[drivingpairs] Re: good book recommendation- pairs

I got a copy of "Principles of Driving" before starting my pair a
couple years ago. I think that purchase was based on Hardy's
recommendation back then. I found it very helpfull and recommend it
to anyone.

Bob A
Raymond, Ca

--- Hzlax@xxxxxxx wrote:

> I have not read the book "A Teamsters View" by Steve Bowers, but
> did read 
> with interest the preview of it in  Driving Digest (Jan/Feb
> 2006). Yes, it is 
> coming from draft hitches, so some of the details (and terms) do
> not apply 
> completely to carriage driving pairs, but many of the
> fundamentals are certainly 
> very similar, and I think one can always learn from the other
> faculty as well and 
> it pays to think the concepts through. 
> 
> I did find however a couple of items in that short preview that I
> couldn't 
> follow. He writes "Pleasure pair driving reins are manufactured
> with a definite 
> right and left line being different from each other to allow the
> teamster to 
> drive from a position directly behind the right-hand horse." 
> Perhaps he is 
> right, but I have never heard that before, nor have I seen any
> such reins that 
> were made different (other than one having the buckle at the end
> and the other 
> the billet), nor do I see why that would be necessary, as sitting
> to the right, 
> we just take the right rein a couple of inches shorter into our
> hand than the 
> left rein and that takes care of the difference. 
> 
> Further down he describes the problems with a Leaning Team and
> explains the 
> differences in measurements, and how far the horses would need to
> travel apart 
> (or together) depending on how much longer the coupling reins are
> adjusted to 
> the draft reins. He gives an example and writes that when
> coupling and draft 
> reins are equal in length (e.g. adjusted so that there is no
> difference in 
> length between them!) that then the bit centers of the two horses
> would be 26 
> inches apart. I can follow the math of his explanations, and how
> he arrives at the 
> 26", but don't see how that would be correct and how they would
> be 26 inches 
> apart. Instead I think if draft and coupling reins would be
> exactly the same 
> length then bit centers would be zero inches apart, or not? 
> 
> Perhaps some of you might have read the preview or the book and
> can help me 
> understand these two items? What am I missing here?
> 
> My favorite learning books are "The Principles of Driving" by the
> German 
> National Equestrian Federation and "The Art of Driving" by Max
> Pape. Both have 
> good explanations on the pair reins as well as other aspects of
> pair driving.
> 
> On the subject of draft hitches: I really have not seen any
> snobbery from 
> carriage folks against draft drivers or their hitches. I always
> have seen only 
> interest in the other side. We all can always only learn from
> each other. I am 
> happy to note that seems to be clearly the sentiment on this list
> as well. If 
> some folks read Marjeans comment differently then I think they
> probably 
> misunderstood Marjean. I certainly have nothing against draft
> hitches nor draft horse 
> folks, quite the contrary, I am VERY fond of them, having grown
> up with draft 
> horses and learned much of what I know from teamsters.
> Hardy
> 


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