I02 THE COACHING ERA 



Cross, determined not to be beaten, took his re- 

 fra£lory charge down to the canal and had him harnessed 

 behind two other horses who were towing a barge. The 

 new pupil immediately threw himself down, but as the 

 other horses kept steadily on he was unable to remain 

 there, and in his struggles to retain his favourite position 

 he eventually rolled off the towing-path and into the 

 water. Finding that if he adhered to his usual plan 

 of lying down he would assuredly be drowned, he 

 scrambled back on to the towing-path, and it was a 

 surprised and bitterly disillusioned horse who walked 

 sedately behind the other two, and did his fair share of 

 the work for a couple of miles. The ordeal by fire and 

 water made a reformed charadler of him, and he became a 

 coach horse of most exemplary charadler, to the intense 

 astonishment of all coachmen and stable-boys who had 

 previously been honoured with his acquaintance. 



Hunters generally worked well in a coach, but their 

 ruling passion was too strong to be denied, and the 

 sound of a huntsman's horn caused them to break out 

 into instant rebellion. A leader in the Dover coach 

 completely lost her head when hounds crossed the road 

 in front of her, and so bitterly did she feel the indignity 

 of her position, and so determined was she to follow the 

 hunt at all costs, that she instantly set to work to kick 

 herself free of coach, harness, and companions, and would 

 undoubtedly have accomplished her obje6l and overset 

 the coach if the guard and passengers had not managed 

 to jump down and release her. 



In 1807 the Liverpool mail was changing horses at 



