Facts about horse and carriage travel.

Don't forget that horses are not "4 legged motorcycles." If you overwork them on a trip, or don't properly care for them, they can become unable to travel anymore, get sick and/or die.

Here's some quick links that might help:

http://fantasy.fictionfactor.com/articles/horses.html

http://voices.yahoo.com/realistic-horse-travel-fantasy-fiction-novels-455939.html

http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/foru...es-in-fantasy-how-authentic-should-you-4.html

http://www.lrgaf.org/guide/writers-guide.htm

http://heroinesoffantasy.blogspot.com/2011/10/reality-of-horses-in-epic-fantasy.html

This one is especially good. (They were posted in the order I found them)

http://www.writing-world.com/sf/horses.shtml

Fiender said:

Specifically:
-How far/fast/long can horses or carriages travel under normal circumstances versus what would be capable during emergency situations.

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What is the terrain?

The weather?

What sort of horses have you got?

How many?

Fitness of horses?

Rest stops?

What sort of carriage?

How experienced is the driver?

How experienced are the horses?

-Benefits of carriage travel, and the shortcomings. How much would carriage travel typically cost?

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Expensive. But then that's all relative, isn't it?

Cart and horse travel is possible and much cheaper than a carriage. But slower. Much, much slower.

-Under what circumstances would it be suitable to just walk there?

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If it were only a day or two away and you either had somewhere to stay, or you were happy to camp, then walking would be the cheapest option.

I guess it depends on how fast you need to get there.

There are people who still ride a hundred miles or more on a single horse. See MacAllister's horse posts.

Medievalist said:

There are people who still ride a hundred miles or more on a single horse. See MacAllister's horse posts.

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Yes, but, as one of those people who do ride long distance, it is all dependant on the horse, the rider, the terrain, the weather and, sometimes, sheer luck.

Long distance riding is very, very different to carriage driving or normal riding. Most average horses can do about 20-30 miles a day with no ill effects, so long as they aren't pushed too hard - and by that I mean mostly walking with some trotting.

Long distance horses - both carriage and ridden - are different. They are fitter, tougher, used to the distance. If you took an average plough or riding horse for 100 miles you would kill it.