This message is from: Marsha Jo Hannah <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > last week during my driving lesson with Sven [...] the traces > popped off both sides - and suddenly cart and horse were going every > which way!! My trainer jumped off [...] I unhooked the harness so we > could get the cart out from under him. We hitched Sven back up and > off we went. Throughout this whole ordeal, Sven calmly waited for us > to "fix" everything [...] > > So, what was the problem?? The leathers that keep the trace > connected were old and worn and too thin to keep the traces connected. > [...] a metal easy entry cart
I never did like using the little pieces of leather to retain the traces on the singletree. I've seen more than one of my friends come back from a drive with a stick or some such poked in the hole in the singletree, as an emergency trace-retainer! Years ago, I acquired a couple of "tractor pins" at the local hardware store. They come in all sizes---I got the ones with "pins" about the same diameter as the holes in the singletree, and rings wide enough to go over the ends of the singletree. (The ring is attached to the pin in a way that makes it spring-loaded---you have to hold it up to put the pin in the hole, then the ring automatically snaps down next to the pin, to hold it in place.) I also got an extra one, to go into my "spares kit"---the tools and fix-it stuff that lives with the cart. However, these stories brought to mind one that Nancy Clow/Lehnert told on herself about my Nansy mare. When I expressed interest in the mare, I mentioned that I drove, so Nancy thought she'd enhance Nansy's marketability by checking out her driving training, using their pipe cart and an older harness. Put the harness on Nansy---she didn't care. Ground drove her around a little---Nansy figured that was unusual, but ho-hum. Pulled the cart around her by hand---mild interest. Hooked her up to it and had her pull it around (still ground driven)---Nansy merely gave them the old-mare look about the peculiar things horses have to put up with. So, they got in the cart and drove her around in their yard a bit---fine. Then they hit a bump, and the saddle on the old harness just broke in half, dropping the shafts at Nansy's feet. Everything came to a disorganized halt, with Nansy just standing there, giving them the "will you get your act together" look, while they untacked her. They proclaimed her broke to drive. (The friend who went with me to look at Nansy ground drove her a bit, and later expressed the opinion that the horse had probably never been trained to drive.) Love them Fjords.... Marsha Jo Hannah Murphy must have been a horseman-- [EMAIL PROTECTED] anything that can go wrong, will! 30 mi SSE of San Francisco, Calif. -------
