A carriage from New Deal Farm in Exeter takes a turn around Roger Williams Park in Providence.

Carl DellaGrotta

MIDDLETOWN -- The world feels different in a horse-drawn carriage.

“We’ll get a family when everyone is exhausted and feeling a little cranky,” says Mike Waters of CommonWealth Farm. “They get onboard the carriage, and it takes five minutes: The infants will be fast asleep, the young children will be fascinated that they’re moving behind these great big horses, and the husband will put his arm around his wife. By the end of a five-mile drive, everyone is very relaxed, very comfortable and ready to get on with the day.”

Waters guides Duchess and Brigit as the two white Percheron mares pull an elegant modified Victorian carriage along the back roads and lanes of Aquidneck Island. The carriage, built in Quebec, is wider than a standard Victorian vis-à-vis carriage to accommodate six passengers seated, as the French name says, face-to-face.

Waters and groom Karen Barboza dress in Victorian or Colonial-era driving garb as they take CommonWealth Farm’s guests to Aquidneck Island’s beaches, vineyards and polo matches. Pausing at Second Beach, Waters says, “We’ve had a lot of marriage proposals onboard, and as far as I can remember, there haven’t been any refusals.”

Most drivers in the carriage trade specialize in special events such as weddings, says Laurie Ramey of Whippoorwill Farm, just over the Hopkinton border, in North Stonington, Conn.

Like those of Mike Waters, Ramey’s horse and carriage are available for weekend and evening rides. She takes her guests along the scenic roads of Pachaug State Forest. And like Waters, she has witnessed the therapeutic effects of the horse and carriage on people, including developmentally disabled passengers.

“It’s a refreshing, if not a spiritual experience,” says Waters. “Carriage riding is like sailing: It’s very relaxing. It’s not so much about where you’re going. The getting there is what you enjoy.”

A single horse pulls Ramey’s carriage, which accommodates three passengers and a driver.

She and Waters prefer to drive at a trot.

On Aquidneck Island, the gait keeps a carriage in pace with automobile traffic. And the trot is more soothing for passengers, Waters says, because the rhythm of the hooves beat like a human heartbeat.

Duchess and Brigit aren’t shod, so their hoof beats sound natural, not metallic and clicky. Even better, the acoustics of the vis-à-vis carriage make it sound as though the horses’ hooves are beneath the passengers.

The Percherons can trot comfortably for hours, says Waters. Most evening rides to the beaches and vineyards take about an hour. A carriage ride to a polo match is considerably longer, and it includes hors d’oeuvres at CommonWealth Farm’s table.

A tenor, Waters sometimes sings to his passengers.

Carriage drivers generally charge by the hour and by the type of carriage they’re driving. Typically, Mike Waters charges $150 for a carriage ride to the beaches for up to six passengers. He sings for free.

More information about CommonWealth Farm is available online at http://www.partypop.com/ Vendors/4079004.htm. Whippoorwill Farm’s website address is whippoorwillfarmrides.com. New Deal Farm in Exeter also offers carriage rides along rural roads in either a vis-à-vis carriage or an Amish-built two-wheeled Meadowbrook carriage; their website is newdealfarm.com.

tmeade@projo.com