Curricle

A curricle is a light, two-wheeled carriage drawn by a pair of horses harnessed side by side to a central pole, with an iron crossbar known as a curricle-bar resting on the horses' harness saddles to support the pole's weight, invented in Italy in the late 1700s and brought to England by way of France in the early 19th century. Its cabriolet-like body, with an S-curved back mounted on a six-spring chassis, was normally driven by its own fashionable owner rather than a hired coachman, with a footboard or rumble seat provided for a liveried groom, and its light build allowed genuinely high speeds. That same low draft ratio made the curricle notoriously dangerous if a horse slipped or shied, and frequent accidents contributed to its decline in favor of safer phaetons and cabriolets.