17-525: The Coaching Club (also known as The Coaching Club of New York , New York Coaching Club , and Coaching Club of America ) was formed in New York City in 1875 to encourage four-in-hand driving in America. "Requisite for membership was the ability to handle a coach and four horses with a single group of reins." Initiated by Colonels DeLancey Kane and William Jay , the club had its first official meeting at
34-462: A full membership and from 1925 members were allowed those associations. The club owned its own coach, named Pioneer , which made daily runs between Holland House and Ardsley, New York for three years, a distance of 54 miles round trip. The general public could buy seats in members' coaches and be driven about by the club members. When it was pointed out the result was New York's aristocracy carried common citizens, members responded that some of
51-426: A single file) have two shafts that attach either side of the rearmost animal (the wheel animal or wheeler ). Two animals in single file are referred to as a tandem arrangement, and three as a randem . Vehicles that are pulled by a pair (or by a team of several pairs) have a pole that attaches between the wheel pair. Other arrangements are also possible, for example, three or more abreast (a troika ),
68-443: A wheel pair with a single lead animal (a "unicorn"), or a wheel pair with three lead animals abreast (a "pickaxe"). Very heavy loads sometimes had an additional team behind to slow the vehicle down steep hills. Sometimes at a steep hill with frequent traffic, such a team would be hired to passing wagons to help them up or down the hill. Horse-drawn carriages have been in use for at least 3,500 years. Two-wheeled vehicles are balanced by
85-453: A wide variety of arrangements of horses and vehicles have been used, from chariot racing , which involved a small vehicle and four horses abreast, to horsecars or trollies, which used two horses to pull a car that was used in cities before electric trams were developed. A two-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle is a cart (see various types below, both for carrying people and for goods). Four-wheeled vehicles have many names – one for heavy loads
102-412: Is invariably referred to in the newspapers and novels of the day as a 'tallyho party.' — Rider and Driver Journal , 1893 Four-in-hand (carriage) A four-in-hand is a team of four horses pulling a carriage , coach or other horse-drawn vehicle . Today, four-in-hand driving is the top division of combined driving in equestrian sports; other divisions are for a single horse or a pair. One of
119-482: Is most commonly called a wagon . Very light carts and wagons can also be pulled by donkeys (much smaller than horses ), ponies or mules . Other smaller animals are occasionally used, such as large dogs , llamas and goats (see draught animals ). Heavy wagons, carts and agricultural implements can also be pulled by other large draught animals such as oxen , water buffalo , yaks or even camels and elephants . Vehicles pulled by one animal (or by animals in
136-565: The Coaching Club American Oaks . Qualification for membership: "the ability to drive four horses with grace and skill". Driving four-in-hand requires the whip (driver) to hold the reins of all four horses in one fist. Coaching was a very expensive pursuit and membership, at first restricted to fifty then thirty people at any one time, was limited to those owners and drivers of coaches drawn by four horses that had no involvement in racing, hunting or polo. It became difficult to keep
153-702: The Knickerbocker Club on Fifth Avenue on December 3, 1875. The Knickerbocker Club became its headquarters. Later some activities were moved nearer Central Park to the Metropolitan Club , nine members of which were founders of the Coaching Club. There were regular events, dinners and annual parades through Central Park . The annual meet of the New York Coaching Club ... was a thrilling and colorful event. About fifteen drags usually assembled at
170-717: The Museum of the City of New York in 1933, and is now in the carriage collection at the Long Island Museum of American Art, History, and Carriages in Stony Brook, New York. "This coach was the first public coach ever run in America on the English plain... the word 'Tallyho' has become a part of the American language, and is the commonly used word in America for an English coach and a coaching trip
187-534: The Brunswick Hotel in Twenty-sixth Street, and drove up to and around Central Park, and back in time for dinner at the hotel. The prettiest women in town, in crisp summer gowns and leghorn hats, with bouquets of cornflowers, daisies or buttercups, flowers to match the racing colors of the host, sat atop the coaches. The men wore the Coaching Club uniforms, green coats with gray top hats, and boutonnieres. Even
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#1733085077630204-455: The English aristocracy had driven scheduled public services for some time. One of the original Coaching Club coaches was named Tally-Ho . Built in 1875 by Holland & Holland coachbuilders in London, it was purchased by Colonel Kane and brought to New York in 1876. It became so well known that any coach-and-four was called a tally-ho by the general public. Kane's Tally-ho was donated to
221-417: The distribution of weight of the load (driver, passengers, and goods) over the axle, and then held level by the animal – this means that the shafts (or sometimes a pole for two animals) must be fixed rigidly to the vehicle's body. Four-wheeled vehicles remain level on their own, and so the shafts or pole are hinged vertically, allowing them to rise and fall with the movement of the animals. A four-wheeled vehicle
238-527: The horses were dressed, with flower rosettes behind their ears. — Florence Jaffray Harriman Typical of their coaching meets, in 1901 twenty-six coaches gathered in Hyde Park, New York and set off for an outing. In 1917, the Coaching Club inaugurated the Coaching Club Handicap, a stakes race for 3-year-old fillies at Belmont Park . Today it is a Grade I race at Saratoga Race Course called
255-467: The international events featuring only four-in-hand teams is the FEI World Cup Driving series . In Europe, after public post coaches and mail coaches were largely supplanted by railroad travel, driving large private coaches drawn by four horses became a popular sporting activity of the rich, and driving clubs were formed. England's Four-In-Hand Driving Club was formed in 1856. Membership
272-552: Was formed in 1875. This vehicle-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Horse-drawn vehicle A horse-drawn vehicle is a piece of equipment pulled by one or more horses. These vehicles typically have two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers or a load. They were once common worldwide, but they have mostly been replaced by automobiles and other forms of self-propelled transport but are still in use today. Horses were domesticated circa 3500 BCE. Before that oxen were used. Historically,
289-726: Was limited to thirty and they all drove private coaches known as park drags made on the pattern of the old Post Office mail coaches but luxuriously finished and outfitted. A new group called the Coaching Club was formed in 1870 for those unable to join the club of 30. Other enthusiasts revived old coaching routes and took paying passengers. Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt championed coaching in America, and he and several other of his contemporaries engaged in public coaching for hire in America and England. T. Bigelow Lawrence of Boston owned America's first locally built park drag in 1860. Leonard Jerome took to driving coaches with six and eight horse teams to go to watch horse races. New York's Coaching Club
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