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1Besides, a slovenly way of driving gets a horse into bad and often lazy habits, and when he changes hands he has to be
2whipped out of them with more or less pain and trouble. Squire Gordon always kept us to our best paces and our best
3manners. He said that spoiling a horse and letting him get into bad habits was just as cruel as spoiling a child, and
4both had to suffer for it afterward. Besides, these drivers are often careless altogether, and will attend to anything
5else more than their horses. I went out in the phaeton one day with one of them; he had a lady and two children behind.
6He flopped the reins about as we started, and of course gave me several unmeaning cuts with the whip, though I was
7fairly off. There had been a good deal of road-mending going on, and even where the stones were not freshly laid down
8there were a great many loose ones about. My driver was laughing and joking with the lady and the children, and talking
9about the country to the right and the left; but he never thought it worth while to keep an eye on his horse or to drive
10on the smoothest parts of the road; and so it easily happened that I got a stone in one of my fore feet. Now, if Mr.
11Gordon or John, or in fact any good driver, had been there, he would have seen that something was wrong before I had
12gone three paces. Or even if it had been dark a practiced hand would have felt by the rein that there was something
13wrong in the step, and they would have got down and picked out the stone. But this man went on laughing and talking,
14while at every step the stone became more firmly wedged between my shoe and the frog of my foot. The stone was sharp on
15the inside and round on the outside, which, as every one knows, is the most dangerous kind that a horse can pick up, at
16the same time cutting his foot and making him most liable to stumble and fall. Whether the man was partly blind or only
17very careless I can't say, but he drove me with that stone in my foot for a good half-mile before he saw anything. By
18that time I was going so lame with the pain that at last he saw it, and called out, "Well, here's a go! Why, they have
19sent us out with a lame horse! What a shame!" He then chucked the reins and flipped about with the whip, saying, "Now,
20then, it's no use playing the old soldier with me; there's the journey to go, and it's no use turning lame and lazy."
21Just at this time a farmer came riding up on a brown cob. He lifted his hat and pulled up. "I beg your pardon, sir," he
22said, "but I think there is something the matter with your horse; he goes very much as if he had a stone in his shoe. If
23you will allow me I will look at his feet; these loose scattered stones are confounded dangerous things for the horses."
24"He's a hired horse," said my driver. "I don't know what's the matter with him, but it is a great shame to send out a
25lame beast like this." The farmer dismounted, and slipping his rein over his arm at once took up my near foot. "Bless
26me, there's a stone! Lame! I should think so!" At first he tried to dislodge it with his hand, but as it was now very
27tightly wedged he drew a stone-pick out of his pocket, and very carefully and with some trouble got it out. Then holding
28it up he said, "There, that's the stone your horse had picked up. It is a wonder he did not fall down and break his
29knees into the bargain!" "Well, to be sure!" said my driver; "that is a queer thing! I never knew that horses picked up
30stones before." "Didn't you?" said the farmer rather contemptuously; "but they do, though, and the best of them will do
31it, and can't help it sometimes on such roads as these. And if you don't want to lame your horse you must look sharp and
32get them out quickly. This foot is very much bruised," he said, setting it gently down and patting me. "If I might
33advise, sir, you had better drive him gently for awhile; the foot is a good deal hurt, and the lameness will not go off
34directly." Then mounting his cob and raising his hat to the lady he trotted off. When he was gone my driver began to
35flop the reins about and whip the harness, by which I understood that I was to go on, which of course I did, glad that
36the stone was gone, but still in a good deal of pain. This was the sort of experience we job horses often came in for.
3729 Cockneys Then there is the steam-engine style of driving; these drivers were mostly people from towns, who never had
38a horse of their own and generally traveled by rail. They always seemed to think that a horse was something like a
39steam-engine, only smaller. At any rate, they think that if only they pay for it a horse is bound to go just as far and
40just as fast and with just as heavy a load as they please. And be the roads heavy and muddy, or dry and good; be they
41stony or smooth, uphill or downhill, it is all the same--on, on, on, one must go, at the same pace, with no relief and
42no consideration. These people never think of getting out to walk up a steep hill. Oh, no, they have paid to ride, and
43ride they will! The horse? Oh, he's used to it! What were horses made for, if not to drag people uphill? Walk! A good
44joke indeed! And so the whip is plied and the rein is chucked and often a rough, scolding voice cries out, "Go along,
45you lazy beast!" And then another slash of the whip, when all the time we are doing our very best to get along,
46uncomplaining and obedient, though often sorely harassed and down-hearted. This steam-engine style of driving wears us
47up faster than any other kind. I would far rather go twenty miles with a good considerate driver than I would go ten
48with some of these; it would take less out of me. Another thing, they scarcely ever put on the brake, however steep the
49downhill may be, and thus bad accidents sometimes happen; or if they do put it on, they often forget to take it off at
50the bottom of the hill, and more than once I have had to pull halfway up the next hill, with one of the wheels held by
51the brake, before my driver chose to think about it; and that is a terrible strain on a horse. Then these cockneys,
52instead of starting at an easy pace, as a gentleman would do, generally set off at full speed from the very stable-yard;
53and when they want to stop, they first whip us, and then pull up so suddenly that we are nearly thrown on our haunches,
54and our mouths jagged with the bit--they call that pulling up with a dash; and when they turn a corner they do it as
55sharply as if there were no right side or wrong side of the road.
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