280 THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



Jack Webber. "Choked him in his collar, you were 

 going to say. Being hung up, in coaching phraseology, 

 means being brought to a standstill, from one cause or 

 another. I have never been quite fast ; but having had 

 my share of high-blowers and soft-hearted ones, I have 

 now and then found it difficult to keep my time. With 

 horses of this description, I have always found it answer 

 to keep them from their collar, and let them only carry 

 their harness, for a few hundred yards, when they recover 

 themselves. A little watching and nursing was necessary 

 at all times on our road, as we were not capitally horsed." 



Goodall. " How very fat some of the horses are which 

 run out of London." 



Jack Webber. " So much the better ; good flesh is not 

 an obstacle to going the pace ; and no horses on the road 

 look so well as what are called the London horses ; their 

 stables are warm ; they have the best of hay and corn, 

 and are under the eye of a sharp-eyed foreman, who knows 

 his business well." 



Frank Raby. " I suppose, Jack, you are all for the 

 long wheel- reins ?" 



Jack Webber. " No one, south of Trent, is now seen 

 driving with any other. They are much the safest and 

 most business-like : the mouths of wheel-horses cannot be 

 felt as they should be felt, with the short wheel-rein." 



Hargrave. " Do you think it is injurious to a hunter to 

 drive him occasionally in light harness ? " 



Jack Webber. "By no means, provided his legs and 

 feet are good ; much better do that than send him to grass, 

 to become full of bad flesh." 



Somerby. " I am no coachman, but I often go from 

 Melton to London on the box of the mail, and one thing 

 puzzles me. I often see the traces of awheel-horse appear 

 slack, and still the coachman is satisfied with the working 

 of the horse. How is that, Mr. Webber ? " 



Jack Webber. " I will explain it in two words. If a trace 

 be twisted, it will never appear to be ' taut,' as the sailors 

 say ; but a coachman knows when a horse is at work, by 

 a certain tension of his frame." 



Hargrave. "Will you tell me the best way to put 

 horses into harness the first time?" 



Jack Webber. " You mean double harness." 



Hargrave. " I do." 



Jack Webber. " Then I will give you the directions 



