Saddles and Harness

In an age where cowboys, Indians, outlaws, and lawmen roamed the rolling plains of the Western United States, there was a distinct fashion and style best suited to a lifestyle of horses, dust, and hard work.  While the Native American Indians had their own style of riding horses, most of the settlers adorned spurs, chaps, cowboy hats, and duster coats.  These items were suited for the environmental conditions as well as spending hours each day on horseback.  As time passed, these standards of Western wear were remade and introduced to the mainstream public, some of which have become popular apparel even in modern times, like the cowboy hat. 

Though the old days of the West will never return, you can still celebrate the ruggedness and tradition of exploration that ushered the Old West into the history books with Western apparel. 

If you own a horse drawn carriage you’re probably aware that the traditional carriage lanterns are now available in both candle and electric operated.  While electric operated carriage lamps receive a nod for convenience, it is my opinion that a candle lamp is still the better choice.  Horse drawn carriages exist today as a less efficient mode of travel, but are appealing because of their traditional role in culture.  Replacing a candlelit lamp with an electric lamp doesn’t make much sense when considering that horse drawn carriages are used today only to offer occupants a sense of traditional luxury and refinement. 

Though it takes more effort to maintain candle carriage lamps, it is worth it to preserve the original and unique appeal of horse drawn travel.

Prior to the nineteenth century, carriages were mostly used as functional transportation for the European upper class.  However, in the mid nineteenth century, coachbuilders, along with carpenters, painters, seamstresses, and various artisans began building carriages with artistic flair.  During this time, the horse drawn carriage went from simple transportation, to families possessing multiple carriages for special occasions like weddings and funerals, while having other carriages for display, or some to function as fast, light travel.

Nearing the twentieth century, carriage driving, or ‘coaching’ became more of an upper-class sport than an efficient travel method.  Around this time both the steam locomotive and the automobile were becoming more mainstream, and thus transportation by carriage was no longer needed.

A forecart is a small cart that carries a person, people, and cargo.  Forecarts are often used to train draft and carriage horses, coming in a variety of sizes that can accommodate even ponies and miniature horses.  Forecarts may have the ability to be configured for 1-4 horses and some brands, such as the popular Pioneer forecart, have the capacity to haul heavy equipment such as farm machinery in the back of the load.

Forecarts can also be used for exercising horses and just pleasure driving.  They have optional features, just as cars do, and can include features such as bench seats, fenders, and extra space for cargo.   There are also forecart safety and comfort features offered to prevent human passengers from falling forward or being kicked by the horses.

     What could be more charming than arriving to your wedding or other special event in a plush horse drawn carriage. The Vis-a-vis Wedding Carriage is the ideal horse drawn vehicle for this. The Vis-a-vis is also used for commercial carriage operations in big cities around the world. They can seat 4 passengers comfortable as well as 1 or 2 drivers. Most have a convertible top in case the weathert turns bad. Many also have cd players so soothing music can be played during the trip.

     These carriages may be pulled by one large horse or a team of 2 horses. Most have hydraulic brakes and lights for night use. The most well known maker of these carriages is Robert Carriages of Canada. Their fine Vis-a-vis are in commercial service worldwide.

     The Doctor’s Buggy takes us back to a time when life was simple. The town Doctor would be summoned and arrive in a small one seat buggy suitable for 2 passengers. After arrival he would take is bag off the back and dutifully care for his patient.

     Today the Doctor’ Buggy is used in parades, local transportation, and for quiet evening rides around the countryside with a loved one.

With the retractable top and plush interior it is a pleasure to ride in wherever you go.

     The Easy Entry Pony Cart is available in mini/pony size and full horse size. These carts are lightweight, economical, and fun. The mini carts have 20″ wheels and 48″ shafts and the  horse size carts have 24″ wheels and 80″ shafts.

     They are typically used for light excercising and training and this is the type of cart that many new horse drivers start out with. They are called easy entry because the sides are open making it easy to step in and out of the cart.

Some horse drawn carriages found in Celtic graves show hints that their platform was suspended in a frame, elastically. First century Romans used sprung wagons for overland journeys. With the decline of these civilizations these techniques almost disappeared.

In the Middle Ages all travelers who were not walking rode, save the elderly and the infirm. A trip in an unsprung cart over unpaved roads was not lightly undertaken. Closed carriages began to be more widely used by the upper classes in the 16th century. In 1601, a short-lived law was passed in England banning the use of carriages by men, it being considered effeminate. Better sprung vehicles were developed in the 17th century. New lighter and more fashionably varied conveyances, with fanciful new names, began to compete with one another from the mid-18th century. Coachbuilders cooperated with carvers, gilders, painters, lacquerworkers, glazers and upholsterers to produce not just the family’s state coach for weddings and funerals but light, smart fast comfortable vehicles for pleasure riding and display.

In British and French coaches, the coachman drove from a raised coachbox at the front. In Spain, the driver continued to ride one of the horses, as also in the 1939 state visit procession in Canada.

From the 1860s, few rich Europeans continued to use their posting coaches for long-distance travel: a first-class railway carriage was the faster modern alternative. Then, in the 1890s, just as automobiles came into use, “coaching” became an upper-class sport in Britain and America, where gentlemen would take the reins of the kinds of large vehicles of types generally driven by a professional coachman.