Phaeton (1796)

PONEY, OR ONE-HORSE PHAETON. PLATE XXXVI.

A PAIR of ponies from twelve to thirteen hands high are about equal for draught with a horse of fifteen, and a phaeton of the same weight is equally adapted for either; excepting only, that each should be built of a proportioned height, for the advantage of both horse and driver. A low phaeton and a high horse, are equally as absurd as a high phaeton and a low horse, yet timid and infirm people prefer low phaetons; the infirm, because they are easy of access; and the timid, because they are more easy to escape from in time of danger, without considering that the danger often arises from not having a proper command of the horse, when any accident occurs to startle him. Those phaetons are frequently designed for one horse, or a pair of ponies, and sometimes for one or two horses alternately, a medium should then be observed in the building, that it be neither too high for the ponies, nor too heavy for the one horse; a pole and hafts are then necessary, the pole for the pair, as usual, and the shafts for the tingle horse; but the tingle horse should never be used without a breeching. Poney phaetons are pretty equipages, and are best adapted for parks only; for, by being so low, the passengers are much annoyed by the dust, issufed on the turnpike roads; and one-horse phaetons, where one horse only is kept, are much to be preferred to any two-wheeled carriage for safety and ease, but are heavier in draught; to allow for that, it ought to be built as light as possible to be safe with.