Horse-drawn Trams In Operation

A horse-drawn vehicle is a piece of equipment pulled by one or more horses. These vehicles typically have two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers or a load. They were once common worldwide, but they have mostly been replaced by automobiles and other forms of self-propelled transport but are still in use today.

General

Horses were domesticated circa 2000 BCE. Before that oxen were used. Historically, a wide variety of arrangements of horses and vehicles have been used, from chariot racing, which involved a small vehicle and four horses abreast, to horsecars or trollies, which used two horses to pull a car that was used in cities before electric trams were developed.

A two-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle is a cart (see various types below, both for carrying people and for goods). Four-wheeled vehicles have many names – one for heavy loads is most commonly called a wagon. Very light carts and wagons can also be pulled by donkeys (much smaller than horses), ponies or mules. Other smaller animals are occasionally used, such as large dogs, llamas and goats (see draught animals). Heavy wagons, carts and agricultural implements can also be pulled by other large draught animals such as oxen, water buffalo, yaks or even camels and elephants.

Vehicles pulled by one animal (or by animals in a single file) have two ''shafts'' that attach either side of the rearmost animal (the ''wheel'' animal or ''wheeler''). Two animals in single file are referred to as a ''tandem'' arrangement, and three as a ''randem''. Vehicles that are pulled by a pair (or by a team of several pairs) have a ''pole'' that attaches between the wheel pair. Other arrangements are also possible, for example, three or more abreast (a ''troika''), a wheel pair with a single lead animal (a "unicorn"), or a wheel pair with three lead animals abreast (a "pickaxe"). Very heavy loads sometimes had an additional team behind to slow the vehicle down steep hills. Sometimes at a steep hill with frequent traffic, such a team would be hired to passing wagons to help them up or down the hill. Horse-drawn carriages have been in use for at least 3,500 years.

Two-wheeled vehicles are balanced by the distribution of weight of the load (driver, passengers, and goods) over the axle, and then held level by the animal – this means that the shafts (or sometimes a pole for two animals) must be fixed rigidly to the vehicle's body. Four-wheeled vehicles remain level on their own, and so the shafts or pole are hinged vertically, allowing them to rise and fall with the movement of the animals. A four-wheeled vehicle is also steered by the shafts or pole, which are attached to the front axle; this swivels on a ''turntable'' or "fifth wheel" beneath the vehicle.

From the 15th century drivers of carts were known as carmen, and in London were represented by the Worshipful Company of Carmen. In 1890 there were 13,800 companies in the United States in the business of building carriages pulled by horses. By 1920, only 90 such companies remained.

Basic types

File:Driving Competion (3716743220).jpg, Cart - Two wheels, one horse
File:Horse driving at Stiegl 2011 11.jpg, Carriage - Four wheels
File:Pair of percherons.jpg, Wagon - Four wheels, agricultural or delivery
File:Final Judging of the Coaching Marathon (3716748680) (cropped).jpg, Coach - Multiple passengers and horses
File:London omnibus in 1865.jpg, Omnibus - Urban transport for numerous passengers

Passenger vehicles

* Barouche: an elegant, high-slung, open carriage with a seat in the rear of the body and a raised bench at the front for the driver, a servant.
* Berlin: A four-wheeled covered carriage developed in the 17th century.
* Brake: Originally ''break'', a heavy four-wheeled carriage frame for breaking horses, later several passenger vehicles built on the same framework and size.
* Britzka: A long, spacious carriage of four wheels, pulled by two horses.
* Brougham: A specific, light four-wheeled carriage, circa mid-19th century.
* Buckboard: A very simple four-wheeled wagon, circa the early 19th century.
* Buggy: a light, open, four-wheeled carriage, often driven by its owner.
* Cabriolet: A two-wheel carriage with a folding hood.
* Calash or Calèshe: see ''barouche'': A four-wheeled, shallow vehicle with two double seats inside, arranged vis-à-vis so that the sitters on the front seat faced those on the back seat.
* Cape cart: A two-wheeled four-seater carriage drawn by two horses and formerly used in South Africa.
* Cariole: A light, small, two- or four-wheeled vehicle, open or covered, drawn by a single horse.
* Carriage: in the late eighteenth century, roughly equivalent to the modern word "vehicle" alker It later came to be restricted to "passenger vehicle" and even to "private, enclosed passenger vehicle" ritannica This last is the sense adopted by the linked article.
* Carryall: A type of carriage used in the United States in the 19th century. It is a light, four-wheeled vehicle, usually drawn by a single horse and with seats for four or more passengers.
* Chaise: A light two- or four-wheeled traveling or pleasure carriage, with a folding hood or calash top for one or two people.
* Charabanc: A larger wagon pulled by multiple horses.
* Cidomo: a form of horse-drawn carriage popular in the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia.
* Clarence: A closed, four-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle with a projecting glass front and seats for four passengers inside.
* Coach: A large, usually closed, four-wheeled carriage with two or more horses harnessed as a team, controlled by a coachman.
* Coupé: The horse-drawn carriage equivalent of a modern coupe automobile.
* Curricle: A smart, light two-wheeled chaise or "chariot", large enough for the driver and a passenger and usually drawn by a carefully matched pair of horses.
* Diligence: a French stagecoach. The 19th-century ones came in three sizes, ''La petite diligence'', ''La grande diligence'' and ''L'impériale''.
* Dog cart: a sprung cart used for transporting a gentleman, his loader, and his gun dogs.
* Dos-à-dos
* Drag: a coach used for pleasure or driving clubs (after the era of coaches for mail and passenger transport)
* Droshky or Drozhki: A low, four-wheeled open carriage used especially in Russia.
* Equipage