Sleighs, Sleds and other such stuff

[R Whiteman]

It is 20 degrees outside and we have about three inches of snow on the ground. Not much snow by some of your standards and not all that cold compared to other places. The Northwest is beautiful when dressed in white. It is scheduled to remain in this pristine state for at least one day prior to the deluge of rain and warm weather that will turn beauty into mud and flood. I find myself wishing I had some sled runners so that at least one of the ten carts, wagon or other horse drawn stuff I have around here would work in the snow even if it were for just a day. Since I have little experience in what works and doesn't work when it comes to snow and sleds, I thought I would asked the group for some help. What kind do I buy? What do I watch out for? What are the safety issues for both the horse and driver? What snow conditions work best? Can I make my own runners? Here is a chance to show off you talents and horses and educate some of us too. I would like to see the photos of the different hitches at play but I not sure if the " Picture Gestapo" will allow them to be posted here unless connected to a link.

Thanks,

Ron

 

[willowsedgebelgians]

I have absolutely no experience with minis and sleighs. I know how much our big horses work when hitched and personally I would feel really guilty about doing that for long with a mini. That being said - got loads of experience with the "big boys". The pretty white fluffy stuff looks beautiful, but runners cut through it all the way down to the dirt underneath. If the ground is not frozen solid you get a sleigh running through making ruts in the soft ground and making the horse work his tail off. We like to get a bunch of snow on the ground and then run over with something to pack it down ( a snowmobile works wonderful) then the horses are not working to walk through the thick snow. Think about how hard it is for you to walk through snow up to your calves, the imagine having 4 feet to do it with. That being said we also make sure our horses are in good shape when we do sleigh rides. I know a lot of people who finish show season and give their horses a break and then get the bug to go for a sleigh ride only to overwork their out of shape horse. They need to be conditioned both for their muscles and lungs. You know how it hurts your lungs to work outside in the winter and huff and puff the cold air. Take breaks so the horse doesn't get overwhelmed. Finally make sure that youv'e got plenty of coolers for the horse when done. The horse will sweat alot, this is hard work for them. The winter woolies hold moisture close to the skin. Sometimes we go through a couple of coolers before the horse is dried out enough to be comfortable in the cold weather. It is an awesome beautiful experience to float along on the snow in the glistening white fields behind your favorite horse, but it is harder for everyone than the pictures make it look.

Oh, and where good gloves. It gets really hard to steer when you have icicles for fingers!

 

[RhineStone]

The above is absolutely right. I personally am not a cold weather person, even though I live in Wisconsin

(where ironically we don't have any snow yet, at least in our part of WI!) When we judged the sleigh rally last year, they had hard packed the "track" that they used for it. The minis did have a bit of a harder time with it than the big horses, even with it packed. This is probably the biggest reason we don't have a sleigh. You pretty much need the "perfect" conditions. Not too much snow, not too little, and heaven forbid if it is too cold and your fingers freeze. But those in N. WI are die hards. I can put you into contact with some of those friends of ours that could probably answer your questions, Ron. Jeff Morse is another good resource for sleighs.

And you do have to drive them a bit differently than a cart so that you keep them upright. You have to make your turns a little wider than you normally would. We actually had a Belgian turnout dump over in front of us.

Here are some photos of that sleigh rally including mini turnouts. http://www.mischkapics.com/Equines/Driving-Horses/010910-Ashland-sleigh-rally/10924265_LT3cZ Bob M. has another Rally on his website, too.

Myrna

 

[susanne]

Ron,

Considering the depth of the snow we actually get (when we get any), I think we need a sleigh that is more like a taboggan than a sled. Here's something I've thought about trying:

http://www.modells.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3787792&CAWELAID=413784515

Of course, I can just imagine getting down into that thing, getting really cold, then trying to get out... It was suggested on another thread on the subject that I put a hbale of straw or hay in the sled, or perhaps one could rig a bass boat type of seat to some sort of base?

I am told that ice fishing sleds (aka calving sleds) pull very easily across snow or grass. Since I'd also like it for faux farm work with Mingus, it's worth the experiment.

I've also thought about snowboard type runners fitted to a more traditional sleigh body.

This is, of course, all speculation and imagination, but I do think someone could create a sleigh that worked with 3-4 inches of snow.

 

[Shortpig]

Gee Ron maybe you could get a larger type toboggan looking thing, then you could get a harness you could wear and give all the horses a turn in the sleigh. LOL. I'm just thinking about the group here and figuring they would really enjoy that. Not so much interested in pulling me around in the snow.

Here's a thought, do you ski? Put your skis on and just grab on and have a good time.

Happy Thanksgiving guys. Enjoy all that white it will be gone very soon.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

For once I had a day off, lots of snow, no snow coming down, plenty of sunshine AND someone to take pictures(!) so I hitched Kody up to the sled I bought two years ago and tried it out. I had a singletree arrangement I made for my drag tire which I attached to the black plastic sled (yay, baling twine!) and off we went.

Long story short, the sled itself was fine and pretty comfy with newspaper padding to sit on, the arrangement from sled to singletree was fine, but the singletree was too close to his hocks and made him nervous. It didn't actually hit him while he was moving but when he stopped it brushed his hind legs and he didn't like that. After successfully driving in the arena for awhile we went out on the road where he took exception to our dog trying to race him and took off. I stayed in and kept the sled upright for quite awhile but eventually he swung me out towards a ditch and the edge of the sled caught the snow and flipped and I chose to let go of the reins rather than get dragged alongside it.

