Horse Drawn Carriages

You may have enjoyed the priciest of vehicles, but a horse drawn carriage ride has its own pleasure. A horse drawn carriage has always been a royal vehicle. It is still an esteemed vehicle in various parts of the world. However, many of you, devotees of ultra modern age of next generation vehicles might really need to know about a horse drawn carriage.

A horse drawn carriage is a four-wheeled horse drawn private passenger vehicle. Often drawn by one, or two, or more horses, a horse drawn carriage was often used by the members of royal families or noble ancestries to travel in yore. The idea of a horse drawn carriage most probably developed from the horsecarts used by Romans in the first centuries BC, and horsecarts of the Middle-Ages.

Horse drawn carriage is believed to be invented in Hungary in the Fifteenth Century. It is said that a horse drawn carriage was built to carry a Hungarian Princess to her wedding, but that horse drawn carriage was without steering and it needed to be dragged sideways to turn. Later, the front axle was mounted on a turntable to provide steering to a horse drawn carriage. Suspension systems came next.

Blaise Pascal invented the first public horse-drawn carriage service in 1662. The horse-drawn carriage service had regular route, schedule, and fare system. Designed around 1670 for the Elector of Brandenburg, Berlin became very popular horse drawn carriage in England in the 18th century. Most of the technical problems of horse drawn carriage were over by the early nineteenth century. The improvement in the road networks contributed a lot in making horse drawn carriage the most popular and most comfortable vehicle.

The early 19 th century witnessed many developments in horse-drawn carriage that remained the primary mode of short-distance personal transportation for many years, particularly between 1865 and 1915, in the countries such as the United States , the United Kingdom , and Canada . At that time, horseback riding, which required more specific skill than a horse-drawn carriage, was less popular.

The major developments and improvements in horse drawn carriage took place in the springs, the way of mounting body on the springs, and the manner of connecting the axles, springs, body, and shaft. In the 19th century, elliptical springs were used in horse drawn carriage, and leaf springs came in use later.

Since the development of the first horse drawn carriage, many types of horse drawn carriages have been developed. Arthur Ingram's Horse Drawn Vehicles since 1760 in Color lists 325 horse drawn carriages. Some of the widely known horse drawn carriages include Barouche, Berlin, britzka, buggy, Cabriolet, Calash, Cariole, Carryall, Chaise, Chariot, Clarence, Croydon, Curricle, Dray, Four-in-hand, Gig, Hansom or Hansom cab, Herdic, jaunting car or outside car, Landau, Mail coach, Park Drag, Phaeton, Post chaise, Sulky, Stagecoach, Tilbury, and Victoria.

CHAISE/POST CHAISE , a horse-drawn carriage with the driver riding postillion, a raised coachbox at the front from where the coachman drove the carriage became popular in British and French territories in the 18th and early 19th centuries. HERDIC , a type of horse-drawn carriage, was invented by Peter Herdic of Williamsport , Lycoming County , Pennsylvania in the United States in 1881. Herdic was designed as passenger vehicles, and, in particular, for use in public transportation.

BUGGY , a small lightweight carriage drawn by a single horse, became very popular in the United States from 1865 and 1915. It was the most common means of transport; it could cost as little as $25 to $50. CARRYALL, a light, four-wheeled vehicle, usually drawn by a single horse, was also a horse drawn carriage used in the United States in the 19th century. It was built and designed to carry four passengers.

BAROUCHE developed as a fashionable type of horse drawn carriage in the 19th century. CABRIOLET was designed and developed in France in the early 19th century. Originally known as the Hansom Safety Cab , HANSOM or HANSOM CAB was a kind of horse drawn carriage that was first designed and patented in 1834 by Joseph Hansom, an architect from Hinckley, Leicestershire , England .

JAUNTING CAR or OUTSIDE CAR , Irish form of the sprung cart, was a horse drawn carriage that was popular mode of transportation in 19th Century Dublin . It was popularized by Valentine Vousden in a song by that name. LANDAU was a lightweight open horse drawn carriage on elliptical springs. It was invented in the 18th century, and it named after the city of Landau in the Rhenish Palatinate, French at the time, where it was first produced.

STAGECOACH was a four-wheeled enclosed Dickensian horse-drawn carriage of the 19 th century. SULKY , a lightweight two-wheeled, single-seat racing cart, was patented in Australia in the 1980s. It gained popularity in United States , Australia , Canada and New Zealand . VICTORIA was an elegant horse-drawn carriage, possibly based on a Phaeton made for King George IV. It became very popular amongst wealthy families.

The Europeans continued to use horse-drawn carriage for long-distance traveling till the advent of automobiles. After the automobiles came into use, horse drawn carriage riding developed an upper-class sport in Britain and America . A gentleman would take pleasure in taking a ride with his gorgeous woman taking the reins of a horse drawn carriage that was once driven by a professional coachman. Riding a horse drawn carriage developed a popular fashion and there developed a wide variety of horse-drawn carriages.

Horse-drawn carriage is a very popular sport nowadays. The sport is regulated by the FEI (Federation Equestre Internationale), and often there are World Championships including Single Horse Championships, Horse Pairs Championships, Four-in-Hand Championships, and Four-in-Hand competition at the World Equestrian Games, held every four years.

You can buy a horse drawn carriage from any of horse drawn carriage manufacturers producing a wide range of carriages, and you can find horse drawn carriage manufacturer in your city. You can also buy your horse drawn carriage online. You can find a number of online stores selling horse drawn carriage online, but you should buy you carriage from a reliable and a well reputed online store. You may also get your horse drawn carriage built on order.