Team Driving with Easy Entry Cart - Help Needed!!

[paintponylvr]

My 4 year old mule drives well as a single, but he needs more miles, for sure. He's only been driving for about 5 months. A trainer just recently gave me some tips on ponying the colt from the cart to give him experience and confidence in the woods and other scary situations. He said to cross tie the colt behind the cart so he can't get his foot caught in the wheels, and tie him up short enough that he can't jump into the cart with me. I might try that for a month or two and see if he grows up a bit before connecting him to my wonderful driving pony again.

Thank you, Paula, for your time and excellent advice. I will take it.

Be careful doing that! I only say this as Vicki and I did it - attaching a young PAIR to the back of my wagon (pulled by a pair and much larger/heavier than a cart w/ double attachments on the seat). It worked great until we came to a water crossing - the pair weren't happy. We had cross tied them to the seat where several "experienced" drivers said it would work... When they both pulled back - they pulled that rear seat (& Vicki - who was sitting in it) right off/out of the wagon and dumping Vicki into the water and pulling the seat a ways down the trail until they both became entangled in it and ended up in a heap... Took some time to detangle that mess, too!! And once again, both "colts" got worked single in, out, thru and standing in that darned water puddle (not before knocking me down once and dragging Vicki thru it on her knees). NAUGHTY ponies!! The way they both acted - you'd of thought they'd never been handled and ground driven.

The guys in OH got a good laugh when I took my wagon back up for both repairs and modifications...(Pioneer Manufacturing - Dalton, OH not too far from Fairview Country Sales in Millersburg).

Some day I DO want to make a way to attach a pair safely to the back of the wagon or a fore cart - where they won't rip anything off or pull it apart.

And you are welcome!

 

[paintponylvr]

and to the OP - Stardustandbreezeysmom - I haven't forgotten that I said I would post some pics of a cart w/ tongue arrangement... I don't have pics of his horses hooked to the cart with the conversion pleasure harnesses, but with work harness w/ collar and hames.

My pics of that are on an external hard drive that I haven't gotten sorted out yet... while the other pics are in online photo albums that I've attached to these posts.

 

[paintponylvr]

Actually here are two photos that are on my online photo albums...

In this case - the cart he is using is a horse sized cart (wider) with smaller wheels (though not small enough, IMO). I believe if he'd shorten the tongue, bringing the horses back closer to the cart, it would raise the tongue and take some of the downward pressure off their necks... Not sure, and he's since sold all 3 of his remaining horses and the equipment (between July and October 2015).

 

[paintponylvr]

In contrast, here is another cart set up that I took pics of at one of our Draft Horse Events. I believe these horses are a bit larger than the ones in the post above and the cart is definitely smaller and the tongue shorter (not by much?). Don't know if the cart/tongue are made by the same companies or not.

 

[xrdh]

The draft horse people that I spoke with suggested that I use a Running W (or was it a Flying W?) for the colt that rears in harness. It's a trip line used to pull their front feet when they rear or bolt. I got the impression that all of the mule people, and maybe most of the horse people used it. I won't use that, but will definitely try your tie down method.

My two guys are great friends and play rough house all the time. They might be a bit too comfortable with each other. If I keep the noseband fairly tight on the biter, maybe he'll give up trying when he realizes that he can't actually bite his team mate.

Thanks, again, for the great photos.