forehorse

plural forehorses

1. The foremost horse in a team of horses; a lead horse

   On the forehorses rode two chariot men; and on the four others, four henchmen in black gowns.

   2013, Alison Weir, Elizabeth of York: A Tudor Queen and Her World

   2 more examples

   But the principal difficulties of travel within the capital were those created by the sheer volume of the traffic. The city's regulations prohibiting the entry of ironshod vehicles and requiring draymen to lead their forehorses were ignored.

   1983, Samuel Pepys, Robert Latham, William Matthews, The Diary of Samuel Pepys

   Scarcely had they passed the spot where I rested, when some one leaped from beneath the hedge, and seized the head of the forehorses. Another called upon the coachman to stop, and threatened him with instant death if he disobeyed.

   2012, Charles Brockden Brown, Memoirs of Carwin the Biloquist