1. How much do the horses weigh and how much can they pull?
The horses weigh between 1650 and 1750 pounds apiece. A draft horse can pull a dead weight along the ground (draft) equal to 1/10 their body weight for 8 hours a day. For short distances, they can pull ten to fifteen times as much. The fully loaded wagon will only draft at 300 - 400 pounds on flat ground. However when it's going up hills, the amount of draft increases with the steepness of the hill. That's why I use four horses.
2. How much do the horses eat?
When working in the harness all day, each horse will eat about 10 - 15 pounds of grain and about 30 pounds of grass or hay a day. Note - as the mileage increases so does the amount of grain I feed. When pulling 100 miles a week, I feed 20 pounds of grain per horse each day. I have a portable electric fence and fence charger on the wagon. In about 10 minutes, I can fence off about a half acre of grass for them. This helps reduce the amount of feed that I have to carry on the wagon. They also drink 10 – 12 gallons of water a day.
3. How much does the wagon weigh?
Fully loaded the wagon weighs about 4000 pounds. About a third of that weight is supplies for the horses: hay, grain, and water. Horseshoes and nails alone, for three months of travel weigh about 100 pounds.
A 10 foot long 4x4 weighs about 40 lbs.
Not my words, found on a Science Fiction and Fantasy Facebook Group
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