# stagecoaches and their horsies... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 13, 2003, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stagecoaches-and-their-horsies/188177 "2003-07-13T17:10:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stagecoaches-and-their-horsies/188177/1 "2003-07-13T17:10:48Z")
Wouldn’t two horses normally have done the trick? Why four, let alone six? Were the coaches _that_ heavy so that the load had to be spread out more evenly? Speed probably wasn’t involved because, the way I see it, your coach will go as fast as your fastest horse will go… Am I missing something? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stagecoaches-and-their-horsies/188177/2 "2003-07-13T17:28:26Z")
I’m gonna WAG. You wanted to let the coach, whether it be a passenger coach or a mail coach, go as far as possible before stopping(to change horses, or just to rest). Four or six horses would allow you to travel farther as the horses wouldn’t be as tired from pulling the load. Two horses would have to be changed more often. ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stagecoaches-and-their-horsies/188177/3 "2003-07-13T17:35:40Z")
I’ve never taken a physics course in my life but…the coach being on wheels, and given the physical strength of horses, would it be once it is in motion _that_ much more energy consuming for the (two?) horses involved? In other words, did it make much of a difference if four horses were used? I guess it obviously did…😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stagecoaches-and-their-horsies/188177/4 "2003-07-13T17:36:25Z")
More horsepower? From [here](http://www.svcn.com/archives/lgwt/10.04.00/pfp-0040.html): > [@](#): > > With a four-horse team, the stage headed north from the lower plaza, turned east, forded the San Lorenzo River, turned north and climbed over Graham Hill Road to the house of Hiram Scott. The four-horse team was then changed to six for the long pull up the grade of the toll road to the cabin of “Mountain Charley” McKiernan. [S’more](http://showcase.netins.net/web/marjned/stagech.html): > [@](#): > > The first coaches could carry six passengers inside and one on top beside the driver. They were pulled by a team of two horses. In 1866 coaches that had a middle seat were introduced that could carry nine passengers with two riding on top. This larger coach required four horses. [And](http://www.santacruzpl.org/history/trans/stagec1.shtml): > [@](#): > > At Hendricks’ two horses were added to the four-horse team for the journey up the mountain grade to Station Ranch, owned by Charles Christopher Martin, and then on up the mountain to Mountain Charley’s stage stop, owned by Charles McKiernan. ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stagecoaches-and-their-horsies/188177/5 "2003-07-13T17:37:31Z")
hmmm…sorry: 'would it have been, once it was in motion, that much…" ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stagecoaches-and-their-horsies/188177/6 "2003-07-13T17:37:56Z")
Sorry, I didn’t catch Mountain Charley sneaking into two quotes. ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stagecoaches-and-their-horsies/188177/7 "2003-07-13T17:40:32Z")
Way ta go, **Ringo** 🙂 . Yeah…makes sense for grades, mountains and stuff… ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stagecoaches-and-their-horsies/188177/8 "2003-07-13T17:42:14Z")
For some weird reason, I figured it was all flatlands…:smack: Don’t ask. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stagecoaches-and-their-horsies/188177/9 "2003-07-13T18:01:03Z")
IIRC, the average overland speed for a stagecoach was around 4 miles per hour because the terrain was simply awful and a team of horses lasted at best for 20 miles. I guess my employer wanted to be absolutely certain of getting through. All the pictures of stagecoaches around here have 6-horse teams. Of course, all the photos were taken on a Cecil B. DeMille-worthy photo and video shoot in (IIRC) Wyoming about five years ago. Historic accuracy wasn’t necessarily high on anyone’s mind. All that (heh heh…) horsepower of six horses thundering along just looks and sounds cool. ---
**Author:** ![j.c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stagecoaches-and-their-horsies/188177/10 "2003-07-14T06:58:02Z")
Slightly off topic - the reins for a six-horse hitch would be freaking heavy. I’ve driven a four-in hand, barely, and nearly broke my back. A nice man from a brewery with a heavy horse team (not that one) let me sit in the driver’s bench. I wouldn’t have dared tried to hold those reins. In the movies, they usually depict stagecoaches with galloping horses, but I assume they trotted. If you have the horses trot, the traces never go slack so you don’t have to engage the weight over and over again. But that’s a guess. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stagecoaches-and-their-horsies/188177/11 "2003-07-14T07:18:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by j.c. \* > **Slightly off topic - the reins for a six-horse hitch would be freaking heavy. I’ve driven a four-in hand, barely, and nearly broke my back.** How about a [forty horse hitch](http://www.bundoranfarm.com/dicks.html)? ---
**Author:** ![j.c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stagecoaches-and-their-horsies/188177/12 "2003-07-15T05:58:13Z")
**Wallon** Even if only half the horses had reins, and those reins were light nylon web, I bet it would be impossible for me! The Amiss girls are strong like oxen.