[drivingpairs] Harness Adjustments
- From: kathy robertson <goodhors@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: drivingpairs <drivingpairs@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 29 Nov 2002 17:46:59 -0800 (PST)
Rereading Laurie's post of her accident, I just
noticed her mentioning that the pole, breeching and
breastcollars, seem to be poorly adjusted. She
mentions that the pole still pulls the breastcollars
before the breeching is applied. That is wrong.
There is a pole length to horse size table, on the ADS
website. It is for traditional, fixed pole carriages.
You do need extra length for horses to control the
vehicle, leverage factor. Too short or too long, will
make a big difference on control for the animals, plus
way of going.
When we are pleasure driving, we want some slack in
the harnessing. Too tight will rub and sore animals.
On long drives, that happens quickly. You do want the
traces to be a little loose when the breeching would
come into play, during a pleasure drive. Horse does
use his neckstrap to aid in stopping, but not as the
only part to hold back with. Moving into the
breastcollar to pull, breeching has some slack.
Animal has a small space of harness no-contact, where
he can change from forward to stopping, and neither
will interfere with the other motion. The whole
system is supposed to work together, not in parts.
Trying to stop with breastcollar still pulling
forward, breeching not into play yet, horse is getting
dragged forward by the neckstrap with the weight of
vehicle pushing.
Harness is not doing what it should, to let horse
control his load. Between reins, bit, harness pulling
in two directions, vheicle weight, ponies MUST be VERY
confused.
Hardy's suggestion of pair lessons, with a pair
instructor is exactly what you need. They can aid you
in adjustments of harness fit, rein adjustments for
equalizing the two animals. Their experienced eye
will see things that you won't notice as a single
driver. You NEED someone to aid you and look at you
in person.
We can only give you a general idea of correct fit,
via long distance.
Hope you and the ponies are both feeling better now.
Kathy Robertson
=====
__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
http://mailplus.yahoo.com
_________________________________________________________
To Unsubscribe, change to Digest or Vacation mode go to:
http://www.drivingpairs.com/dpmem.html
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Other related posts:
