366 HIGHWAYS AND HORSES. 



The pole of a coach should be made of carefully 

 selected ash, 9 feet long from splinter-bar, and 4>^ 

 inches deep at butt. A pole should always be stout and 

 strong, since the safety of the carriage to which it is 

 attached is entirely dependent upon it. Sometimes it 

 is well to strengthen it with iron, but if this is done,, 

 care should be taken that screws do not enter the pole,, 

 and so weaken it. The iron might be attached to the 

 pole by one or two thin bands encircling it. Captain 

 Cooper, when he had the Box Hill coach, was so 

 anxious to possess a light coach that he did all he 

 could to dispense with iron and reduce the weight, the 

 result of which was that his pole broke going down 

 the hill close by Burford Bridge, and he met with a 

 serious accident. 



When a pole breaks there are only two things to 

 do : one is to apply instantly a powerful brake to the 

 wheels, if you have such a thing fitted to the coach, 

 the other is to keep your wheelers going, so that 

 they may remain in front, and not be overrun by 

 the coach. No one can say exactly how one would 

 act under such circumstances ; if the pole were 

 merely to break, and the horses were to behave 

 like lambs, there is no doubt that a good coachman 

 would surmount the difficulty ; but it must be re- 

 membered when a pole breaks the foremost end of 

 the pole falls to the ground, and the bars and 

 broken piece of pole dangle about the leaders*" 

 heels, and hit their hocks ; naturally such an alarm- 

 ing condition of things frightens them out of their 

 wits, and makes them run away. It should always, 

 be remembered that the pole, and the axle, and 

 connections with the wheels, are the parts upon 

 which the safety of the coach and its occupants. 



