Reading the Regency

Transport - The Horse part 1

"He had three horses of his own, but not one that would carry a woman. Two of them were hunters; the third, a useful road-horse: this third he resolved to exchange for one that his cousin might ride; he knew where such a one was to be met with; and having once made up his mind, the whole business was soon completed. The new mare proved a treasure; with a very little trouble she became exactly calculated for the purpose, and Fanny was then put in almost full possession of her."
[Chapter 4, Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen]

Horses were indispensable for land-based transport at this time. Until public railways appeared in 1825, horses were the main means of travelling any distance, while also providing options for exercise, socialising, entertainment and sport.

Horses were the "engine" for all forms of carriage transport, in teams of two, four or six. They also pulled the plough on a farm, and drays or carts to deliver goods and parcels.

You might think that the droppings from all those horses would create an awful smell, and you'd be right. But the smell was so common, in the town as well as the country, that even the most gently-bred young ladies wouldn't have noticed or been offended by it.

Note: For readers who live in rural areas, or own a horse, I appreciate some of the following information may seem very basic. This chapter is intended primarily for the modern town or city-dweller with little experience of horses.

Horse terms and descriptions

"CAPITAL CHESTNUT GELDING, got by Diomede, 15 hands and a half high, five years old, he is complete master of 20 stone."
[The Times, 2nd February 1811]

Writers used many ways to describe a horse, some of which we may not all be familiar with today. These descriptions included its physical height, the weight it could carry when being ridden, its colour, age, or the work the horse was capable of. A horse might also be described by its pedigree.

In certain areas, such as horse racing or the breeding of hunters, a horse's family tree was very important, and was described in terms of the father, or Sire, and the mother, known as the Dam. This example comes from the first and second place results from the Oaks Stakes:

"FRIDAY-- The Oaks Stakes of 50gs. each, h. ft. for three-years-old fillies; 8st.; the last mile and half; thirty-one Subscribers.--The owner of the second received 100gs out of the Stakes.
Lord Derby's brown, Hermione, by Sir Peter Teazle; dam, Paulina, by Florizel, out of Captive, by Match em...... I
Mr Wilson's bay, Eliza, by Highflyer; dam, Augusta, by Eclipse, out of Hardwicke's dam by Herod ...... 2"
[The Sporting Magazine, vol 42, pub. 1813]

Here, the first placed horse was Hermione; her sire was Sir Peter Teazle, (named after a character in a play written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan) and her dam was Paulina. Paulina was herself bred from the mating of Florizel (her sire) and Captive. (her dam)

Highflyer, the sire of Mr Wilson's bay mentioned above, was a celebrated racehorse both during his life and after. He won all fourteen of the races he took part in and spent fifteen years at stud. Richard Tattersall, the noted horse auctioneer, bought him in 1779 for £2,500 and earned £15,000 a year from him in stud fees and the sale of his progeny. Highflyer was sire to 469 winning racehorses.

Thoroughbreds were horses that had the blood of Arabian, Spanish or Turkish horses in their ancestry. These Thoroughbred horses had been imported from the continent since Tudor times, at considerable expense. Through careful breeding and selection, their bloodlines flowed through most hunters and racehorses during this time.