Driving (animal husbandry)

“ The driver should therefore always just “feel his horse’s mouth” as lightly as possible; he then has the animal well under control in readiness for every emergency, while avoiding such a pull on the mouth as would cause a high-spirited horse to chafe and fret. Well-broken carriage horses should always be willing to run into their bits, and those that draw back when lightly held in hand should be kept up to the bit with the whip. ”

“ So the dog lay down in the middle of the road, and was soon fast asleep. While he was sleeping a carter passed by, driving a waggon drawn by three horses, and laden with two barrels of wine. The sparrow noticed that the man was not going out of his way to avoid the dog, but was driving right in the middle of the road where the poor animal lay ”

“ In large droves it is advisable to keep the herd in as long and narrow a line as possible, and to facilitate the driving, a few bullocks are usually separated from the others and kept moving in the van as a sort of pace-setter.
It is surprising how readily the drove falls into the spirit of this strolling march, some battle-scarred old bull leading, and the others following him in the dust.
It is said that neither fools, women, nor children can drive cattle. ”

“ Dogs, you know, are as great a nuisance to automobiles as they are to cycles, and they charge at one's car with such vehemence that their impetus almost carries them under the wheels. Sometimes they show their strength by galloping alongside the car for a couple of hundred yards, barking so furiously the while that their bodies are contorted by the violence of the effort. I was driving at a moderate pace (something under thirty miles an hour) when a beautiful collie which had been standing by the roadside walked quietly out and planted himself with his back to me in front of the car. ”

“ On rough ground, as on hummocks of ice, the sledge would be frequently overturned, or altogether stopped, if the driver did not repeatedly get off and by lifting or drawing it on one side, steer clear of those accidents. At all times, indeed, except on a smooth and well made road, he is pretty constantly employed, thus, with his feet, which, together with his never ceasing vociferations and frequent use of the whip, renders the driving of one of these vehicles by no means an easy or a pleasant task. ”

“ Never allow the groom or grooms to stop your horse or horses, whether one, two, or four, when you drive into the stable. This makes horses restless, makes them back, slide, or kick, and in the case of a four may result in a general mix-up. Stop your horses gradually, with voice and reins, but stop them yourself. They have come in from the drive more or less accustomed to your hands and ways, according as you are more or less proficient, and a rough hand on bit or nose, and an apparition in front of them, ought to, and generally does, upset them. ”

“ We at times encountered a string of waggons at some narrow sharp turn of the corkscrew path, and were whirled by them, with our off-wheels curiously circling the unguarded ledge of a precipice some four or five hundred feet deep, where a wheel-horse suddenly jibbing, or a leader shying or falling, would, in all human probability, have provided the wolves and bears with a banquet, and the journalists with a neat paragraph, headed, "Melancholy result of fast driving, attended with serious loss of valuable lives." ”

“ What he should seek for is a position in which he is at ease in all his movements for a driver has to drive all the time, at every moment from the starting out until he sets foot on the ground and turns over his horse to the groom. It is carelessness in driving that causes nearly all the accidents, for it is the unexpected that is always happening. ”

“ These, in driving, must always be a walk or a trot—never a canter, which, owing to the draught, would be equally injurious to the horse and to the carriage. Either of these paces, moreover, should be suited to the nature of the road. Rapid driving, on the stones especially, exposes a carriage to injury, both from shocks against others, and from those which attend its own motion. However, it is sometimes for a moment necessary, in order to get out of the way of carts, waggons, &c. ”

“ It is commonly said that it is impossible to run over a duck, and in truth, clumsy as they appear to be on their legs, it is very nearly so, though I did once accomplish the feat. I was driving fast round a rather sharp turn in the road, when I suddenly found myself in the middle of them, and one was unable to waddle off quick enough to save his life. ”

“ You’d think it 34 was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a high-powered motor to navigate the streets of Lisbon, but our driver did it without turning a hair, and deserved a V.C. every minute of the time he was driving. Of course, accidents happen, and the tale of dead dogs must be enormous. ”

“ The pleasure of a driving-horse depends as much as anything else upon his stopping and standing wherever and whenever you wish him to do so. Young horses are often impatient of this restraint, coming at irregular intervals and places, and it is one of the hardest things to train a horse to do. A good plan is to have them follow behind a wagon, particularly if loaded with hay, and have the wagon start and stop, and the colt you are driving behind it do likewise. ”

“ With good care, a hardy flock may be driven at the rate of 12 or 14 miles a day. Constant watchfulness is requisite, to keep them healthy and in good plight. One-half the expense of driving, may be saved by the use of well-trained shepherd-dogs. ”

“ Amongst the societies which we rejoice to possess in England, there is one to prevent dangerous driving. How many of those who form this society have this sensible appendage to any of their own carriages, even those to which they daily trust their own necks? Accidents are not always the faults of drivers. About a year and a half ago, a brougham horse took fright at the engine whistle, and bolted down Ludgate Hill at a gallop. ”

“ This principle can be applied to the subject of driving as well, if not better, than to most others. To drive one horse, over one road, day in and day out, becomes a weariness to the flesh, instead of a refreshment. If you have only one horse, you can at least both ride him and drive him. If you have two, you can drive them abreast as a pair, or one in front of the other as a tandem, and both [356] can be ridden. As soon as your stable enlarges to four, you can have no end of variety if care and patience are exercised. ”

