The article investigates the basic types of horse teams used for transport in Ukraine. On the basis of rich source material it is concluded that in the 16th-17th c. the rural population of 'the forest land' (the ethnographic area of Volhynia and Polesia) used one-horse vehicles exclusively. Two-horse teams were used only by traders, either foreign or coming from the largest towns of western Ukraine (Lvov, Busk, Brody, Vladimir and others), i.e. the area bordering the present Poland. In the 18th c. the country people from 'the forest land' started using double-horse teams in addition to traditional one-horse vehicles. The new means of transport spread gradually from the west to the east. Before the end of the 19th c. it had replaced both the one-horse cart and the yoke of oxen in Volhynia and most of Polesia, an area where those had been traditionally used. The present-day two-horse team is undoubtedly of Western origin. It came to Ukraine with merchants from Poland and other Central and Western European countries. It was also popularised by waggoners from Ukrainian cities, mostly Jews and Armenians, who had travelled to the West.
