Can two horses pull more than twice as much as one horse?

It depends. An experienced team (pair) that gets along well and is trained correctly can pull well over twice what each horse can pull separately.

A green or ill-matched team can't pull much more what one of them can as they get in each other's way.

Why do sleighs have bells?

"Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way..."

Sleigh harnesses traditionally have bells on them - why? It's actually for a very obvious reason. A horse on soft snow pulling a sleigh doesn't always make enough noise for people to hear them coming.

And, of course, tradition.

Note the bells on the saddle there. (Image source Pete Markham via Wikimedia Commons).

Which side do carriage people put the taller horse?

Ideally, a properly matched pair of horses should be exactly the same height, but that was not always possible. A one or two inch height difference is not uncommon.

So, which side is the taller horse put?

Typically, if driving on the road, you want the taller horse to be towards the edge of the road - that way the camber will help the horses make up the difference. In other words, if you drive on the left side of the road, you put the taller horse on the left, and if on the right on the right.

If in doubt, the taller horse is put to the right - which apparently makes the pair easier to drive.

What is "putting to"?

To "put a horse to" means to harness it and hitch it to a vehicle. It's most often used in a descriptive context.

For example, "The bay cob was put to a handsome buggy."

Why do drivers wear aprons?

The answer is simple: When you're sitting behind horse(s) while driving them, they throw up dirt. So you wear an apron to protect your clothing from getting muddy. You might see people drive without an apron if the front of the carriage is high enough to provide enough protection.

In winter, wool aprons also help keep your feet warm.

What is a swing horse?

In a six or eight in hand (imagine that) the "swing" horses or "swing" teams are the teams in the middle, neither at the front nor the back.

What is a wheeler?

The wheeler is the horse or horses closest to the carriage - that is to say, closest to the wheels.

What is a leader?

Because I realized I forgot this one. In driving terms, a "leader" is the front horse or a member of the front pair.

What is a random hitch?

No, it's not a random number of horses. It's also sometimes spelled "randem" - it's three (or more) horses hitched in a line. Like the pickaxe, it is extremely hard to drive.

What is a pickaxe?

A pickaxe is generally a hitch of three horses in front and two in back. The term is also sometimes used to refer to a reverse unicorn - two horses in front and one in the back.

Pickaxes are considered an extremely tough hitch that should be left for professional drivers.

I wasn't even able to find a picture of one that I could use as they're so rare.

What is a unicorn (other than a horse with a horn)?

A unicorn is a driving configuration with two horses behind and one in front. It may be the most difficult configuration to drive and requires a very special lead horse (if you look at ads for driving horses, if the horse has experience leading a unicorn it will be mentioned).

It's also called "randem tandem" and was often used by farmers who needed to make tight turns - or if a coach needed to go somewhere and one member of the four-in-hand was lame. In some periods, also, driving unicorn was a way of showing off one's skill with the lines.

This unicorn rig is being inspected by a judge after completing an obstacle course (or before starting, I can't be sure). Unicorns are, these days, mostly seen in competition - as a way of showing off one's skill with the lines, of course. Image source Eponimm via Wikimedia Commons.

What is a tandem?

In the context of driving, a tandem is two horses hitched one in front of the other. It's considered one of the hardest configurations to drive.

Image source Les Meloures via Wikimedia Commons.

Why is a team of four horses in two pairs called a four-in-hand?

Because correctly, when you drive a team, you hold all of the reins (yes, all four sets) in one hand.

So, you have four horses in one hand, which rapidly contracts to "four-in-hand." (And no, I'm imagining it's not easy, although I've only ever driven a single myself).

The driver in this shot has the reins in the left hand but is "assisting" with his right hand - this is top British driver George Bowman. Image source, Vickusin via Wikimedia commons.

Why is driving more dangerous than riding?

I've mentioned this before - but driving, and even riding in a carriage, is actually more dangerous than riding a horse.

Why?

If a saddle horse panics, you may well fall off, or the horse may run you into something (I'm apparently not alone in having been clotheslined by a horse on an obstacle...ow). The horse may keep running and run into something or, worse, somebody.

But when a harness horse panics, they run off with a huge great vehicle attached to them. Youtube is full of videos of nasty carriage collisions, carriages being pulled into crowds, etc. If the carriage is what spooked the horse, they will keep running because oh my it's following me I need to get away. And if one tips, it's a lot worse than a horse falling on you (which I've also experienced).

What is a whippletree?

A whippletree is the bar you see at the back of a farm horse to which the plow or other piece of farm equipment is attached. It's also used for logging and hauling boats.

You can see the whippletree behind the horse's feet.

Image source: Malcolm Morley via Wikimedia Commons.

What is "fanning"?

Fanning is when a driving team is asked to go sideways, turning the cart in that way. It's used to turn large carts and teams in small spaces.

What is a four in hand?

A four in hand is four horses being driven in two pairs. It's also sometimes called a four up. (At agricultural shows you might see six ups, eight ups, or even more).

This Thomas Eakins painting shows a four in hand pulling a carriage on a nice day (hence why everyone's sitting on the roof).

