packhorse

thumb|upright=1.5|A Stockman (Australia)|stockman with a packhorse A packhorse, pack horse, or sumpter is a horse, mule, donkey, or pony used to carry goods on its back, usually in sidebags or panniers. Typically packhorses are used to cross difficult terrain, where the absence of roads prevents the use of wheeled vehicles. Use of packhorses dates back to the Neolithic period. Today, westernized nations primarily use packhorses for recreational pursuits, but they are still an important part of everyday transportation of goods throughout much of the developing world and have some military uses in rugged regions.

==History== upright|thumb|Mountain guide [[Alice Manfield using packhorses to carry wooden chairs up Mt Buffalo, c. 1912]] Packhorses have been used since the earliest period of domestication of the horse. They were invaluable throughout antiquity, through the Middle Ages, and into modern times where roads are nonexistent or poorly maintained.