Our New Driving Horse Jack

[KellyAlaska]

Hi Everyone,

We finally got a chance to meet our new horse Jack and he is awesome! We got him the Comfy fit harness and it seems to fit him well. Please take a look at the photo and let me know if you see anything on the harness that needs to be adjusted. This was my first time driving and he was wonderful. We can't wait to finally get him to Alaska!

Kelly

 

[candycar]

Wow! he's nice! You look great together. I'm far from an expert, the only thing I can see is the breeching needs to come up a little in the back. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong!

 

[hobbyhorse23]

You guys look freakin' fabulous!! That's possibly the best "first drive" photo I've ever seen.

The horse moves beautifully, you've got great posture, the harness is pretty well-fitted and the cart is adjusted fairly well given that it's a little on the small side for him. I know the ComfyFit harness usually has the two hip straps crossed in the middle but I personally am not fond of that arrangement and usually switch mine to going straight through the two slots on the backstrap so there is a front hip strap and a rear hip strap. They used to sell them that way and I find for me it's easier to make fine adjustments using that configuration. I'd like to see you take up the rear of the breeching by one notch and let the front down by the same in hopes that it will hang more levelly when he's moving. Wrapping your breeching holdback straps or tightening them a little may also help if that won't make the breeching too tight.

Great job! I'm so happy to finally see pictures of your boy. He's an impressive horse and should do very well in CDE someday.

Leia

 

[RhineStone]

Nice neck! The only thing I would change (besides the breeching which was already mentioned) would be to move the saddle back just a little, maybe an inch or so. It shouldn't be touching his withers at all.

Good Job!

Myrna

 

[KellyAlaska]

You guys look freakin' fabulous!! That's possibly the best "first drive" photo I've ever seen.

The horse moves beautifully, you've got great posture, the harness is pretty well-fitted and the cart is adjusted fairly well given that it's a little on the small side for him. I know the ComfyFit harness usually has the two hip straps crossed in the middle but I personally am not fond of that arrangement and usually switch mine to going straight through the two slots on the backstrap so there is a front hip strap and a rear hip strap. They used to sell them that way and I find for me it's easier to make fine adjustments using that configuration. I'd like to see you take up the rear of the breeching by one notch and let the front down by the same in hopes that it will hang more levelly when he's moving. Wrapping your breeching holdback straps or tightening them a little may also help if that won't make the breeching too tight.

Great job! I'm so happy to finally see pictures of your boy. He's an impressive horse and should do very well in CDE someday.

Leia

Leia,

Thank you for the tip. I will adjust the breeching. No one at his barn had ever used breeching before so we did our best. They have never seen a CDE so they thought it was neat to see a different style of harness. That is why I love this site it helps beginners with the finishing work. I know our horse looks a little fat in the photo but once we start trail driving this summer I am sure he will slim down. He is so much better in person than I could have even hoped for. He is as light as a feather in the bridle and sets his head automatically no check needed. His trainer is really an incredible person. She did such a great job with him.

I still have not ordered my cart yet so I was wondering what size wheels you think would look best. I was thinking 24 or 26 steel wheels. I had never ridden in a cart with coil springs and I think that experience is going to push me over the edge for the MiniCrown. lol Her ring was really flat and it still gave a very uncomfortable ride. I think you can get the MiniCrown with 24 or 26? I will have to check the paperwork. He is about 35.5 36 at the withers so I am not sure what size would look the best? Would you get standard or marathon shafts?

Kelly

 

[KellyAlaska]

Nice neck! The only thing I would change (besides the breeching which was already mentioned) would be to move the saddle back just a little, maybe an inch or so. It shouldn't be touching his withers at all.

Good Job!

Myrna

Thank you I will make sure we do that.

Kelly

 

[KellyAlaska]

Wow! he's nice! You look great together. I'm far from an expert, the only thing I can see is the breeching needs to come up a little in the back. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong!

Thank you I will adjust the breeching.

 

[RhineStone]

I still have not ordered my cart yet so I was wondering what size wheels you think would look best.

It's not so much as to what looks the best as what size makes the cart fit the horse. In a regular cart, you want the shafts near to level. I assume a Minicrown is going to have marathon shafts and a dropped singletree, so your basis for height may be the level of the seat. You don't want it too slanted either way. Slanted down is better than slanted up. If the seat is slanted up, then you will never feel balanced and will probably lean forward to compensate.

