Postilion

A postilion or postillion is a person who rides a harnessed horse that is pulling a horse-drawn vehicle such as a coach, rather than driving from behind as a coachman does.

This method is used for pulling wheeled vehicles that do not have a driver's seat, such as many ceremonial state coaches and artillery limbers and caissons.

[6]: 314 The postilion wears a full-dress livery with a short jacket reaching to the waist only and decorated with gold lace and gilt buttons.

Individually mounted riders are subject to their personal endurance limits, while posting could continue indefinitely with brief stops for fresh horses and crew.

In England, posting declined once railways became an alternative method of transport,[5]: 282  but it remained popular in France and other countries.

Postilions control the horses drawing the Queen's coach at the State Opening of Parliament , London 2015
Postilions at the state funeral of Ronald Reagan , 2004
ANZAC horses and postilions struggle to move a gun, Passchendaele , 1917, by Harold Septimus Power
Royal Mews postilion livery
King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery
Six-horse Royal Horse Artillery team with 13-pounder cannon at speed during the First World War