The Regency Groom, Ostler, Postilion and Stable Master

Here's another short excerpt from The Horse: An Historical Author's and Reader's Guide for your delectation. If you want the full section, I'm afraid you'll have to buy the book!!

Grooms, ostlers (or hostlers) and postilions were always male. In the stables of a gentleman, the head groom was in charge, served by several under-grooms and a stable-boy or two. Often, the head groom was responsible for teaching the daughters of the house to ride, and thereby frequently held a position of respect and licence. He was usually provided with a cottage on the estate, invariably sited near the stable yard and his charges. He was responsible for the smooth running of the stables, from hiring and firing staff to ordering feed and sending horses to the farrier.

• The groom wore shirt, waistcoat, riding breeches, stockings or gaiters and stout shoes, over which he wore a felt hat and a mid-length coat. As the eighteenth century passed into the nineteenth, the coat became shorter until jackets became the norm. When mucking out and grooming, he was expected to remove the coat and roll up his shirt sleeves.
• Ostler (hostler predates the more recognizable term) was the name given to the groom in coaching inns and livery stables. The latter could also be a stableman (early eighteenth century).
• Postilions (or post-boys) were the men hired to conduct a post-chaise to the desired destination. They rode the near-side horses to control the vehicle, which did not have a coachman.
• Stable Master is a term generally, although not exclusively, applied to the man in charge of a Royal Stables. It does not appear in either the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary or Historical Thesaurus.
• Tiger – a diminutive groom who hailed only from London and could range in age from fifteen to twenty-five. Most were ‘…perfect masters of their horses, were they ever so big.’

In shape and make he was a man in miniature, his proportions perfect, his figure erect and somewhat defiant: his coat fitted as if it had been moulded on him; his white buckskin breeches were spotless; his top boots perfection; his hat, with its’ narrow binding of gold or silver lace, and brims looped up with gold or silver cord, brilliant with brushing, was worn jauntily. As he stood at his horse’s head, ready to receive his noble master, you might expect him to say, “My master is a duke, and I am responsible for his safety.”—Hooper, quote from Sir W. Gilbey

Lord Grosvenor's Arabian Stallion with a Groom
George Stubbs, c 1765

(C) Heather King