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 _________________________________________________________ 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 `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````