[drivingpairs] Eveners & Straightness
- From: Hzlax@xxxxxxx
- To: drivingpairs@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2005 12:24:07 EDT
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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