2^6 COCK HORSE HARNESS CH. XI 



opens when the tongue is pushed open (Fig. 117), 

 and are thus hooked into the chain ; they are very 

 likely to pinch the fingers when put- 

 ting- them on, and are not so strong 

 ^ G II7 as the hooks shown in Fig. 115. 



Cock Horse Harness. — Sometimes, on a road 

 where a stiff hill has to be surmounted, an extra 

 horse, usually called a 'cockhorse,'* ridden by a 

 man, is required. A good pattern of cock horse 

 harness is shown in Plate XXIV. The riding saddle 

 has one wide girth of leather or web. The upper 

 eye of the tug-buckle has a short strap and buckle 

 sewed into it, which buckles on one of the usual 

 saddle girth straps under the flap. 



There being no necessity for changing the length 

 of a cock horse trace, it is better to make it in one 

 piece from the draught-eye to the bar. There is 

 then no buckle under the saddle-flap, where it is 

 always a discomfort to the rider. A simple loop is 

 sewed under the flap to support the trace, and the 

 false belly-band, which is of no use, is omitted. The 

 trace should be 6 ft. 6 in. long, from collar to bar. 



* John Bellexden Ker says, ' Ghack-horse, now cock-horse, 

 'literally fool-horse, in the sense of one who lets another ride him. 

 ' The cock-horse among school-boys, is the one who is fool enough 

 'to carry another astride on his back.' Archeology of Nursery 

 Rhymes, vol. i. p. 274. Ghack, according to Ker, is old Dutch. 

 Gek is fool in modern Dutch. Ker's derivations are often fanciful ; 

 this is given merely as a matter of curiosity. 



