Thanks again for your input. I'll start looking for a mini 4-wheel cart/carriage. Those little guys deserve all the help they can get. - carol At 07:55 PM 5/2/2005 EDT, you wrote: > >I have 2 small minis (31") and >> they just pull a cart (easy entry) with the traditional pole. But I've >> noticed that they are uncomforatble with the weight of the pole hanging on >> their necks. We just do parades and demos - nothing competative - but if we >> did, I can see I need to do more research before buying a carriage. Thanks >> again for taking the time to explain the differences in the poles. >You are very welcome. I know that we all often need to make due with what we >have and what is within our means, and I too have driven a pair (close to 15 >hand Arab mares) with a pole cart over 20 years ago, but it's really not good, >and especially not with an easy entry cart, as with those even more the weight >of it hangs on the necks of the poor minis, and so you noticed! Most easy >entry carts that I have seens are even less well balanced than many other two >wheelers, since the step up and room for it in front of the axle adds more >weight there in front of the axle. So most of them are really very front heavy. But >for all two wheelers a well balanced cart is one of the priorities, even for >a single horse! And a single horse carries the weight of the shafts on his >back via his saddle. Two wheelers for single horses require WIDE saddles for >exactly that reason, even with carrying the weight on the back! There were some >traditional two wheelers made for pairs in the old days to also carry that >weight on their backs. Two types come to mind: The Cape Carts or Curricles with a >curricle bar (like a big yoke) going over their backs and holding the weight >of the pole. But those were very special set-up, and we don't see them used >these days anymore, other than in old pictures, or perhaps by somebody doing a >demonstration on unusual turnouts. So I am pretty sure, you don't use such a >curricle bar over their backs, so in your case, all that weight hangs on their >necks, and that's really not good, as you also noticed. In that respect it >really doesn't matter that you don't do competitions, but "only" parades or demos. >To your horses it's the same, and there is a good reason too, that in CDE >competitions, two wheelers are not allowed for pairs. And it's also something >else if a draft horse pair with a fore cart carries the pole weight on their >necks, they are a lot stronger and bigger and usually have the proper harness with >wide collars for that too, but for a pair of minis, I don't think it's a good >situation. So at the very least try to get your cart balanced enough so that >as little weight as possible hangs on their necks. Perhaps you can move your >seat back accordingly. But then again, don't overdo it either, as we can't >risk the cart to flip over backwards either with the pole coming up and the yoke >hitting the horses underneath the necks. So we see, a two wheeler really is >not good for a pair. Yes, I can see that it's an inexpensive solution to start >some pair driving (and have done so myself, but we had a very well balanced >pole cart), but other than with draft horses and fore carts, let's try to get a >four wheeler if at all possible (I did too after seeing the problems with the >two wheeler :-). >Hardy > > >_________________________________________________________ >To Unsubscribe, change to Digest or Vacation mode go to: >http://www.drivingpairs.com/dpmem.shtml >````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` > > > _________________________________________________________ To Unsubscribe, change to Digest or Vacation mode go to: http://www.drivingpairs.com/dpmem.shtml `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````