He wasn't scared or kicking at that point but without my weight holding the sled back it did start coming up and hitting his hind legs as he ran so by the time I followed his tracks to the fenceline of the boarding barn behind my neighbor's where he was patiently waiting, he was more than a mite touchy about that singletree being near his legs.

I held it up as we walked home and he was fine, and he was fine ground-driving afterwards.

I think the main safety things are to have something that won't flip when the horse goes sideways, be fairly close-coupled so they don't swing you into a tree or something but far enough back they can't kick you, and keep your center of gravity low. I was so glad I wasn't on my sled with runners! I would have flipped a dozen times before we even had the accident. I'd like to make a set of shafts for my plastic sled, maybe with a nice duga (an arch over the horse's shoulders) for looks. That would keep it back off of him and I need to either let out his traces, use baling twine on the ends to extend them or get rid of the singletree entirely and attach the twine directly to quick releases on the sled itself. Hopefully he'll still be willing to pull it!

The biggest thing I found, rather than it being hard work to pull a sled over 2 or 3" of snow, was the way the snow balled up in his hooves. A large part of his unhappiness today may have been because he was uncertain of his footing.

Leia

 

[REO]

I would like to see the photos of the different hitches at play but I not sure if the " Picture Gestapo" will allow them to be posted here unless connected to a link.

Thanks,

Ron

Gee, thanks!

I don't see anything wrong with photos. Pics of harnesses and carts, hitches etc have been posted here all along, so I'm not sure where that came from.

 

[susanne]

Leia, I'm glad you had a safe area in which to bail out!

I'm hoping to use our EE shafts -- assuming I can come up with a secure means of attaching them -- to the ice sled.

Could you run a heavt rope/cable through PVC pipes to act as shafts? You'd need some sort of bumper on the end to keep the raw edge from rubbing on turns.

So ------ where are those photos?

 

[R Whiteman]

I was really hopeful that someone out there had used the runners that are available from companies that fit the easy entry carts and allows them to be used as sleighs.

There is a sport that does use horses, snow skies, and a great deal of speed. It is called Skijoring. I think it would be fun but not exactly what I had in mind. Still might try it.

REO I just wanted to make sure that all postings of photos were for informational use not for displaying people having a good time with their horses. Besides links encourage more photos.

It will be a mute point soon as the snow will be gone soon and there won't be any need for runners or sleds. It was just a thought...Ah perchance to dream ...

Ron

 

[BannerBrat]

Well this post shows my set up, I now use a freedom collar instead of the straight collar though.

http://www.miniaturehorsetalk.com/index.php?showtopic=115144&st=0&p=1270906&fromsearch=1&&do=findComment&comment=1270906

And here's a picture of it in action.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=97768&l=4d0a001b21&id=100001192447418

Though I'm using leather traces here.

You do have to be really careful sledding.

 

[susanne]

There we go -- that's the type sled I was talking about, both here and on the earlier thread.

It's good to see your set-up.

Since you have an ice sled, do you think it would be feasible to attach the shafts from an EE cart to this type of sled? (hard to tell from photos).

 

[RhineStone]

I was really hopeful that someone out there had used the runners that are available from companies that fit the easy entry carts and allows them to be used as sleighs.

My mom bought those runners to go with her EE cart a number of years ago, and we used them ONCE. Again, like I said in my first post, you have to have the perfect conditions to use them: hard packed snow that the mini can still get traction on. Like Willowsedgebelgians said, the runners cut into the snow and don't float on top.

I think there was one set up like this at the Rally last year. Again, the surface was packed with a trail groomer, and was hard but could still be cut through with the right sleigh. There was an older, but not yet 14 yr. old kid and her mom. The mini was having a terrible time pulling until I stopped them and asked the kid how experienced she was, and then I gave her permission for her mom to get out (against current ADS rules). After that, the mini did much better, and mom and kid thanked me. That turnout probably had the worst go of the Rally because of the set up (compared to the Fjords, Morgans, and other ponies).

Another mini turnout was what the driver called a "Viceroy". I wasn't sure that was an apt name for it, but it was basically a four-legged spidery looking thing with a seat. That did Ok on the snow, because I think the weight was dispersed over a greater surface area. That vehicle was made by Sue Ahonon of MN.

There was one other mini turnout that had some sort of sled that was on the ground and the girl kneeled on the sled. This set up was much easier for the mini to pull. Yes, you have to have some sort of shafts for the sled to be held back off the horse's heels, and you have to take corners easy or you get the whiplash effect. If the sled grabs the snow on a sideways turn, you will dump the sled. I would say that it is a WHOLE lot easier to dump a sled/sleigh than a cart. Luckily, we only had the one dump at the Rally, and it kind of happened in slow motion, but the Belgian wasn't thrilled with the idea of that thing twisted up behind her. Chad and I caught her before she had the chance to take off with the sleigh.

Myrna

 

[willowsedgebelgians]

To whomever said about getting snowballs in the feet... spray the underside of the horses feet with PAM or some other cooking spray before you go out. It will not be perfect but it normally helps them keep the snow from balling and freezing in. They make shoes specially designed for popping snow out of the foot, but I don't know that could work on a mini.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

To whomever said about getting snowballs in the feet... spray the underside of the horses feet with PAM or some other cooking spray before you go out. It will not be perfect but it normally helps them keep the snow from balling and freezing in.

I had to clear two year's worth of dust off the top of the can but the PAM definitely came out of retirement!

Leia

 

[studiowvw]

Please do not post things for sale on the forum. PM people instead of post these items. Thank you!

 

[wendyluvsminis]

In our neck of the wood, Santa's been known to drive a donkey sled!

This is an old roadster cart we have, that came with runners. It works pretty well. Gee, hope someone gives Santa some black boots for Christmas!