team cart

[Melinda Dean]

Hi,

My question is... what is your intended use of the pair? Then decide on type of vehicle.

I have been going through this same process myself. All I wanted was a vehicle I could take a passenger in, for easy, dirt road type of rides around the neighborhood. I ordered this from Buggy Bobs. (Just Goggle Buggy Bobs). Right now, it is set up for my single B mini, but I ordered the double hitch with it too. His site shows lots of teams hitched up. I met the people who have the same one shown with the trainer and the pair in S.C. They really like it. I talked to their trainer who will be working with mine soon. She said it was a very good choice for me.

I went to Adult Driving Camp In S.C. to learn better driving skills with single. While there, Muffy Seaton had me driving a mini pair so I would begin to understand how much more I needed to know before trying it at home. Believe me, hitching them up can wear a soul out. Even the experienced pair was a lot different for me. One did that leaning thing a lot, so I had to really pay attention. It was hard work!

My future plan is to send my single driver to her place to learn be part of a pair. My younger horse will go to there to learn basic single driving, and when ready, they will both go back and see if they can be a pair. I will also go back and learn with them. I am getting too old to do it all by my self at home.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

Thanks for the picture, Melinda!

The connector strap between the girth and breast collar is too long, I have to shorten that thing, I would like to get the saddle a little further back and I think I ordered the traces too short, they are in the longest position while the pole is in the shortest.

I DETEST those side rigging rings. Ugh, ugh, ugh! Minis are just way too compact for that much stuff on their sides IMO. Every set I've seen (and we've got quite a few around here) are always being pulled forward or back out of alignment and it makes the harness look sloppy. I know a gentleman in England who uses pair Freedom Collars on his four-in-hand of black minis with the rigging rings and he replaced that too-long front connector strap with a short load-rated carabiner or similar metal snap which worked much better and made hitching quick and easy. I would personally get rid of the rigging rings entirely and connect the breeching holdbacks directly to the breastcollar with a cheater strap running through the middle of the holdback to keep it close to the horse's side. It looks much neater as well as being more efficient because it does not interfer with breeching function the way the ring does nor involve the saddle in braking.

Kay uses a forecart for breaking horses by the way Leia. That cart seems very cheap, it is only a little more dough then our pair pole. It may work well for training and for use in loose sand.

I saw that! When I googled "miniature horse forecarts" I saw her pix on the Ron's Harness website and recognized her and Charlie. I'd been considering contacting her to ask where she got it and how much it weighed before I found Calvin. I do need a vehicle with pneumatic tires so I can use it on our beach drives.

How's the neck yoke working out for you? It looks like you're using snap shackles to connect it directly to the inside D ring? Since a drop pole (which a two-wheeler essentially must be) should have a yoke to the center of the chest I've been trying to figure out how to attach it to a set of pair D's at the right height. Any ideas? Pictures?

Leia

 

[Matthijs]

Hi Leia,

Yes I will likely get cheater straps, the holdback strap for the britching is too short to directly go to the collar, but that can be fixed.

Yes the yoke is attached with two snaps to the inside D ring.

This D ring is offset by 3" so the distance between the D rings is 6".

Initially I had my doubts too about it not being in the center but it works great I must admit.

I used two Taiwan made $25.00 snaps from a marine supply store here in town. Apparently the good ones cost $80.00 and are made in France.

Anybody have more knowledge about these?

I will get some pics up later. Today we drove them single, we were instructed by Kay to switch horses so when driving the pair they both know us and learn to trust both of us.

To be continued...

PS we would love to come and drive in your beach ride, but crossing the border sort of deters us.

Oh yes, the height of the front of the pair pole is very adjustable with the pacific smart cart.

And balancing is done in about two minutes, the only thing is to do it when no horse is hitched so you can actually feel the cart in your hands as you hold it at the level when hitched.

How adjustable are those fore carts????

 

[hobbyhorse23]

I used two Taiwan made $25.00 snaps from a marine supply store here in town. Apparently the good ones cost $80.00 and are made in France.Anybody have more knowledge about these?

The Coachman's Delight website says "Don't compromise when it comes to safety. Buy a snap shackle that will OPEN when you need it to. Guaranteed for Life!

The whole reason for using a snap shackle to attach your horse to a carriage is safety. The concept is simple. If there is an emergency and you need to get you horse unhitched quickly, you'll need a quick release system to make it happen. Leather or pvc harness isn't going to yield when under pressure.

CAUTION

Many knock off snap shackles will stay closed under really trying conditions. Certainly staying closed would be a minimum requirement. But a good quality snap shackle will open no matter what kind of weight you put it under. I've been in sticky situations where a carriage or horse was down, and the cheap knock off shackles the owner used wouldn't release. It takes a tense situation and makes it down right scary.

Click on the pictures at the left for close up view with detailed specs on the size and load limits of each shackle.

Use the 80mm web shackles to snap into your breeching, without damaging your holdback straps. The web triangle will accommodate up to 1.25 inch straps. Use the 100mm web shackles for pole straps. The triangle will accommodate up to 1.5” strap.

All Wichard snap shackles are guaranteed for life! Don’t take chances when it comes to your safety, your horse’s safety, and the safety of those who might need to help you in an emergency."

The diameters he's referring to are for full-sized horses, Carriage Driving Essentials in CA has the smaller ones for minis here for $59.95 for two varieties and $79.95 for the other style. Andy had those same mini snap shackles last time I saw his booth but they didn't include the red pull tags.

PS we would love to come and drive in your beach ride, but crossing the border sort of deters us.

I understand, believe me. That's the same reason I haven't come and enjoyed your lovely CDE's!

How adjustable are those fore carts????

Good question. Wish I knew the answer.

Leia