I want to buy my own christmas present

[Loren&Rocky]

I would like to find a mini cart that can convert from one horse to 2 side by side. Is there such a thing? I want to drive Slick and Rocky together or separate if needed. Is that possible without going tandem? Anyone know where I could look for one?

 

[disneyhorse]

Yes, the easy entry carts do have a team pole attachment option, so you can change it from one (shafts) to the other (team pole). Most well-made horsedrawn vehicles have this option, too. Just look at the retailers here on LilBeginnings. I've seen lots of them that carry it.

Andrea

 

[Margo_C-T]

The team pole for the easy entry pipe carts is OK for brief training outings for a pair, but is not a good choice for any amount of serious driving, as the balance of a two wheeled carriage simply puts too much of the weight of the vehicle, driver,and any passengers on the top of the horses' necks, via the pole.

There are several places you might look for a 4 wheeled carriage which could be used with either shafts for a single, or a pole for a pair. A four wheel can be a good choice, even for a single miniature , if it is reasonably light weight(i.e., uses proper pneumatic wheels(NOT simply bicycle wheels), which are lightweight and give a better ride than wooden or metal wheels),is simply but sturdily-built. You would need to specify, when ordering, that you want an interchangable pole and shafts, and what size the horses are. Try looking at IteBite(Bitty?),in MO; Sugarrock *might*have something(though many of his look relatively HEAVY to me.in the photos on their website) I believe I remember that Pequea Carriage, in PA, makes 4 wheelers for minis; I have one of his road carts, and his is a quality product, at reasonable price-PM me if you want his phone number(most Amish makers don't have websites!)-and I'll look it up for you---you might also check out whether Lignite makes anything four-wheeled. Ahonen Carriage Works is another....Pacific, from Canada, is a great builder, but not yet making a 4 wheeled carriage for minis-perhaps someday! There are also several excellent European brands, like Glinkowski. Your best bet, pricewise, would likely be something by ITEBITE, Pequea, or possibly, Sugarrock.

Margo

 

[Loren&Rocky]

Thank you Margo form that info! :aktion033:

Slick is 35 inches and Rocky is 34. I see no big reason why they could not pull together. I will look into the 4 wheel carts and now you have changed my mind about 2 wheel ones. I would rather have a better balanced vehical for the boys to pull for sure. They (Rocky mostly) are getting so fat and I think driving them together would be great excersize for them.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

Hi there Shelly! Margo gave you some good information and I agree with her for the most part. You can check out my links page for the manufacturer's websites of most of those vehicles she mentioned. I don't list Sugar Rock because I've heard bad things about their customer service after a purchase but the rest of them are there.

One other thing to consider is how well your two would go together as a pair. Color doesn't matter, size matters somewhat, but way of going matters a LOT. In order to be comfortable pulling together they need to be able to fall into stride together, move at the same speed without fuss, and each pull their own weight. From the pictures I've seen of your boys, I'm not sure Rocky and Slick could do that together. Driving a pair is also a major investment in time, harness, and learning to both hitch and drive the more complicated setup correctly. Tandem is much easier harness-wise but is like herding cats to keep straight.

I think if I were you I'd buy a single harness for each horse and a two-wheeled cart and pony whoever I wasn't driving off the back of the cart for exercise. Why don't you come to the winter drive the Whiteman's are planning on Dec. 31st and take a look at all the horses/carts/harnesses? I don't know if any of our pairs drivers will be there but you can still get a lot of questions answered. Heck, we can pony Mingus, Rocky, and Slick off the other carts so they get some exercise too! LOL.

Leia

 

[disneyhorse]

Heeeeyyyyy Leia... since you brought it up and might know more about it than I do, I'd like some opinions or info on the subject of ponying a horse from the back of a cart.

You see, I had seen it done and did it quite a bit when I had a stallion and gelding I was conditioning to show in driving. I would drive one to my destination with the other tied to the back of my easy entry, and then untack and rehitch them the other way around so they each got a turn.

My main concern when driving is always safety, and I have often wondered exactly how safe it is to do this. The only thing I could think of was needing help with the additional horse if I got into trouble, although my plan had always been to tie off the ponied horse nearby and attend to the hitched horse. However, I made absolutely sure that both horses were very well broke before I attempted it. Neither was prone to any bad behaviors although the gelding did worry me a bit because he didn't like to be BEHIND the cart and would attempt to come along the side of the cart by the wheel.

I have often wondered if I could pony a younger horse that can't be driven yet behind the cart, too. Just have been too chicken to actually do it.

