5o6 



The Book of the Horse. 



neat slim old man, but must be in a very correct costume, or on state occasions by two 

 grooms. In former times great ladies, like royalty, were attended by outriders, mounted on 

 ponies with harness bridles of the same colour and stamp as the pair in harness ; but the 

 custom is so nearly extinct that when it occurs it creates a sensation. 



The park phaeton is one of the most expensive carriages in use, not excepting the 

 pair-liorse victoria, as well as one of the most delightful ; because, although a groom replaces 

 the gorgeous coachman and the attendant Jeames, the horses or ponies must be of the 

 most expensive character. Of whatever size, they must have quality, action, a proud carriage, 

 irreproachable heads, necks, and tails ; in a word, the symmetry of the ideal Arab, with 

 the true action that "steps and goes." They must be a perfect match in colour, height, 



■---i^>«^-F^ 



PAKK PHAETON. 



and action ; admirably broken, yet full of courage. In a word, they must have the ap- 

 pearance of fiery dragons, with the docility of trained chargers, and, while they step freely 

 up to the bit, over the ground, shaking their long manes, must not pull an ounce. The long 

 parasol-whip should be borne, like a flag, aloft, for ornament, not for use. It is difficult to 

 say which is more detestable, to see a lady obliged to flog her horses along, or pulled out of 

 that graceful seat, which is part of the show, by a pair of tearing brutes, very fit perhaps for 

 a man's sporting phaeton, but quite out of place in a lady's hands. 



For country use, a park phaeton may, without any material sacrifice of elegance, be built 

 more capaciously, so as to hold something on a railway-station journey, with higher wheels, 

 and fitted with a pair of good lamps. Although ponies are very well in Hyde Park, in 

 country lanes a pair of fifteen-hand horses have a more imposing appearance, which has some- 

 thing to do with safety on a road where market carts and traps are liable to be met in the 

 dark. Park phaetons grew out of the pretty pony phaeton invented for George IV. in his 

 declining years, when he lived at the cottage by Virginia Water. 



