[Ed Thayer]

Thanks for the replies, I will change the rear evener to match the 42″ front neck yoke.

I will also adjust the side straps tighter and see if that will work.

The baling twine was to try and keep the balck horse from lipping and mouthing the other horse. I did not have another strap and therfore used the twine as a check line. We ended up taking it off shortly after.

I will double check the hame locations when we hitch them next.

We did have them on opposite sides a couple of weeks ago when I ground drove them. Maybe we will go back to that arangement and see how that works.

Thanks for trying to help from the pictures, I know that is not really easy to do.

ED

[Ed Thayer]

Mark,

How many are you planning to tap this year?

[Ed Thayer]

George,

We realized the neck yoke is 42″ and the evener is 46″ afterwords.

I thought this might work but I guess not.

I will have to make a 46″ neck yoke to match the rear as you pointed out.

I don’t know how much more I can adjust the forward side straps before the interfere with the chest of the horses? Should I have the team step up a little to take out the slack in the traces then tighten the side straps?

[Ed Thayer]

So we hitched the horses to the bob sled for the first time yesterday. We had some adjustments to make on the forward side straps and the lazy straps. They stood perfectly in the hitch side by side for at least a half hour while we fussed with the adjustments. We were very impressed. Not that they aren’t good any other time, but it was the first time we had them together on the pole and eveners.

After all was secure I gave the command to move and they hesitated briefly but finally stepped up and off we went. They were preety amped up initially so I let them go about 20 feet and gave the whoa command. A little line pressure and they stopped perfectly.

Overall the team was very good. After going around the field several times they began to slow and sweat. The more we worked them the better they responded to the lines. I assume this is normal for a team that gets over the inital excitement of the situation.

I have a couple of questions on the harness arrangement.

We are using a D ring harness and I was unable to get the tension between the rear evener and the forward side strap as clearly discussed in Les Bardens video and seminar. It was like the rear traces did not have enough chain. I could not grab another link at the evener. I had the forward side strap adjusted so the front was in the right position I think. What am I missing? Pole length is 9″6″ from the end to the evener.

Secondly, Don suggested 8″ longer on the stub line for a 42″ evener. The pole we used has a fixed evener at 46″ and I seemed to have only 4″ difference in the stub line length. I adusted them out further initally and they were too loose on the inside line.

One of the pics shows the black horse with his arse end out away from the pole. He did this preety consistantly and I could not tell why. Any ideas.

Here is a link to the other photos

http://picasaweb.google.com/108015252120457183879/TeamHitch?feat=directlink

Ed

[Ed Thayer]

Very impressive work Carl,

It gives the rest of us inspiration in our own smaller endeavers.

The photos are great. Hard to comprehend the work through words sometimes.

[Ed Thayer]

I have two English Springer Spaniels. I hunt them both in the fall for partridge and woodcock.

Great dogs that I train myself and really enjoy to hunt over. They also make great house dogs. I think Springers get a bad wrap because of some of the Backyard Breeders out there who ruin the dogs line by cross breeding or poor practices.

[Ed Thayer]

BUMP

He is still here and available.

Possibly interested in an on or off farm lease option.

[Ed Thayer]

@Mark Cowdrey 15551 wrote:

Here’s one I set up a few years ago.

Mark

Mark,

Were you happy with that setup?

How much cord wood did you get on that thing?

ED

[Ed Thayer]

Will the spreaders work in the ground driving situation or are they more often used when hitched to an impliment with a pole?

I don’t have a set of spreaders, so this weekend when we hitch to the sled I may need to adjust the lines again to keep thier heads straight and at the proper distance from each other.

One more question on the lines. Should there be a little slack in the stub line that runs through the top hame ring of one horses collar and then to the opposite horses bit ring, while the outside line is taught?

I may have some fine tuning to do. It appears that a small adjustment in the stub line makes a big difference up front.

[Ed Thayer]

I read the term cradle hitch, What exactly is that? For arches only?

I have been using chokers only, but was frustrated with the ground logs and trying to get the choker under as explained earlier. Another benifit to the chain is I can hook a log farther away that may be difficult for the horse to back up to. When pulled to the skid trail, reset and off I go.

I think a set of tongs are in my near future. I do really like the security of the choker especially when pulling two poles together, helps keep the logs from rolling around.

[Ed Thayer]

Good thoughts,

We have just ground driven them to date, however we are going to hitch them to a sled this weekend. We can get some sweat under the collars and see if that changes the mouthing issue.

I guess as suggested earlier, having a pole between them may help as well.

Thanks,

Ed

[Ed Thayer]

Tim,

I was thinking the same thing. We were pulling wood that had been down since fall and the logs were tight to the ground.
the tongs would have worked great in that situation.

I never thought about the point of lift being different.

Ed

[Ed Thayer]

Nice example of what can be done in a short period of time with a good plan.

Congrats,

Ed

[Ed Thayer]

Here are a couple of pics of OZ and Balzac hitched last weekend.

I think the lines are adjusted correctly now? They worked very well together. The black horse has a tendancy to lip and mouth the other horse and lines and whatever else he can reach. He doesn’t bite, but it is irritating to the other horse.

Would a jockey stick prevent that when they are just being ground driven?

I also used the breeching rope on the rear to help keep them together when turning and backing.

Ed

[Ed Thayer]

Don,

Very nice work. The last pic shows a heavy butt log that they appear to move with ease. Is that Connie on the left?

I think a piece of 3/8 inch round stock welded to the bottom of the channel in the middle of the runner would be sufficient for better tracking in icy conditions. A few welds up the sides and when it wears off simply add a new one.

I studied the pics and am confused as to how the pivot works on the chain bunk?

Anyways, nice work and thanks for sharing with us,

Ed

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