Quote Originally Posted by Carolina Kiltman View Post
Originally the buttons on the back of the tail coat was to hold the tails up when on horse-back.
I've heard this before, but it always raises the question, "What do the buttons button to?" I've ridden in a tails coat (dressage), and I've seen early 19th century tail coats (C.1820), and none of them were actually designed to be folded in half and buttoned (presumably) to the waist of the coat. I've also never seen a period equestrian painting where a mounted gentleman's coat tails were somehow buttoned up to his coat.

I do know that when a mounted gentleman would arrive at someone's home, he would dismount and proceed into the entrance hall. There he would remove his top boots before continuing on into the house. He did not go about in his stocking feet, but rather put on a pair of lightweight slippers that he carried in the pockets in the tail of his coat.