Here is another pic of my tandem bars, shown attached to the breast collar harness. I later added brass collars around the ends of the bars when I split one. The bars themselves are made out of 1 1/8" closet rod. Yes, the rod you hand your clothes on!.. They have held up for several years with no problems, after I solved the end splitting issue. I think you can see how the support strap goes around the breast collar. I loop it through the false martingale ring to keep it centered. Oh yes, I also use a false martingale, which helps keep the wheelers breast collar in place. Take another look at the photos on Picture Trail. Go to http://www.picturetrail.com and type TANDEMPONY in the member name box. You will note that I use long traces in Dressage and in Pleasure Driving Shows. I only use the tandem bars in the "speed" events, marathon and cones. I also drive Achenbach most of the time, again, sometimes excepting marathon and cones. I have discussed this with several clinicians, including Sterling, Hardy, Mickie Bowen, Lisa Singer, and Muffy Seaton. Different clinicians have their own preferences, but all agreed that one has more finesse with Achenbach over teamster style. Sterling and Lisa both tried to help me with the chestnut wheeler that appears at the end of the set, but I finally gave up on her, even though she has a history of working as a wheeler in a tandem and a four for someone else.
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