79 



whence it would seem that no fewer than 

 1,500 horses were used by the coach pro- 

 prietors on that route alone ; probably more, 

 as competition was keen and the speed 

 maintained was hard upon horseflesh. 



The average working life of a horse in 

 a fast road coach was about four years, 

 according to Nimrod. Hence the coach 

 proprietor found it necessary to renew one 

 fourth of his stud at a cost of from ^"25 to 

 ^45 per head every year. Mr. Chaplin, 

 who owned five "yards" in London in the 

 'thirties, had upwards of 1,300 horses at 

 work in various coaches on various roads, 

 and would therefore have been obliged to 

 purchase about i 1,37 5 worth of horses 

 every year. 



When the railway banished the coach 

 from the highroad, which it did with con- 

 siderable rapidity, these great coaching 

 studs were necessarily given up, and a 

 market for horses of the most useful stamp 

 disappeared. An eminent proprietor gave 

 the qualities required in a road coach-horse 

 for fast work as follows : " First requisite, 

 action ; second, sound legs and feet, with 

 power and breeding equal to the nature 

 and length of the ground he will work 

 upon ; third, good wind, without which the 



