<P> In countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada, it was a primary mode of short - distance personal transportation, especially between 1815 and 1915 . At that time, horseback riding in towns and rural areas was less common and required more specific skills than driving a buggy . Horsemanship tended to be an aristocratic skill of larger American and British landowners, North American western pioneers, the military and scouts . Buggies required at least crudely graded main roadways, where horses could go almost anywhere . The growing use of buggies for local travel expanded, along with stage lines and railroads for longer trips . In cities and towns, horse - drawn railed vehicles gave carriage to poor workers and the lower middle class . The upper middle class used buggies, as did farmers, while the rich had the more elegant 4 - wheel carriages for local use . In the late 19th century, bicycles became another factor in urban personal transport . </P> <P> Until mass production of the automobile brought its price within the reach of the working class, horse - drawn conveyances were the most common means of local transport in towns and nearby countryside . Buggies cost around $25 to $50, and could easily be hitched and driven by untrained men, women, or children . In the United States, hundreds of small companies produced buggies, and their wide use helped to encourage the grading and graveling of main rural roads and actual paving in towns . This provided all - weather passage within and between larger towns . </P> <P> By the early 1910s, the number of automobiles had surpassed the number of buggies, but their use continued well into the 1920s in out of the way places . </P> <P> During the 1930s, unemployment due to the Great Depression and high gasoline prices meant many car owners in the U.S. and Canada could no longer afford to drive . The Bennett buggy (in Canada)--or Hoover wagon (in the U.S.)--was an automobile converted to be pulled by horses . </P>

When did cars become more common than horses