The nineteenth century was the golden age of the horse. In urban America, the indispensable horse provided the power for not only vehicles that moved freight, transported passengers, and fought fires but also equipment in breweries, mills, foundries, and machine shops. Clay McShane and Joel A. Tarr, prominent scholars of urban life in America, reveal the critical role that the horse played in the growing nineteenth-century metropolis. Using diverse sources such as veterinary manuals, stable periodicals, teamster magazines, city newspapers, and agricultural yearbooks, they explore how the horses were housed and fed and how workers bred, trained, marketed, and employed their four-legged assets. Examining the processes for waste removal and corpse disposal, they touch on the municipal challenges of maintaining a safe and productive living environment for both horses and people and the rise of organizations like the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. In addition to providing an insightful account of life and work in nineteenth-century urban America, The Horse in the City brings us to a richer understanding of how the animal fared in this paved and uncomfortable setting.