Old Vinh horse carriage

(Baonghean) - In Vinh City today, the main means of public passenger transport are taxis and buses. Does anyone still remember the horse-drawn carriages that were once an indispensable part of Vinh?...

In the years 1977 - 1978, Vinh was in the reconstruction period so the land and people were still very sparse. But the memories of me and the people of Vinh at that time were the horse-drawn carriages, carrying passengers day and night on the main roads through the city. For us children, the two-wheeled, covered carriages pulled by a big horse, running along the streets were so fascinating. We all wanted to sit in front of the carriage, holding the reins and controlling the horse pulling the carriage on the road.

Horses by the lake.

No one remembers exactly when the horse-drawn carriage business began in Vinh City. Some people only told stories about Mr. Khoi, originally from Hai Phong, who came to Vinh to start a business. He was the first person to own a horse-drawn carriage in this land. But he only used it to transport goods. Later, many people saw that this business was profitable, so they imitated Mr. Khoi and bought carriages, so the number of horse-drawn carriages increased. Around 1980, when the cooperative model was born, all horse-drawn carriages had to join the cooperative. At that time, Vinh City had about 6 transport cooperatives such as: An Thanh, Tan Tien, Long Thanh, Hung Binh, Truong Tien... At that time, Vinh market was still in the Citadel, near the current stadium. In front of the market gate, horse-drawn carriages were parked in rows on the vacant lot. And from here, goods were distributed to different places by these horse-drawn carriages.

After the horse-drawn carriages, which were only used for transporting goods, existed for several years, the people in this profession began to improve the carriages so that they could carry people. This “new generation” of carriages had a roof, with two rows of seats along the side of the carriage so that they could carry both people and goods. At that time, other means of transport were very rare, so the horse-drawn carriages quickly became the main means of transport. I still remember that every time I skipped school, my friends and I would hang around the horse-drawn carriage station, asking to go on the carriages. Just that alone was enough to make us kids at that time feel ecstatic.

Horse-drawn carriages ran along the Vinh Railway Station route to Vinh Market, then down Ben Thuy. Most of the carriages stopped at the station to pick up passengers returning from the train. Back then, Nghe An people often went on business trips in groups of five to seven people, especially those from Cua Lo and Nghi Loc. So there were also carriages running the Vinh Railway Station-Cua Hoi route. Every day, at around 5am, the sound of horse hooves clacking on the road, my mother often woke us up with the familiar call: "Wake up, children, the carriage is back".

Because I love horses, I know that horses are often named after the color of their coat. The yellow one is called Hong, the black one is called O, and the white one is Kim. Each horse has its own characteristics and temperament, but what they have in common is loyalty, devotion mixed with a bit of stubbornness and wildness. Therefore, to have horses that can pull carriages and obediently follow the driver's control, the owner or coachman must know about horses and always respect them.

Usually, carriage horses are bought from horse owners. This way of buying has the advantage of being tame and able to pull carriages, but the price is expensive. Therefore, most people choose to go to the mountainous regions to buy wild horses, then bring them back to tame. The taming process is called “horse training”.

Horse drivers often go to remote areas of mountainous districts such as Ky Son, Con Cuong; even in the far northern mountainous areas such as Lang Son, Bac Can to hope to choose satisfactory horses. According to experience, good, healthy horses must have all the elements: small head, big neck, wide chest, thick mane, smooth hair. But that is only a beautiful horse. To meet the standard of a good horse, the four legs must be slender and accompanied by a set of "cup hooves". No matter how beautiful and healthy a horse is, if its legs are as big as a buffalo's, it will not run fast.

A famous person who bought good horses at that time, known to everyone in the Vinh horse-drawn carriage world, was Mr. Hien. According to Mr. Hien, finding and buying good horses and "training horses" to make them tame required a lot of effort and hard work. But it was nothing compared to bringing horses from the highlands back home. Once, he and three others went all the way to Lang Son and Thai Nguyen to buy horses. After ten days of searching in remote villages, the "horse drivers" group bought 5 beautiful horses, including a "tamed" horse. He bought a cart, hooked one horse to the yoke to pull, and the other 4 horses were harnessed and tied to the side of the cart. Although the journey was a day off, traveling at night to avoid vehicles along the way that would scare the horses, the four "horse drivers" had to stop many times to look for them, because the wild horses had bad tempers. Then, after exactly one month, the "horse people" group finally returned home safely, although one horse was missing!

After bringing the horses home, they had to get used to the soil and climate, especially the crowded scene of the plains. Because these horses grew up in the deserted plains, they were frightened when they saw a crowd of people. After this time, people began to take the horses to a large grassy area or field, then harnessed them and hooked the cart to pull them. I really enjoyed watching the horses being “pushed”, many of them, because it was the first time they were unfamiliar, panicked and threw off the reins, pulling the cart across the field. The cart tilted to one side, fell to the other, and jumped up and down, regardless of the coachman running after them shouting and threatening them.

