[drivingpairs] Pairs Help

Thank you Laurie, for your reply post. I am very glad that you took my post 
in the right spirit and clarified a few points. I'm glad that you don't 
underestimate the ponies and think that you do have some of the correct 
answers now already yourself, that you said, you overfaced the ponies on that 
drive for example and that you plan on taking pairs lessons. You are on the 
right road, congratulations. 

Now to some more details in your questions:

> Don't worry, Hardy, I don't scare away easily.  I just want to correct my 
> mistakes and learn.  And when I do get back to pair driving, it will be 
> walking straight lines for a long while!  I won't be driving as a pair for 
> awhile now anyway, so I can ask questions here in the meantime.  Back to 
> singles work until I can get the harness repaired (the slide down the road 
> removed a few keepers and wore the trace down to where it needs to be 
> replaced - saved the pony's skin).  So, with that, here's another question:

Thank you, you have the right attitude.

> 
> One thing I have noticed that is quite different when driving these ponies 
> as a pair instead of single is that the response seems much more elastic.  
> I 
> can't describe it any other way - what is usually an instant response as a 
> single -  turning or stopping -  seems to be delayed or "stretchy" with the 
> 
> pair.  

Yes, you are correct, there can be various reasons for this. When you compare 
driving a single to a two wheeler the connection between you, your hand and 
the horse's mouth is much more direct as there are much fewer moveable parts 
in between, and you sit directly behind the horse and the angle between you 
and him does not change etc. With a single to a four wheeler all comes a bit 
loser already as the horse changes the angle when turning to you, with a pair 
it becomes even more lose, and you have two in front of you, and your rein is 
always a compromise between the two animals. Also, do you drive with an 
evener? If yes, then that adds further to the loseness of the entire turnout. 
How tight - or lose - is everything hitched. As you stated, your beeching is 
perhaps a bit lose, as you describe pulling the breastcollars forward a bit, 
Kathy has posted more on that issue, however, it is a usual occurance that 
breeching on a pair I think really never works as well as we are used to it 
from a single between the shafts. So I have no problem with the breastcollar 
sometimes being a bit forward of the chests and the ponies not always being 
tightly in draft, but Kathy is right, if that happens too much, then it 
means, they are holding back with the neck straps which can be uncomfortable 
if it's too much pressure up there. That's why I prefer a carriage with 
proper brakes and a driver who knows how to apply them properly. My horses 
almost never have to hold back my carriage, that's work I can spare them and 
do that work so easily with my foot on the brakes (I have inderpendent front 
ad rear brakes, and we have discussed brake use before too, too me the front 
brakes are much more important, as that's where the weight shifts when brake 
use is needed, just as in a car, BUT a caution note again, when using front 
brakes, there must be enough weight on the back of the carriage for it not to 
come up and even flip over from rear to front, so careful front brake use is 
necessary and needs to be learned properly).  

Pole length: I have no problem with too long of a pole, as far as the horses 
are concerned, as a matter of fact, if you look at old pictures, you will see 
quite long poles (talking fixed poles here without yokes). As long as the 
pole end does not hit the horses in the mouth (e.g. is not too high), there 
is no problem with too long of a pole, at least not for the horses, there 
might be for you for getting stuck in the hazards when trying to make tight 
turns, but that's another story. But then, that is the reason that people 
drive nowadays with short poles, so they don't get stuck, but the longer pole 
is really of no disadvantage to the horse (unless it is a drop pole and too 
heavy  and they have to carry the weight) but with a long fixed pole, all 
that it does, is give the horses a better angle from the pole head to their 
chests for holding back, and the disadvantage of a short pole is that that 
angle gets too short, meaning when horses with a very short pole try to hold 
back with the pole straps to the polehead, instead of holding BACK they are 
pulled INWARD to the short polehead. That problem does not occur with a long 
pole. In order to correct that bad angle, when we use short poles we should 
use yokes. Most marathonpoles end just before their chests, and then people 
use a yoke which snaps into the D of the breastcollar. That's fine too, as 
then the angle is straight back.

These ponies are very responsive to voice and hand, so this surprises 
> me.  There also seems to be a lot of play - a major change in length of rein 
> 
> when going down hill as opposed to flat.   Is this a normal feeling with a 
> pair?

That is an effect of hitching fairly lose. If you were to hitch very tight 
and have no evener then it would become less. But if you would hitch your 
single very lose you would have the same. I don' advocate to hitch too tight, 
I don't want everything rigid, the horses need a little room to move, but if 
it is too lose then you do have the problem you describe with lose reins and 
a hard time keeping proper contact.

Good luck and again, thanks for being a good sport.
Hardy


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