Many of us yearn for the horse and buggy days. The thought of trotting down the snowy roads in a 'one horse open sleigh' is a romantic one. As horse lovers, the thought of going place to place with our beloved horses is very appealing.
Photo: Getty ImagesThere are a couple of negatives however. If you're read the book "Black Beauty" by Anna Sewell, you'll know that the horse and buggy days were extremely hard on horses. Abuse, intentional and unintentional was common. Horses (and humans) worked long and hard.
There were also plenty of inconveniences and hazards for humans. I can't imagine trying to harness up a horse in frigid weather to get a sick child the the doctor. And accidents were pretty common. Historically Speaking: The dangers of the horse and buggy days are examined by Barbara Rimkunas on Seacoastonline.com. According to newspapers of the day, there were certain types of accidents that happened frequently--at least as frequently as car accidents and quite often involved bystanders as well.
Do You Yearn for The Days of Horse and Buggy? originally appeared on About.com Horses on Friday, January 7th, 2011 at 10:35:47.
