Working Animals

They walked treadmills, worked as beasts of burden and pulled coaches, ploughs and barges. The rising number of horses in Western cities was a major problem towards the end of the 19th century. What was to be done about the congested streets and the manure pollution? An international conference was even organised in 1898 to tackle this issue. The problem was solved soon afterwards by the arrival of the automobile. The growth of motorised traffic also marked the end of the horse-drawn tram and the stagecoach, although the Dutch military continued to use horses for many years. The artist George Hendrik Breitner liked to draw horses working in the urban environment, but he also painted cavalry drills.