POLING-UP AND BREECHINGS. 203 



tie up their horses tighter than they would otherwise do, 

 to make safe. 



Much attention should be paid to the sound state of 

 the reins ; and as soon as a coachman perceives them 

 begin to wear thin — which they first do in those parts 

 which run through the terrets and the rings of the names, 

 he should take his knife and cut them directly. His 

 horse-keeper then must get them repaired, which, per- 

 haps, as is too often the case, he would otherwise neglect 

 to do. Some of the most dreadful accidents which have 

 happened on the road, have been occasioned by reins 

 breaking, when all command over horses is lost. This, 

 however, can only occur from carelessness, as it is not 

 in the power of any coachman, however strong, to break 

 them from his box, if they are sound and perfect. Indeed 

 I shall, in the course of my remarks on the road, take 

 occasion to show that forty-nine out of fifty of the 

 accidents which we hear of are the consequence of care- 

 lessness alone. Pole-pieces to coaches seldom break, 

 being, as I before observed, made of strong chainwork ; 

 but the neckings (straps), which confine the names at the 

 top of the collar, often give way from the same cause — 

 neglect ; as also do the throat-hasps (iron links) of the 

 names, to which the rings are attached that the pole 

 chains run through. Particular attention should be paid 

 to these points ; for, where there is no breeching used, 

 the stress on the necking is considerable ; and with 

 breeching, it is equally so on the throat-hasps and rings. 

 In night work accidents often happen from neckings 

 giving way, which sometimes cannot be perceived by 



