[drivingpairs] Eveners & Straightness

In a message dated 4/29/2005 12:03:48 AM Pacific Standard Time, 
ecartis@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
> 
>  I also
> wonder how the evener might affect this problem if it is loose or in the
> fixed position. Or could it help you determine which horse is not working up
> to potential or help them to both work more equally?  What is the best way
> to start a new pair-with the evener fixed or loose?  How about the length of
> the yoke as that will affect the angle that they can pull away from the pole
> wouldn't it?  I know that on hills if my pair is tired they are more likely
> to pull away from the pole, too.  Many factors seem to come into play.
> 
> 

Great explanations already from Don, Vivian and Mary, and yes, Don was right, 
I was assuming no evener was used in the questions / problems. Let me add a 
few words (few? :-).

As Don and Vivian already said too: Never start a young pair with an evener. 
Here is why: A young pair of course will not start out equally together. So 
you give the command to start. Then you will have one who starts earlier while 
his partner is just about thinking to start too. But that very moment as the 
slower one wants to start, the eager one has started already, and has pulled on 
the evener, which then has the effect of now pulling the traces back on the 
slower one. So just as he just wants to start he gets whacked in the chest by 
his traces now becoming tight. What messages is that giving him? Just as he 
wants to go forward, something is whacking him into the chest!!!!  So of course 
he 
stops, and his eager partner gets even more ahead.  Most beginners then make 
the problem worse, by now holding back the eager one in trying to not let get 
things too much out of balance. Wrong move again, because now ythey tell the 
eager one, who was following their signal to start correctly, that he did 
wrong, as they now hold him back. Ok, so now the eager one holds back, and by 
about 
that time now the slower one is just about to get going, and voila, you have 
the perfect seesaw that we so often see with beginning pairs and unexperienced 
pair drivers, and all three are confused and have a bad experience. So the 
solution is easy: First: No evener (or one tied rigid) for the beginning pair. 
Second: If they start out uneven (which they will all do) don't hold back the 
eager one, instead, go after the slow one and go FORWARD. Remember, all 
(almost) problems in driving (and riding) are cured by going FORWARD!  (Even a 
runaway, if we have enough room. Just like the Amish said: I can sit a lot 
longer 
than they can run :-) 

Next on the evener: Bad for all "dressage" training. As I explained a few 
days ago, for proper bending, you want to drive that inside horse in all your 
turns. With an evener that will only get the inside horse further forward and 
the 
outside horse further back. So for all that training fix the evener if you 
have one.

The only good part of an evener is for long straight work down (and up!) the 
road and for very heavy pulling. There it distributes the work better between 
both horses, especialy for very heavy pulling. That's where it comes from, the 
draft horse world and heavy pulling. But for light horse work, it's not good, 
and is a bit for the lazy driver, who then on straight road work doesn't need 
to pay as much close attention to which horse is pulling and encouraging the 
lazy one constantly. But I admit, when I just want to do some long straight 
work, I use my evener too, but for all dressage training, as well as in hazards 
and cones, the evener is always fixed!  (Besides, with an evener, you also 
need to move your hands and arms much more with the reins in any turns, as the 
horses move closer and further away from your hands all the time, so it's much 
harder to drive Achenbach. In fact, driving with a fixed splinter bar is one of 
Achenbach's firm rules.)

Second question on the length of the yoke: Don answered that already : 
Ideally it should be as long as the distance is between the middle of the two 
singletrees (the pivot point of the two single trees) so that from front to 
back the 
horse is in a straight line. My yoke is a little bit shorter, as I hitch 
fairly short too, but then again, mine doesn't come much into use for holding 
back, as I do that with my brake.  Next item: The length of the pole strap from 
the center of the breastcollar or full collar to the end of the yoke? Sometimes 
with beginners we see that fairly long straps are used there moving the yoke 
way out in front of the chests. I like that as short as possible, so the yoke 
is as close to the chest as possible, as the further it is in front, the more 
likely the horses can get entangled or hit their noses on it.

Don's point about watching closely which horse is the slacker: Yes, you need 
to watch the traces carefully, but one more tip: As long as both horses are 
really going straight from nose to tail, both are pulling equally together. The 
moment only one pulls, they get crooked, and both heads usually then turn 
towards the side of the one pulling and away from the lazy one. Reason: When 
you 
left horse pulls more, that makes the pole wanting to go to the right. 
Automatically without even noticing it, YOU will compensate by pulling them 
over more 
to the left as you don't want to go into the ditch on the right, and when you 
pull them more to the left, even ever so slightly, both will take their head 
to the left and not travelling straight. Similar when the right horse pull 
more. Then the pole goes to the left, now you pull more on the right rein to 
stay 
straight and both heads go to the right.  So, whenever both horses are going 
crooked to the same side, the answer to get them straight, is to hit the horse 
on the other side as where the heads are, ok? Both heads to the right, hit the 
left horse and drive him more forward.  Both heads to the left, hit the right 
horse and make him go more forward, and then you get them STRAIGHT and 
pulling together. (Good side effect: If they are crooked to the right, hitting 
the 
left horse on the left side also makes him more straight, and same if both are 
crooked to the left, hitting the right horse on the right side. That's just 
where a rider would use his leg too to get the horse straight).
Happy driving
Hardy  


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