, before turning a corner and to make the turn at the walk. When going at a trot you should not make a turn at the walk unless you wish to turn the trap entirely around and go in the opposite direction, or unless you have to make a turn of more than a right angle.
In going up driveways, as in approaching a country house, be sure to keep your trap in the middle of the road, and to keep your horses up to their gait, always with your horses well in hand. Needless to say, it looks very badly to cut in on the gra.s.s on either side or to look as if you were cutting W's.
It must be borne in mind when you are driving into a country place, that many of them have their drives so arranged that there is a turn to the stable near the entrance gate. Be sure that your horses are well in hand, and that you are prepared to turn them to the other side, as they are sure to see the stable turn and very apt to try to take it.
When you come to a hill, remember that your horses in going up need to stretch their heads out in order to exert their full strength. You should, therefore, give them their heads as much as they want, provided always that you keep them in hand. In going downhill, on the other hand, the horses should always be reined in, though, as I have said, not enough to bring them down to a walk unless the hill is very steep; they should, however, be kept well in hand in going down as there is then the greatest danger of stumbling.
[Ill.u.s.tration: BASKET PHAETON
Note position of groom and livery]
If you are driving a trap with a brake, with which some basket phaetons are equipped, as are all traps for use in hilly countries except runabouts, do not use the brake too freely. It is much better for the horses to accustom themselves to hold the trap back than it is to have them pulling it downhill. If your horses become accustomed to having the brake on at every hill you go down, you will find great difficulty in holding them when you drive them without a brake. The brake should be reserved for use in going down very steep hills and for emergencies, such as having the horses get away from you when going down a moderate hill; but the brake should never be used, in single or pair horse driving, in pulling up.
The rule of the road in this country is ”keep to the right,” but why this rule has ever been adopted, instead of the English rule of keeping to the left, I have never heard explained. A little reflection will show one that the English rule of keeping to the left is the naturally correct and sensible rule, and that the whole theory of correct driving is based upon it. Thus, the driver sits on the right side of the trap in order to be able to avoid hitting a trap pa.s.sing in the opposite direction, as he is on the side where he can best watch his own trap and the trap that might strike him. So the whip is held in the right hand, pointing toward the left in order not to engage with the whip of a pa.s.sing vehicle, and the reins are held in the left hand that the whip may be held in the right.
Similarly, I may add, in riding, a man rides on the woman's right, in order that he may have the point of danger, the middle of the road, when, if the riders are going to collide with persons or vehicles coming in the opposite direction, he will be the one to suffer the collision.
That keeping to the left would be the common-sense way is quite clearly shown by the fact that many automobiles are now made with the chauffeur's seat on the left, so that, keeping to the right, he may see and not collide with vehicles coming in the opposite direction. However, this rule of keeping to the right is established in this country, as it is in many of the Continental countries, and probably will never be changed. All vehicles, riders, etc., coming in the opposite direction, therefore, must be pa.s.sed on the right, and on crowded roads, particularly in parks and on the streets or avenues of the city, the driver should habitually keep to the right of the middle of the road. If you are driving slowly, wherever you may be, you should keep to the extreme right in order that vehicles going faster may be able to pa.s.s you on the left. In pa.s.sing any other vehicle or rider going in the same direction you should keep him on your right.
For driving in the show ring, the park, or any crowded thoroughfare, the whip should be used to indicate to those behind you what you are going to do. It is held up straight to show that you are slackening speed or that you intend to stop. It is carried to the right of the trap and twirled from left to right to indicate that you are turning to the right, and it is kept to the left and twirled from right to left if you are turning to the left. You should not only give these signals yourself, but you should always observe the driver ahead of you to see what signals he may give, and be sure when you are driving in any crowded place to keep your horses absolutely under control so that they may be stopped in a moment if need be. This is particularly important in driving in the city, where conformity with traffic regulations makes sudden stops necessary.
For all formal occasions, when you are driving any kind of a phaeton with a rumble, you should always have a servant on the rumble. For any formal occasion, where it is correct to drive a trap with a rumble, it is incorrect not to have the servant. It is better form, even for country driving, if you take a servant, to have him on the rumble, where he should always be if there is a rumble. It is not correct, where you have a rumble, to have the servant at your side. If the horses are pulling too hard, it is quite permissible to pa.s.s the reins back to the servant, or he may even drive them from the rumble, where he can control them quite as well as he could if he were sitting beside you.
For this reason the reins are made longer for a woman than for a man.
CHAPTER XVI
DRESS
While, except for four-in-hand, there is no prescribed formal costume required for driving, at the same time there are certain general principles which women should always observe, not only for formal occasions, such as the show ring or park, but whenever they take the ribbons.