took harness apart need some help now.

Yep, main line goes to the outside of each horse. Right hand main line goes to the right side of the right horse. Left hand main line goes to the left side of the left horse.

When you are re-attaching the check line to your main line, feed the check line through the hame ring of the same horse that the main line belongs to. THEN go to the bit of the other horse. For example: right main line goes through the right hame ring and then to the right side of the right horse. Then the check line of the right line goes through the RIGHT horse’s LEFT hame ring… then to the LEFT horse’s bit. Hope that makes sense.

If your horses are trying to walk too close together, adjust your check line length by moving the buckle forward toward the horses. If the horses are trying to walk too far apart, move the check line buckle back toward your hands.

Leather stretches over time, so you might want to do a “sanity check” with your lines. Attach your lines to the barn wall, pay them out and make sure that the holes for the check line buckles are in more-or-less the same place on each line. I’ve bought a pair of lines at auction without inspecting them too closely and come to find out they aren’t from the same set. Check line holes punched in different places. If they’ve ever been mended or spliced, same thing can happen. Just something to check if things don’t seem to be going the way they oughta.

No, adjust your lines symmetrically. A 2″ height difference is nothing that requires compensation for.

If they are walking too far apart, bring your check buckles back toward your hands to bring the horses in toward each other. You can hook the neck yoke to the horses but it would probably be bonking them in the upper forelegs and furthermore it wouldn’t do much to keep them together. It’s really the lines that keep them together and not the pole or the neck yoke or any of that. Might want to use a butt rope, though, to keep them from turning inside-out on you.

Great suggestion from Grey on the butt rope, to keep them from turning inside toward you .You lose all control in a hurry.

If a team has not been driven much without a pole and your inexperience all 3 of you can loose confidence quickly ,get someone with experience to help . sometimes it’s hard to see the whole picture when all you can see are 2 big butts in your face .

How old are the horses? how broke are they supposed to be ? Some horses can be driven fairly well with a pole and yoke with lines that are incorrectly adjusted ie ( when the fellow dropped them off ) Don’t be to convinced by the marks left by the buckle on the main reins that that’s where they should be buckled by for your team at this time . How about asking the fellow who dropped them off about the lines ? That’s great you saw them getting grumpy something’s causing that ,in fact it may not be the lines at all ??

Take it slow, The slow way is the fast way with horses. Unlearning something that happens in a fearful situation can be very slow.
good luck !

Peyton – great but make sure you and your horses are “comfortable” driving as a team on the ground before you hook up to a wagon. Wheeled vehicles don’t present much of a load so be absolutely sure you’ve got things adjusted right on the harness and you and your horses are on the same page.

Have fun, think one step ahead and be safe.

I use a nice, fat non-abrasive rope. Less chance of rope burn that way. Check and double-check everything. Attention to detail is key to safety when hitching and driving.

Cotton rope would be more soft less apt to burn.