[drivingpairs] tandem
- From: "David McWethy" <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <drivingpairs@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 24 Jan 2006 10:33:39 -0800
I'd like to develop a bit on what Hardy wrote, that "tandem is not all that
easy...". I guess you could say, like all driving, it is easy until it
isn't, and the difference between tandem and pairs or singles is that the
horses can tie themselves in knots, figuratively. There is potential for
things to go very wrong.
I have widely mentioned what I will now start calling the Four Horserisks of
the Apocalypse:
Green horse
Green driver
Dangerous harness
Dangerous vehicle
And that once you get beyond these risks, you and the horse and everyone
else is way safer.
So, for tandem: Green horse - make sure the horses are steady and well
trained.
Green driver - the transition from two lines to four makes everyone green.
Have some sort of practice or training before risking your undeveloped
talents on a tandem. Get help from someone who knows what they are doing.
Even if this is by email it can be very helpful. For instance - how close
to have your leader to wheeler? Too close and you invite the possibility of
discord between the two horses.
Harness. This may seem self-serving, but in fact, to go tandem, I suggest
you need very little additional harness, if you have two pair harnesses.
Worse than that, I recommend cobbing things together. Hitching the leader
traces to wheeler with twine or rope may even be a good idea until you can
get good measurements for the real traces and decide how to attach them.
You can fake up roger rings. Eventually, if you are surviving, you can get
all this sorted out. In my case, I have the harness making resources, so I
developed what I thought worked best for me, including a leader trace
carrier that was inspired by Sterling, which is not commonly seen, but works
terrifically.
Vehicle. This is the easy one for tandem. Unlike a switch to pair, you can
use the same single vehicle. A cart is likely best, any old cart that is
safe. Don't worry if you are not high in the air - that is not the biggest
issue at this point.
Or you can ignore any or some of the four Risks. It is possible to survive
anyway. However, any one of the Risks can do you in. I can't speak for
anyone else, but I don't want to be on a first name basis with the folks in
the emergency room.
Driving tandem is not for wimps. But of course not many of us who drive
horses are wimps anyway, so not to worry. The impulse to tandem may be
similar to tightrope walking. There is not much practical value to it, but
when you have the balance right, it inspires some kind of chemical inside
that makes us feel good.
Camptown Dave
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