96 THE HORSE 



considered not good form to drive the genuine coacher 

 fast; yet it is none of our concern that the coacher is 

 sometimes used as a means of conspicuous display. As 

 the coach rolls through the parks with aristocratic slow- 

 ness, the turnout reveals to the onlookers the wealth of 

 the occupants, their freedom from harassing financial 

 solicitude and the enjoyable leisure which so often 

 comes to the American as the fruit of a strenuous suc- 

 cessful business career. 



Modern conditions make demands for two distinct 

 classes of high-priced horses. In a previous chapter the 

 trotter and the roadster have been fully treated, there- 

 fore we may devote all our attention to the coacher. 

 Bear in mind that these two classes of horses approach 

 each other closely, and even overlap in their less perfect 

 forms. 



The coacher, it has been said, should be above the 

 average height, with long, slim, flexible neck set on 

 the corner of the body and not on the end of it, like 

 a pig's. The neck should be all-embracing where it 

 joins the body, that both beauty and power to hold 

 the head high without fatigue may be secured. 

 Horses with good necks properly set, when moving 

 usually slack the check-rein, if not reined too high, 

 and will carry their heads loftily without being checked 

 up. Many an otherwise fine coacher, if checked high, 

 becomes a "star gazer," especially with an overdraw, 

 that is, extends the nose upward until the face is 

 nearly in a line with the neck; whereas, in a natural 

 and easy condition, the head should be carried nearly 

 at a right angle with the neck. It is really cUs- 