“ In the meantime the leader may be kicking, turning, pulling to one side, running away, upsetting the cart, or doing any one of a thousand things which the driver cannot in any way prevent. In pair driving it is also a very serious thing if either horse puts his tail over a rein. The result is that immediately control is lost not only over him but over the other horse as well, for half of the control over the other is had through the coupling rein which is buckled to the rein caught in the tail. Many most serious accidents have been caused by long-tailed horses catching the reins. ”

“ Dogs, chickens and other domestic animals at large on the highway are not pedestrians, and if one is driving at a regulation speed, or under,{71} one is not responsible for their untimely end.
It is, therefore, especially advisable to drive slowly through all towns and villages. Drive slowly past all school-houses. ”

“ In passing such a light the eyes should be kept on the road and shielded, if possible, from the glare of the other machine. The precaution of driving slowly under such circumstances goes without saying.
Unlighted Vehicles. —Unlighted, horse-drawn vehicles, bicycles, and animals driven or walking in the street frequently give the automobile driver palpitation of the heart. ”

“ It is just so that you cannot keep a dead pull on the poor brute's mouth that this position is the ideal one. You don't want to pull your horse, but to drive him. Most driving, by the way, seems to have as its central feature how to stop him, rather than how to make him go pleasantly; how to get the quickest and sharpest jerk on his mouth in case of trouble, rather than how to exert the least possible pressure that will command obedience. With a well-bitted horse, you should be able to make figure eights by moving the left hand as directed without touching the reins with the right hand at all. ”

“ The driving of each of these requires special skill, only to be acquired by practice combined with knowledge of the characteristics peculiar to the several animals employed. The most accomplished driver of spirited horses would probably be in difficulties if called upon to drive sixteen or twenty dogs in an arctic sledge, or a team of oxen or mules drawing the guns of a mountain battery ”

“ They are required to know perfectly the drove-roads, which lie over the wildest tracts of the country, and to avoid as much as possible the highways, which distress the feet of the bullocks, and the turnpikes, which annoy the spirit of the drover; whereas on the broad green or grey track, which leads across the pathless moor, the herd not only move at ease and without taxation, but, if they mind their business, may pick up a mouthful of food by the way. At night, the drovers usually sleep along with their cattle, let the weather be what it will ”

“ There have been those who have said that the hoot of an automobile’s horn would drive even the “sense of traffic”—a new sense recently discovered by the Parisian medical journals—from out of the brain of even the most careful of persons! This is as naught compared to the Breton cab-driver’s stentorian “He, la-bas!”
As one comes to the open country again, he leaves all these distractions behind, and revels in nature, and if he be travelling by road, in the stubbornness of cows and sheep and the aggressiveness of geese and ducks, all road-users like himself. ”

“ For the latter practice has everywhere increased the wild habit; it has not merely taught existing birds wildness for the time being, but the habit of standing up to look for danger instead of crouching in the heather to hide from it, has become hereditary and instinctive where driving has been the longest practised. ”

“ Please read the Bear Warning under Backcountry Basics.
Driving Tips.
Drive carefully and defensively, especially at dawn, dusk, and at night. Every season large animals are killed and vehicles are mangled. Slow down, and ask passengers to help spot animals in the road. When stopping to view wildlife, stop in turnouts, be careful to stop your vehicle in the safest position possible, with all doors shut. Consider traffic flow problems and their potential hazard. Be a responsible driver. Keep motor vehicles off bikeways. Report all accidents to a park ranger. ”

“ In driving, if your horse shies, you should never whip him; you must keep control of him by a firm hold of the reins, and if possible drive him quietly up to the object that he is afraid of and make him pass it, and if practicable make him pass it two or three times until he has forgotten his fear. You must have the right hand in readiness to pull hard on the rein opposite to the side toward which he is shying, so as to avoid his overturning the trap, which, incidentally, is another demonstration of the importance of using the correct method. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Every now and then a seal will get weak in the lumbar region, then drag its posteriors along for a short distance, finally drop breathless and exhausted, quivering and panting, not to revive for hours—days, perhaps—and often never. During the driest driving-days, or those days when the temperature does not combine with wet fog to keep the earth moist and cool, quite a large number of the weakest animals in the drove will be thus laid out and left on the track. ”

“ Whether or not his birds have been much harassed by previous driving makes a difference to his chances. Success will be appreciated, for sportsmen keenly relish a selected partridge drive as a foretaste to a pheasant shoot. When the drive is over and the pheasants' turn has come, they feel in slightly faster but certainly smoother water. ”

“ This is of the utmost importance in driving in the city streets, where you may find yourself in serious trouble if, through inattention, you have driven well into trouble, before planning to stop. Your horse's nose, or your pole, has poked into another horse or vehicle, or you are obliged to pull up so suddenly that you throw your horse, or horses down.
In America, where we turn to the right, pull well over to your own side and slow down before you get to the street corner around which you wish to go, whether to the right or left. ”

“ Alington in saying that it is not because old birds are killed by driving that this system succeeds. Even where driving is practised, the keepers on some estates net the birds after the shooting season in order to break the necks of the old cocks and let off the young birds, which is quite enough proof that driving is not an automatic selection of old cocks. ”