Horse Buggy Restoration

Restoring horse drawn carriages is a fun way to learn about the carriages of the 1900's. I really didn't know much about horse carriages until I went and bought an old used one and started restoring it. Then I started doing research online about horse drawn carriages from the 1900's and learned about all the different types such as cut under and piano type horse carriage bodies. I also learned about all the different types of carriage lamps that could be added as well as foot boards, buggy whips, buggy lamps, carriage tops, and carriage seat upholstery. Make no mistake restoring horse drawn carriages is no easy task as it can take many hours of sanding before you can even get started painting one. Sanding the buggy wheels is the hardest part as you have to do that by hand to get in between each spoke on the wheel. You will love some of the Horse Carriage Memorabilia Below.. I know I did.

Places to sell Horse Drawn Carriages after Restoration

I created a page with a list of places you can post classified ads for free to sell your horse drawn carriage.
Whether it is before you restore your carriage or after you can sell just about anything here on my Free Classifieds website. I have helped sell other peoples horse drawn carriages before both thru the free classfieds as well as on my website advertising horse drawn carriages for sale.
It is fun also to shop around for the horse drawn carriage of your dreams on these same free classified websites. See what other people are selling their carriages for below before deciding what price to put on yours.

Restoring a Horse Drawn Carriage - Lessons from Experience

 You have to really love horses to put what it takes into teaching them how to drive. We lunged the horses in our ring and walked them around the carriage to get them used to it. Put all the driving gear on them and walked them around the ring. Bought horse driving videos. Read books on horse carriage driving. But life happens and many things got in the way of the daily routine required to teach a horse how to drive a carriage and so we never did get a horse to do it. Time went by and I have since sold all my horses and now the carriage sits there for sale. It is completely restored but never got used.
I am sure many people have similar stories of unfinished projects and dreams thrown by the wayside.
Maybe you just have an old horse carriage you inherited or found in an old barn and you want to restore it.
You don't have to have a horse to drive it - maybe you just want it sitting out in front of the house all decorated for Christmas. Or maybe you have a friend that has a driving horse. Restoring a horse carriage is a labor of love...don't expect to make any money off selling it after you restore it ...just like restoring classic cars....there is no money in doing it - you always put more into it than you can sell it for. Before putting all that effort forth restoring one you should see if maybe it would be a better idea to buy someone elses labor of love below...there are plenty of already restored carriages out there.

What I have learned about Horse Drawn Carriages

After working very hard finding an old used carriage years ago and working very hard restoring it...
I have learned alot about what to do and what not to do.
I think I may have gotten the "cart before the horse" because I bought the carriage I now have without
having a horse that could draw a carriage at all. I am sure I am not the first person to do this.
I had high hopes for my Arabian horses thinking that it would be "so easy" to teach them how to drive a carriage - boy was I wrong. Just seeing it made them skittish. So much for that idea.
So I bought a spring wagon that needed restoring too...sorry but my budget only has me buying used stuff. So here it sits still unrestored....I bought 2 actually - a nice looking one that didn't seem to need alot of work and one that I figured could be used for parts. Well time and circumstances being what they may they are still just sitting...and my life has changed considerably since those purchases...
check back later for the rest of the story. Well in hindsight after lots of sanding and painting if I had known back then what I know now I would of bought an already restored carriage. As you can see below there are plenty for sale...so shop around and see what other people are asking before going ahead with that restoration project.