Horses, also hauled coal to the customer

Horses were not only used to work in the mines – underground as “pit ponies,” but also to deliver the coal to houses, for heating and cooking during the 19th and early part of the 20th century.  By the 1940’s Electricity and Gas had become more commonplace, even in the rural areas. 
Having grown up in the country - Suffolk (East Anglia), one of my school friends’ father was the local coalman.  I recall that he and his assistant were always covered in the coal dust, head to foot and they had special garments that were made of leather to covered their backs while lugging the coal into the customers “coal scuttles.”   
By the time I was in my early teens, the horses had been replaced by the mighty “lorry,” or “truck.”  The the horses were “put out to pasture,” which of course meant that they were now pets that were generally ridden by the children of the coal merchants or the upper class residents of the area.
Growing up in our English country cottage where the only heat was a coal fire we were glad of the local “coalman.”  Generally, he was well respected in the village community, for without him and his trade, the only alternative materials to burn was wood, from the lust local “black forest.”