[drivingpairs] Re: pulling away from the pole

  • From: "Don & Judy Hayes" <djthayes@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <drivingpairs@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 15:03:49 -0500

Oh, sure, just throw some more wrenches in the works! <G>

I was assuming that an evener was not being used. I'd guess that Hardy made 
the same assumption. Using Hardy's example of driving on the crowned road, 
things are now different. If both horses are pulling well, the pole will 
still tend to go downhill because you wouldn't have enough direct pull from 
the downhill horse to pull the pole straight. Good steady pulling on the 
evener will tend to pull the pole straight, but not with as much force as 
horses pulling equally on a fixed bar.

I haven't started any pairs myself, but understand that it is best to use a 
fixed bar, or tie the evener. Think about the forces involved, and the 
uncertainty of the 2 horses as to what they should be doing, and you can see 
why it makes sense to limit their options.

The points, on the neck yoke, where the horses are attached should be the 
same distance apart as the pivot points of the single trees. This will put 
the yoke attachment straight down and/or ahead of the center of each horse 
when they are straight in draft.

Depending on how tight/close you have the neck yoke to the collar, you may 
not be able to tell that the pole is moving toward the slacker. On my old 
pair, one of them would back off "just" enough so she wasn't working too 
hard. I doubt that most people could even see it. I had to watch the traces 
to see if hers were getting slack while her partner had tight traces. Her 
traces were not floppy, just not quite under as much force. I couldn't 
really tell from the pole, and we usually went fairly straight down the 
road.

Don Hayes     Keep driving!

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "M. Denmark" <mdenmark@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

I love this discussion as I am learning so much from everyone.  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.


Milli Ann

Texas



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