How did Victorians care for their urban horses?
The carriage barn that we have has stables for horses in the back part of it, there’s a front part where the carriage stayed and then the back part for horses. I think many carriage barns have torn down this middle wall to make one big garage out of them. Here is a historical register of one house that had such an arrangment (search down to “horse stall”). Also, I think I live a few miles from you, and this house in the link is in Springfield VT. Here is another link that says a smilar thing.
You’re looking for information on “hostlers” or “ostlers”, who ran business renting, boarding, and caring for horses. No city was without large numbers of people employed in transportation-related trades. This link will give you some idea of the variation. The Horse and the Urban Environment From the Journal of Transport History, The decline of the urban horse in American Cities I’m finding lots of stuff by combining search terms like “urban” “transport”, “history” “nineteenth century” “stables” “stabling” “horse” “ostler” “hostler”, etc. I’ll leave you to it. The short answer, though, is yes; larger households with greater wealth kept their own carriage horses and often employed a staff member to look after them. This was right on their own property. Other folks rented horses or hir
Most urban houses had “mews” that were common stabling areas for the whole block. You had so many slots and you kept your horses there and your grooms stayed there too. The carraigeman stayed above the carraige house and could therefore marry as he had his own apartment. Mews have been razed or converted for the most part.