At those times, we kids ran behind and cheered loudly, the horse got even more scared, pulling the cart down into the hole. After about five or six days like that, the horse gradually got used to the pair of yokes around its neck and became more obedient. The next step was to train it to follow the control of the reins, then pull the cart with heavy loads. This stage required hard work, strictness, and clear rewards and punishments for the horse. Even after passing this stage, many "uncles" were not convinced. When pulling the cart without waiting for passengers, it was obedient, but when actually carrying passengers, it acted up. "Uncles" did all kinds of things like throwing the reins, moving to this side, shaking to that side, making the passengers scared and having to get off the cart and go to another one. Therefore, "reconciling" the horse, making it tame, depended a lot on the experience and power of the coachman. And maybe it was also the fate of the horse and the person.

The famous person who was good at "horse training" in Vinh at that time was probably Mr. "Crazy Horse Dung" in An Thanh Cooperative, Cua Nam Ward. He was small in stature, but his eyes especially exuded a powerful gaze. No matter how stubborn or obstinate the horses were, they all became obedient when in his hands. At that time, a member of Truong Thanh Cooperative bought a very beautiful horse. Everyone who saw it praised it, because it was not "injured" in any way. However, when the carriage was pulled in, this handsome horse knelt down on all fours, lying flat on the road without moving. Despite the coachman's every effort, including shouting and beating. Mr. Dung applied all methods, punished it by locking it up for several days, starving it, even not being close to it and not petting it. But "it" still refused to pull the carriage and the horse's owner had to give up. Mr. Dung heard that and came to buy it back at a cheap price. But after only about ten days in Mr. Dung's hands, somehow he turned this wild horse into a good, obedient horse.

I also learned that the name “Crazy Horse Dung” came from the time he tamed “O” of Mr. “Trông xe ngua”. It was a beautiful horse with a black coat that hurt the eyes. But it was very vicious, no one could get close to it. Mr. “Trong xe ngua”’s family with 5 children who had been in the horse-drawn carriage business for many years had to stay away. I still remember one time, a few of us teased it while we were grazing. It chased us away until we were sweating, and we had to climb up an electric pole to hide. It stood guard below for an hour, making everyone standing on the pole tremble, some of them crying. Its legs and teeth had injured many people, so everyone called it a crazy horse.

However, when standing in front of Mr. Dung, the O horse did not dare to move, only bowing its head. He reached out and grabbed its mane and carried it home. After a month, the O horse transformed into a good, gentle and obedient horse under his hands. At night, when he needed the O horse to pick up guests, Mr. "Crazy Horse Dung" only needed to stand on the stadium lawn, blow a long whistle and immediately, the O horse appeared, bowing its head, waiting. Mr. "Crazy Horse Dung" affirmed: "Crazy Horse" is a good horse, if it can be tamed. Horses are like humans, they can feel all the love that their owners have for them."

Like other professions, horse services were born when this profession developed. "Flourishing" and "prospering" followed the footsteps of horses, and we must mention the profession of cutting grass. The grass for horses must be honey grass. After cutting, it must be washed clean, without mixing other plants, then packed in bags and brought to the market to sell. The horse grass cutters are people from neighboring areas such as Hung Nguyen and Nghi Loc. The grass market usually meets at 4 am in front of the Vinh market gate now. Each bag of grass is neatly arranged along the road along the riverbank. Usually, each seller has familiar horse owners as their own customers. When the sun rises, other traders come to the market, which is also the time when the grass market closes. The horse grass market was maintained until the horse carriage profession in Vinh disintegrated.

Then in the 90s of the last century, motor vehicles began to appear to replace horse-drawn carriages. People used tractors to transport goods and vans to transport passengers, and after a few years, horse-drawn carriages completely disappeared from Vinh, that was also the rule. However, for some people, the image of horse-drawn carriages still lingers in their memories as a nostalgia for Vinh in the past.

Nowadays, many horse-drawn carriage owners and drivers of the past are either still alive or gone. Mr. “Crazy Horse Dung” and Mr. “Hien the Horse” have also reached a rare old age. Yet when I mention horses, their eyes light up as if recalling a past memory. Perhaps to them, the loyal, devoted, and stubborn horses are also soul mates. And to many children, the image of four iron-covered horses’ hooves, kicking down the road, creating sparks in the dark, is still extremely attractive.

As for me, every time I wake up in a strange land in the morning, I suddenly miss the morning horse-drawn carriage rides that pass by my house. I can hear the jingling bells of my childhood echoing back...

The Son