Before tractors or steam engines arrived on the farm, horses did all the heavy work. From spring plowing to the fall harvest, the mighty draft horse powered farms across the Midwest. Relied upon to complete a multitude of tasks, including towing threshing machines and plows, hauling milk to the local cheese factory, and pulling the family buggy to church each Sunday, these animals were at the center of farm life, cementing the bond between human and horse. Horse-Drawn Days: A Century of Farming with Horses captures stories of rural life at a time when a team of horses was a vital part of the farm family. Author Jerry Apps pairs lively historic narrative with reminiscences about his boyhood on the family farm in Wisconsin to paint a vivid picture of a bygone time. Featuring fascinating historic photos, ads, and posters, plus contemporary color photos of working horses today, Horse-Drawn Days evokes the majesty of these animals and illuminates the horse’s role in our country’s early history and our rural heritage.

Over 250 authentic royalty-free depictions of lunch wagons, ice wagons, freight wagons, fire engines, stagecoaches, hearses, many other vintage vehicles, shown in detailed engravings and photographs, culled from rare trade periodicals.

This guide to the identification of old farm equipment has been assembled to help those who have grown up since the horse-to-tractor farming conversion identify the myriad of horse-powered farm implements still to be found. The identification process is simple and quick, and is based on the presence or absence of such readily recognizable features as wheels and teeth. Photographs and identifying features of essentially all of the types of equipment used in the United States during the early part of the twentieth century are included.

Before tractors or steam engines arrived on the farm, horses did all the heavy work. From spring plowing to the fall harvest, the mighty draft horse powered farms across the Midwest. Relied upon to complete a multitude of tasks, including towing threshing machines and plows, hauling milk to the local cheese factory, and pulling the family buggy to church each Sunday, these animals were at the center of farm life, cementing the bond between human and horse. Horse-Drawn Days: A Century of Farming with Horses captures stories of rural life at a time when a team of horses was a vital part of the farm family. Author Jerry Apps pairs lively historic narrative with reminiscences about his boyhood on the family farm in Wisconsin to paint a vivid picture of a bygone time. Featuring fascinating historic photos, ads, and posters, plus contemporary color photos of working horses today, Horse-Drawn Days evokes the majesty of these animals and illuminates the horse’s role in our country’s early history and our rural heritage.

Features photographs of the private collection of horse-drawn commercial vehicles started by J. Shumway Marshall and continued by his son Sut and Margaret Marshall, located in Conway, New Hampshire and Fryeburg, Maine.

The first edition of Horse Drawn Sleighs proved so helpful to those who wished to build sleighs, or those who were just interested in them and wished to study them in detail, that Susan Green has compiled a Second Edition. The second edition, like the first, is a book of specially selected articles from three of the outstanding carriage journals of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In this edition, however, there are many more illustrations, and more working drawings for builders. There is a glossary of terms for sleighs and sleigh parts, and a new section with essays on early sleighs and sleighing. The book covers almost every imaginable type of sleigh: Albany (or swell-body), Portland cutters, speeding cutters, multi-passenger, box-body, traps and sporting sleighs, Canadian, rumble-seat, cabriolets, vis-a-vis, closed-body, and more. Not only are these various sleighs fully illustrated with detailed line drawings, but full descriptions are given covering dimensions, materials used, trim, and painting details. There are also sections that provide valuable information on sleigh construction, ironing, body design, painting, and trimming. Altogether, an invaluable resource.