COACHING COMPETITION 99 



with it that he offered ^50 for the turn-out, but the 

 farmer rejedfed it with scorn. 



The greatly increased rate of speed at which the 

 coaches ran during the golden age of coaching, naturally 

 told considerably on the horses employed. Although 

 the stages were materially shortened, and the number of 

 horses used on a fast coach was at the rate of one for every 

 mile of the distance, it was not often that the period 

 of their usefulness exceeded three years. This did not 

 necessarily mean that they were worn out, but that they 

 were no longer equal to the pace the coach was timed at, 

 and which had to be kept accurately year in and year out, 

 irrespe6five of the state of the roads and weather. The 

 horseson theslower coacheslastedproportionatelylonger, 

 for it was the pace that told on them; one coach pro- 

 prietor in the provinces had a mare who went a hundred 

 miles a week in his coach for fourteen years, and at the 

 end of that time was still considered the best stager on 

 the road. 



The coach horses were well fed and cared for, and the 

 proprietors vied with each other as to who should 

 possess the best teams, especially those used for the first 

 stage out of London. The middle ground was not so well 

 horsed, and there was often considerable difficulty to 

 find coachmen willing to drive over those stages, where 

 they were often hard put to it to keep time with teams 

 possessing among them almost every vice to which equine 

 flesh is heir. The proverbial "Three blind 'uns and a 

 bolter," was by no means a mere fallacy, as likewise the 

 coachman's soothing remark that "there was only one 



