Kentucky's Horse-Drawn Era

Book excerpt: Images of America: Kentucky's Horse-Drawn Era takes a look at the days when animals--mostly horses and mules--supplied the "horsepower" for daily life in Kentucky. The animals' work included hauling buggies, carriages, wagons, hearses, circus wagons, parade floats, bookmobiles, coal cars, school buses, and everything and everyone in between. This book even has a photograph of a mule team pulling a two-story house down the street of a small town in Kentucky; other unusual images feature a "high-diving" horse and the winners of the Mule Derby. These vintage photographs highlight horses and mules in some of the many roles they filled before the advent of the automobile, the pickup truck, and the tractor.