A team of horses or a single horse is usually used to pull a horse drawn vehicle. There was a time when the world transport industry was dominated by these vehicles. This means that they were used in every place. Nowadays, self-propelled transport has taken over and replaced horses almost entirely. A carriage can either have four or two wheels.
When these carriages have two wheels, they are referred to using the term a cart. On the other hand, when they have four wheels, they are referred to as wagons. There are wagons for transporting people and for transporting goods. Wagons are usually bigger in size and are in most cases meant for the transportation of loads. The use of other smaller animals to draw wagons and carts is possible too.
Ponies, mules, and donkeys are among the small animals that can be used. Compared to horses, these creatures are much smaller. They are used to pull very light loads. Much smaller animals like goats, llamas, and large dogs are also used in some cases. The smaller animals have to be used in groups in order to be effective.
When the vehicle is pulled by a single animal or animals placed in a single profile, two shafts are used. The two shafts attach to either side of the rearmost animal in the arrangement. The rearmost animals is referred to as the wheeler or the wheel animal. When the animals placed in a single profile are two, the term tandem is used to refer to them. On the other hand, the term randem is used for three animals in a single profile.
At times, one or many pairs of animals are used for this job. In such cases, poles are used for attaching between the wheel pair. Similar to a single profile arrangement, the term wheeler pair is used in reference to the rearmost pair of animals in this case. Other arrangements like unicorn, pickaxe, and troika also exist.
In a unicorn, the animals are arranged in a pair, but there is a single lead animal in the arrangement. In a troika, three or four animals are arranged abreast. Lastly, in a pickaxe, there is a wheel pair with three animals used as lead animals abreast. Sometimes back, when the load was too heavy, it was possible to include an additional team of animals behind the carriage.
The animals that were included behind the carriage served the purpose of slowing the carriage when it reaches a steep landscape. There are those who began specializing in this activity and started waiting for wagons at places with steep slopes to help them. They had animals that they used to provide additional support to wagons going downhill or uphill.
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