Breaks are so commonly used in India, that a few hints may prove useful.
As a rule those in use are so low that the horses’ quarters are in front of the footboard instead of being under it, and the driver is consequently too far from his work. In modern breaks the driving seat and boot are built almost exactly like those of a coach, where the footboard is well over the horses’ quarters. That portion of the footboard which comes over the roller bolts should be about five feet from the ground, which gives room for the horses underneath.
The inside seats should be at least six feet long, so as to take four people comfortably on each side; a second seat behind the driving seat as on a coach can be added, and if necessary can be made removable. This gives three extra seats looking to the front, the occupants of which will not suffer so much from the dust as if they were inside.
The body can be hung on four elliptical springs, with a cross spring on the hind axle, or on two elliptical springs in front with two side springs and a cross spring behind. The latter method is to be preferred.
|Break measurements.| The approximate dimensions are as follows (see fig. 40): height of body from ground, 3 ft. 6 in.; driving seat without cushions, 7 ft.; front wheels, 3 ft. 2 in.; hind wheels, 4 ft. 6 in.; length of pole, 10 ft. 6 in.; weight about 12 cwt.; track, 5 ft.
CHAPTER IV
CURRICLE AND CAPE-CART.
When it is desired to drive a pair, but owing to the expense, lack of carriage accommodation, or other reasons, the purchase of an extra carriage is inconvenient, an ordinary dog-cart can be fitted with a pole and adapted for a pair of ponies or horses at a very small cost. In such a case however the pole of the dog-cart, having nothing to support it with the ordinary double harness, would fall to the ground, and it would therefore be necessary to adopt one of the two following methods of draught:—
|Curricle.| 1. That known as Curricle, in which a bar passing from one horse to the other over the pads supports the pole by means of a strap or brace.
|Cape-cart.| 2. The system employed in what is generally known as the Cape-cart, in which the supporting bar passes through a ring near the end of the pole, and is held up by straps passing over the horses’ necks.