The more multitasking the better when working horses I always say (huge fan of freelunging the whole lot at one time all together) but not at the expense of safety.

I have also seen (in the old farm pictures) weanlings tied off to the shafts or their mom's collar on the draft horses when the broodmares go to work. Not sure how that works, either. I figure a horse tied BEHIND the cart is a lot safer on the whole physics of the thing than on a shaft or the side of a horse where the ponied horse could pull the hitched horse around.

I would definitely like some input on the subject, as I have done this but secretly worried about making a mistake or doing something unsafe.

Thanks!

Andrea

 

[hobbyhorse23]

Andrea, I'm with you and secretly worry about the safety of doing this.

: I know people pony their minis cross-country from golf carts, but golf carts don't have minds of their own and will stop the minute you take your foot off the pedal, no questions asked.

I always overthink things and when I took both my big horse Spyder and little Kody to the ocean this year I was coming up with all sorts of ways to try and make it safe to pony the mini from the big horse. I worried about Kody yanking me off Spyder, about Spyder trying to chase him away, about Kody going under Spyder, etc. etc. etc. I was only going to do it from the saddle (not bareback like I usually ride), I was going to have two leadlines, one longer emergency line tied to the saddle horn and a short one that I held, and I was going to slide a PVC pole down the lead line so I could hold Kody off it he tried to cut in front of or go under Spyder. In the end, I told the person leading him in-hand "Oh, the heck with it," broke every one of my own rules, and ponied him. And ya know, nothing happened. LOL

But I drew the line at ponying the big horse from the mini cart because I felt the safety risks were far too real. If Spyder spooked while tied to the back of the cart, he had more than enough power to drag me, the cart, AND Kody off in whatever direction he felt like, probably permanently traumatizing my driving horse as well as injuring all of us. Even if I'd had a passenger to hold him, I would have been concerned about him catching his shins on the axle of my cart as it sticks out quite a ways on either side to allow for steel wheels.

So here's my thoughts related to ponying a MINI off a cart. I would want the non-pulling horse thoroughly trained to voice commands so they would respond to changes of speed without stress. (That's why ponying Kody off Spyder worked; Spyder worked off my legs and Kody off my voice!) If possible I would have a passenger hold the horse for the sake of safety. If it wasn't possible, I'd probably use a loose leadline on either edge of the seat back to center the horse so they couldn't come up by the wheels or get their nose down there. I might even put a small section of that aforementioned light PVC pipe on the lead to provide backwards pressure on his halter if he tried to put his head over the seat, just so that he couldn't nibble on my jacket when I needed both hands to control the driving horse. Heck, ideally I'd make sure I knew how to drive one-handed so I could reach back and fix things! :lol:

For the horse being driven, I'd make sure they are either older or used to kids so no sound, tug, bump, or outright pull will startle them. Given my two horses I'd probably put the harnessed horse in an open bridle so he could see what was going on and not be startled or traumatized if something happened behind him. So many times when a horse is ruined in a cart accident it isn't what happened so much as that they couldn't see it coming that makes them terrified it will happen again. An open bridle would prevent that and may keep them calm long enough for you to fix things if something does go wrong. After all, why run away when you can see your buddy is behind you and you want to stop and stare at him throwing a tantrum anyway?

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Basically the smaller the horse I'm ponying is compared to the horse I'm driving, the happier I'd be about the safety risks. Ponying would be done best on straight-line distance drives to condition rather than during ring work where of course you are only going to confuse and annoy the ponied horse with transitions and turns and not give enough attention to the driven one's work. But basically, despite all my worries I think you are probably fine to tie one mini to the back of an easy entry cart and hack out as long as you are careful. As with the farm horses you mentioned, it's a great way to desensitize a youngster to the sound of a cart rattling along and all the sights and sounds they will encounter later. Just don't overstress a young horse who isn't ready for sustained work on hard surfaces.

Leia

 

[susanne]

I'm glad the ponying issue has been brought up...

I love the idea of bringing Mingus along on the upcoming drive with the Whitemans, but I worry about the fact that he is so much bigger than most minis...well, taller, and very strong. He does know his voice commands and is doing great on his ground-driving, but I keep worrying about him being stronger than the horse in harness...

On the otherhand, he sure could use the exercise, hehe...

 

[Loren&Rocky]

I need a cart before I can do anything. I have my horse before my cart, so to speak.

I never thought of ponying. I guess that would be a good idea. I think my 2 boys would do fine pulling together though. I have hooked them together several times and ground driven them all over the place. They do fine. There is no real work load when I do that though. I don't think there would be much of a problem if there was. They are good boys.