One of the most impressive sounds in pre-motorised Scotland must have been of a cart horse on the loose.
A neigh, a nicker, a shrill whinny, a clatter of hooves and bolt into bedlam usually with a trailer of coal or beer barrels in tow.
The noise must have been deafening and the dangers immense but these were regular dramas which peaked in the 1930s as motor vehicles became common.
It is not hard to imagine the sound of a sprinting Clydesdale on cobbled streets, parting screaming crowds and shedding its cargo.
Our archives are crammed with reports of horses taking fright after being spooked by cars.
It often took acts of great courage to avert disaster and one hero emerged on April 25 1934 when a coal horse bolted in Barrack Park, Dundee.
The animal galloped to the junction of Dudhope Crescent where James McKendrick tried to stop it by throwing his coat in its path.
The horse was having none of it and careered on. McKendrick grabbed its reins but was shaken off. He then ran alongside and managed to regain his grip on the reins and made a breathless gallop down Lochee Road at its side.
Meanwhile, the coal-lorry driver jumped on a motorised milk lorry and set off in pursuit. They overtook the horse on the offside and with
McKendrick’s help, diverted it on to the pavement outside Dundee Corporation Transport on West Bell Street and out of the path of a bus and two cars.
A year earlier a horse got the fright of its life when an elephant crossed his path at the top of Whitehall Crescent. The elephant was promoting a circus but it was clear the horse had never seen the like.
Aghast at the sight of an elephant, the horse took off like a missile with carter Charles Hay still onboard. The cart halted after a collision with a lamp-post but the horse went free because the harness snapped.
Only smart intervention by Mr Hay, assisted by the elephant’s handler, pacified the agitated animal. Our report did not mention what the elephant did during the chase.