On Mon, Oct 5, 2015 at 11:38 AM, Jeffrey Schwartz <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:

Horse-on-vehicle seems to be extra work for the horse, still, though.
You've got to expand the vehicle to have room for the horse, and
strengthen the frame to handle the weight of the horse, and then deal
with efficiency losses in the gearing.

I guess it would depend on how it's geared.

I mean, overall, can't be all that much different than the horse pulling the cart.

OTOH, with gearing, and the ability to shift gears, it is potentially more like riding a multi-gear bike than pulling it along behind you. Shift the gear ratio to match terrain, easier to get started, less effort to maintain speed once you're moving, etc.

There is also the potential for the whole contraption to coast while the horse rests. Or for the horse to rest while the contraption coasts, depending on which need is driving....

--

"Any sufficiently advanced parody is indistinguishable from a genuine kook." -Alan Morgan