Myrna

 

[hobbyhorse23]

I still have not ordered my cart yet so I was wondering what size wheels you think would look best. I was thinking 24 or 26 steel wheels. I had never ridden in a cart with coil springs and I think that experience is going to push me over the edge for the MiniCrown. lol Her ring was really flat and it still gave a very uncomfortable ride. I think you can get the MiniCrown with 24 or 26? I will have to check the paperwork. He is about 35.5 36 at the withers so I am not sure what size would look the best? Would you get standard or marathon shafts?

The people that manufacture the Bellcrown can help you with that.

When I ordered mine soon after they started being built in the U.S. they only came with one size of wheel so that's what I got and thankfully it turned out to be just about right for my 33.5" guy. I know they are now making them much larger if you'd like so talk to them about how tall your boy is and see what they think. Bellcrowns look really neat with larger wheels! On an EE cart I'd say go for 24" pneumatic tires, there is no way your boy needs anything smaller than that.

Since you'll be doing a lot of trail driving you might enjoy having the marathon shafts as they allow much tighter turns and aren't as likely to get caught on the bushes and such. (Great for making u-turns to get away from those big Alaskan bears!

) If you get those you'll need to buy quick release marathon tugs from ComfyFit (a very easy conversion) and I'd recommend seeing if they'll let you upgrade that saddle to one with a sliding backband. The combination of sliding backband, quick release tugs, marathon shafts and torsion axles should be a very comfortable one for you both! He'll be able to turn on a dime and drive on hillsides comfortably.

Leia

 

[KellyAlaska]

The people that manufacture the Bellcrown can help you with that.

When I ordered mine soon after they started being built in the U.S. they only came with one size of wheel so that's what I got and thankfully it turned out to be just about right for my 33.5" guy. I know they are now making them much larger if you'd like so talk to them about how tall your boy is and see what they think. Bellcrowns look really neat with larger wheels! On an EE cart I'd say go for 24" pneumatic tires, there is no way your boy needs anything smaller than that.

Since you'll be doing a lot of trail driving you might enjoy having the marathon shafts as they allow much tighter turns and aren't as likely to get caught on the bushes and such. (Great for making u-turns to get away from those big Alaskan bears!

) If you get those you'll need to buy quick release marathon tugs from ComfyFit (a very easy conversion) and I'd recommend seeing if they'll let you upgrade that saddle to one with a sliding backband. The combination of sliding backband, quick release tugs, marathon shafts and torsion axles should be a very comfortable one for you both! He'll be able to turn on a dime and drive on hillsides comfortably.

Leia

Leia,

What is a sliding backband? What type of of tug loops does my harness currently have? I agree with the marathon shafts.

Thanks,

Kelly

 

[hobbyhorse23]

Leia,What is a sliding backband? What type of of tug loops does my harness currently have? I agree with the marathon shafts.

So your current harness saddle has a D-ring under each rein terret which the tug straps hang from, right? And attached to that is a shaft loop called the tug, which can be physically opened and flattened out but must be unbuckled completely from the tug strap in order to do so. When you use marathon shafts you must be able to quickly and easily open those tug loops to set the shafts in them because the shafts themselves end in a circle with no opening.

In order to accomplish that safely they designed a version called a "quick release tug loop" where all you have to do is pull one strap out to open the loop, and then tuck that strap back in to secure it shut once the shaft is in the loop. If you want to use those same tugs with a cart with straight shafts you can with no problems, you simply don't have to open them up. All you do to convert to the new kind is unbuckle the original "open tug loop" and buckle the quick release one in its place.

A harness with a sliding backband is built slightly differently than your saddle. Instead of two separate tug straps hanging from d-rings, they build a channel under the rein terrets and patent on the top of the saddle and use one long strap which reaches from one tug to the other and can slide from side to side. As your horse reaches a slope and one wheel and shaft rise up along his side, the backstrap and overgirth will float freely around his barrel so there is never any pressure on his back. With a fixed backband saddle the tug on the downhill side will be pulled on very strongly, causing your horse to brace himself against the pull and move stiffly. My boy with chiropractic issues who I often drive on the road (read: with one wheel always dipping into the ditch) decided in a hurry that he loved his SBB! They are standard for a single horse in a two-wheeled vehicle in England but for some reason were not often used here in the States until recently.

