It is generally supposed it is in whipping a leader that neatness of execution is more especially displayed. It is, however, quite a mistake to suppose that it is in the power of a coachman to punish a leader with the single, as he can a wheel-horse with the double thong. No doubt, however, the blow from the loose thong falls very sharp, as it falls on a tender part--the inside of the thigh. As the off-leader presents himself more fully to the right hand of the coachman than his partner does, the horse that is the less free of the two is generally put on that side. There are but two ways of hitting an off-leader: one, by letting the thong fall gently over his neck, or just behind his pad, when his driver merely wishes to refresh his memory, and let him know that he has a whip in his hand; and the other, when he wants to hit him sharply, by striking him with the point of the thong just under his bar. The hard hitters of the old school never conceived they had done the latter effectually, unless they struck their horse twice at least, if not three times, the last stroke always ending in a draw. As this word “draw” is peculiar to the road, it must be explained to such as may not exactly comprehend it. Suppose a coachman to hit his off-leader three times. The first two blows are given, as it were, under-handed--that is to say, the hand is lowered so as to admit of the thong going under the bar the first two strokes. When the third or last is given, the point of the elbow is thrown outwards, so as to incline the thong inwards, which brings it up to the coachman’s hand after the stroke, it generally falling across his breast, which would not be the case were it not for the draw. Another advantage also attends the draw: a thong so thrown very seldom hangs in the bars, and nothing is more uncoachman-like than to hit a leader above his bar. A horse’s mouth should always be felt before his coachman hits him. Hitting the near leader with neatness and effect is the most difficult part of the use of the whip. There are two ways of doing it: one, by two common strokes and the draw; and the other by a sort of back-handed stroke, which is a very neat one, and sufficiently severe, but it does not bring the thong so immediately up to the coachman’s hand as the drawn stroke does. In the back-handed stroke, the wrist describes an exact figure of eight, and the arm cannot be kept, as before, quite still. In the other method of hitting, the coachman’s arm is brought about opposite his chin, the first two blows proceeding from the wrist alone; but in the third, or the draw, the hand descends, the elbow is thrown outwards, and by two jerks of the arm, which it is difficult to describe on paper, the draw is effected, and the thong comes, as before stated, across the coachman’s breast, so as to enable him to catch it instantly.