Why Do Sleighs Have Bells?

Sleigh bells or jingle bells are attached to a carriage horse's harness to make a sound. They are traditionally worn by horses pulling sleighs for a simple reason - sleighs are very quiet. Without the bell, it might be hard to hear the sleigh coming. Then somebody might be run over.

Dog mushers also sometimes attach jingle bells to the collar of the lead dog for the same reason - so people can hear them coming.

You can clearly see the jingle bells, in this case secured to a strap around the horse's body. (Image source: Pete Markham via Wikimedia Commons).

What Does Harness Look Like?

This one's for the illustrators. I've seen some very inaccurate depictions of horses in harness, so I'm going to pull up some visual aids here and talk about it.

There are several kinds of horse harness. One of the big differences is whether a collar is used or not - collars provide a more effective pull, but are heavy on horses that might be asked to go fast.

Image source: Amanda Slater via Wikimedia Commons.

So, let's start with this. These are plow horses, although they are wearing "show" harness - probably for a plowing contest. The weight of the plow is settled on the collars around the horse's neck. The horse collar is a very efficient and comfortable (for the horse) way to have an equine pull weight. The stiff framework supporting the collar is called the "hames". The plow itself is attached to chains which are connected to the sides of the collar. Chains are used because their weight helps them fall into place better than straps or ropes. The chains run through a strap around the horse's body, which in harness terms is the "saddle". A strap along the back supports britching, and there's also a strap between the horse's legs. All of this is to keep the saddle and collar from slipping. The decorated brass discs are called "horse brasses" and are an old British tradition. The blinkers help keep the horses from spooking and being distracted.

Image source: Rooh23 via Wikimedia Commons.

This is a horse pulling a cart in collar harness - you can see the same collar and a similar bridle, but this particular harness has no saddle. Instead, it has two straps over the back which support the shafts, which are then also secured to the collar. Again, the weight of the cart rests primarily on the collar. The rest is all to stop stuff moving and, in this case, to prevent the shafts from moving up and down.

Image source: Adam Jones via Wikimedia Commons.

A rather more typical horse-drawn carriage - note the short chains between the end of the shaft and the collar (which is also a much lighter collar). This harness does have the more typical collar. As this is a double, the single shaft runs between the horses - this is typical.

This is "breast" or "breast collar" harness - the weight of the cart is supported on a strap across the horse's chest. This kind of harness weighs less than a collar and is easier to put on, but isn't efficient or comfortable for heavy weight. In this picture, note the lack of breeching - instead, there's a crupper which runs under the horse's tail. Also note that both this team and the one above appear to be wearing bonnets - those are to keep the flies out of the horses' ears.

Either of these would be correct for a typical horse-drawn carriage pulled by a pair of horses.

Image source: Vickusin, via Wikimedia Commons.

This shows a four-in-hand in modern competition. Here, the shafts are on the outside of the back pair of horses, called the "wheel" pair. There are no shafts next to the front or "lead" pair. Note the strap holding the lead pair together - this is to keep them straight and at the correct distance from each other without shafts in the equation. The driver here also has two sets of reins or "lines" - one for each pair of horses. This allows him to turn the front pair separately from the rear pair when making tight turns. This sort of setup would be correct for a stage coach or large carriage with four (or more) horses.

Image source: Marjon Kruik via Wikimedia Commons.

A slightly different setup, also correct. The shaft is between the wheel pair and the horses are rigged out with breast collars rather than neck collars.

Image source: Benny Mazur via Wikimedia Commons.

When four horses isn't enough. A six-up of draft horses pulling a wagon - this would be a correct setup for large scale farm deliveries. The shaft runs between the second and third pairs of horses. (The middle pair is called the swing pair). Hitches of eight or even ten horses are known. Just add horsepower...

Image source: Quistnix via Wikimedia Commons.

This is a more unusual setup - a tandem of ponies. It also shows very classic britching very well on the first pony.

And another less common arrangement - a four abreast of Norwegian Fjords. Image source: Pete Markham via Wikimedia Commons.

Image source: Jon via Wikimedia Commons.

Today we design cars with a barrier between the chauffeur and the inhabitants so they can talk freely. This is how they used to do it. This arrangement is called "postilion" and the driver, instead of being in the carriage, is riding one of the horses. The downside - you needed one rider for each pair of horses, and postilion was mostly abandoned - but is still occasionally used, as seen here, by the British royal family. But if your characters don't want the coachman to overhear them...

Image source: Jorge Royan via Wikimedia Commons.

This is racing harness and is quite different! The shafts are secured to the saddle and the "collar" is a single strap around the horse's neck with a strap between its legs. There are two sets of shafts. (Again, note the ear bonnet). The cart being pulled here is called a "bicycle sulky" and weighs no more than 40 pounds, so there's no need for heavy straps on the harness. This kind of harness is only seen in modern harness racing.

And last one, I promise:

This is actually a training setup. The saddle and britches are present and the lines are tucked through the saddle, but there's no collar. This setup is used for "ground driving" a horse - which is done as part of training before putting a driving horse to a cart and also used by some people to train riding horses.