that leaders and wheelers start simultaneously;
for if the leaders start first they will be drawn up sharp by their
bits, or, what is worse, if their reins have not been sufficiently
shortened they will jump into their collars and possibly break a
swinging bar, and in either case they will be fretted and disconcerted
and will possibly in consequence either kick or rear; if the wheelers
start before the leaders they will ram the swinging bars under the tails
of the latter, with results equally unfortunate. The worst possible
method of starting is suddenly to give the horses their heads and use
the whip. But no positive rule can be laid down, for it is just one of
those points which depend largely on familiarity with the horses forming
the team. Horses even moderately accustomed to the work will generally
start best in obedience to the voice, and their attention may
simultaneously be aroused by gently feeling their mouths. When once
started the driver should at once see that his team is going straight.
If the leaders and wheelers are not exactly on the same line, this or
that rein must be shortened or lengthened as the case may require; and
it is to be noticed that as the near-wheeler's and off-leader's reins
lie together between the same fingers, a simultaneous shortening or
lengthening of these two reins will usually produce the desired result.
With rare exceptions, reins should be shortened or lengthened by pushing
them back or drawing them forward with the right hand from in front of
the driving hand, and not from behind it. As soon as the team is in
motion the leaders may be let out till they draw their traces taut; but
draught should be taken off them on falling ground or while rounding a
corner. Good drivers touch the reins as little as possible with the
whip-hand, and nothing is less workmanlike than for a coachman to act as
if he were an angler continually letting out or reeling in his line. In
rounding a corner a loop of an inch or two of the leaders' rein on the
side to which the turn is to be made is taken up by the right hand and
placed under the left thumb. This "points the leaders," who accordingly
make the required turn, while at the same time the right hand bears
lightly on the wheelers' rein of the opposite side, to prevent them
making the turn too sharply for safety to the coach behind them. As soon
as the turn is made--and all this applies equally to the passing of
other vehicles or obstacles on the roa