Leia

 

[CZP1]

WOW - Awesome horse! I bet you will have alot of fun with him driving. My saddle fits like that on my horse too, he is (mine) on the plumper side though, doesn't bother him just the way it fits. I would move the breeching up a tad too. Overall looks great!

 

[Jill]

Very nice

:yeah

 

[Shortpig]

Jack looks awesome. How soon will he be in Alaska? That will be a change of climate. I have a brother who lives in Anchorage. You are going to have so much fun on the trails.

 

[Shortpig]

Jack looks awesome. How soon will he be in Alaska? That will be a change of climate. I have a brother who lives in Anchorage. You are going to have so much fun on the trails.

 

[KellyAlaska]

Jack looks awesome. How soon will he be in Alaska? That will be a change of climate. I have a brother who lives in Anchorage. You are going to have so much fun on the trails

At this point we are shooting for May. I want to give him as much summer time as possible to grow some fur.lol He is body clipped right now. We bought him 3 blankets that we can layer if we need to. We are having an insulated barn built for him so he should not get cold. Anchorage is about 7 hours south of us but we tend to get less snow up here which I like. It does get pretty cold in Fairbanks. We had several -40 days this past winter.

Kelly

 

[MiLo Minis]

For a first drive you DO look fabulous! And I agree with the harness fit comments - move your saddle back (if you were to go down a hill with it in the position it is in now it will push in behind his elbows and be uncomfortable and possibly downright painful) and move the front breeching hangar down a notch and the back up one. I am going to say that although it looks like he is going to have an awesome headset at this point in time looking at this photo only he is behind the bit and avoiding contact. He is overbent and flexing through his neck rather than giving at the poll. I would work on encouraging him to move up into the bit, accept contact and take up the bit so that his face will be more vertical rather than tucked quite so far into his chest and his poll will be the highest elevation. I only say this because I wouldn't want you looking at this photo and because of what everyone is saying thinking this is absolutely correct and continue to work in this frame. As I said, for a first drive you look FABULOUS!

 

[targetsmom]

Very, very nice horse and you look great!!! I have been enjoying reading the comments too. I also thought Jack looked just a tad behind the bit but if you get him moving up into the bit that should fix itself. You want the poll to be the highest point, not some place partway down the neck. Awesome for a first drive!!! You should have a blast with him.

My other thought was how could you possibly have no snow when we are still digging out here in New England, but I see you are not in Alaska yet.

 

[drivin*me*buggy]

Just wanted to add my congrats on your handsome man. I look forward to hearing of your adventures

Angie

 

[KellyAlaska]

So your current harness saddle has a D-ring under each rein terret which the tug straps hang from, right? And attached to that is a shaft loop called the tug, which can be physically opened and flattened out but must be unbuckled completely from the tug strap in order to do so. When you use marathon shafts you must be able to quickly and easily open those tug loops to set the shafts in them because the shafts themselves end in a circle with no opening.

In order to accomplish that safely they designed a version called a "quick release tug loop" where all you have to do is pull one strap out to open the loop, and then tuck that strap back in to secure it shut once the shaft is in the loop. If you want to use those same tugs with a cart with straight shafts you can with no problems, you simply don't have to open them up. All you do to convert to the new kind is unbuckle the original "open tug loop" and buckle the quick release one in its place.

A harness with a sliding backband is built slightly differently than your saddle. Instead of two separate tug straps hanging from d-rings, they build a channel under the rein terrets and patent on the top of the saddle and use one long strap which reaches from one tug to the other and can slide from side to side. As your horse reaches a slope and one wheel and shaft rise up along his side, the backstrap and overgirth will float freely around his barrel so there is never any pressure on his back. With a fixed backband saddle the tug on the downhill side will be pulled on very strongly, causing your horse to brace himself against the pull and move stiffly. My boy with chiropractic issues who I often drive on the road (read: with one wheel always dipping into the ditch) decided in a hurry that he loved his SBB! They are standard for a single horse in a two-wheeled vehicle in England but for some reason were not often used here in the States until recently.

Leia

Leia,

Thank you so much for the information about the sliding backband. I called the lady who I orderded my harness from and she said I could upgrade my saddle (because it is still in new condition only used once for this photo) for $20! She is working on the details but hopefully I will have a sliding backband for all my trail driving. I am also going to get some quick release tug straps. If I do end up getting the MiniCrown I think I am going to get the Marathon shafts.

Kelly