Pole length

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  • February 13, 2013 at 5:50 pm #44505
    LStone
    Participant

    Another question I have is to pole length and leverage. I use a sleigh with a pole that in my opinion is to long by a good foot or better in my opinion. I have added about 8 in. of heel chain to my tugs. That is a problem right? The horses should be further back towards the load right? this pole has one of those hook looking pole ends on it too. I wonder if I am using the neck yoke correctly by putting it over the pole but it ends up wedging itself between the hook and the pole. I hope I am describing it so it can be understood well but if you attached a horse shoe to the bottom of the pole so that the toe was forward and the heel to the rear is kind of what a profile of this pole looks like. any feedback?

    February 13, 2013 at 6:58 pm #77421
    LStone
    Participant

    Gooseneck tongue iron I believe is the correct terminology for what is on the pole in question. How do you use it with a neckyoke / ring?

    February 13, 2013 at 7:06 pm #77425
    Big Horses
    Participant

    Pictures would be a great help. Usually on a sled, (bobsled, such as a feed sled) the attachment to the runners is low, and by that, provides some additional lift to the front of the runner to help it pull nicely. It sounds like your setup is stretched out a ways. The “hook” that I think you’re describing is for another evener up front, if you’re pulling with a 4up, from what I can picture. Now that you ask, I’d have to measure to be sure, but I seem to remember we use 9’6″ or 10′ from evener pin to the neckyoke, for our Clydesdales. Somebody else on here will surely be able to correct me if that’s wrong.
    John

    February 13, 2013 at 8:45 pm #77431
    carl ny
    Participant

    Is that on your direct pull set up? If so, if you add a hammer strap and an evener you would turn out close. Can’t remember for sure but I think the pole is 112″ from the yoke stop to the evener pin. Like I said,not sure and I don’t have anything here to measure.
    I buy 12′ poles from the Amish and that would leave about the right amount at each end for hadeware. HTH

    carl ny

    February 14, 2013 at 5:59 pm #77422
    LStone
    Participant

    Hi guys thanks for trying to understand. This sleigh has an evener clevis mounted on the cross-member between the leading ends of the runners. So a hammer strap would be redundant and push the hitch point out ahead of the runners more. Lets say this pole is 12.5 ft long and I am using only the single team. I think this pole was built for monster hosses. I know cutting the pole is an option but I want to make it the last resort as this isn’t my equipment either. Yes “Big” the hook is for the 4 up evener but is on the bottom vs. the top. I am trying to figure out how the best way to anchor my neck yoke would be. I’m thinking sneaking the yoke ring over the hook and drilling a through hole top to bottom through the pole about 10’6 from the evener hitch point and using a pin of some sort to secure the yoke there. Would that be advisable? I use 10.5 feet from the hitch point to the yoke on my wagons. Twelve feet away from the hitch point I think I am losing a lot of mechanical advantage with smaller team. If I can just set the yoke back on the pole a foot and a half I think I’ll be golden. Would a hole through the pole compromise it in anyway? Temporarily I am using a spare yoke ring with a “quick link” connection to the neck yoke ring and that sets my guys back about 8″ towards the load and I also have a yoke that will gain me another inch or so. I think that will get me back to hitching to the original length of heel chain. But I would really be comfortable with the whole foot and a half. Thanks again.

    February 14, 2013 at 11:18 pm #77433
    Dickel
    Participant

    Talk about long poles.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKZtmLopPnc

    February 14, 2013 at 11:45 pm #77420
    Mark Cowdrey
    Participant

    Larry,
    How is the pole attached at the front of the runners? On my sleigh it is bolted to the “roll” (piece between the runner front ends), lapped with a dado about 3/4″ deep and braced to the runner ends w steel rods. Regardless, if the pole is relatively simple to remove, I might thin about replacing it w my own the length I wanted, then when it it is time to give it back, swap the original pole back on.
    I don’t like having pole sticking out in front myself, lines get caught on it and it is bound to screw me up in a tight spot sooner or later.
    Mark

    February 15, 2013 at 12:10 am #77432
    carl ny
    Participant

    If it was me,I would drill a new hole for the evener and move it up instead of moving the yoke back. I did that so I could hook the draft ponies I had and still be able to hook full size drafts.

    carl ny

    February 15, 2013 at 7:22 pm #77423
    LStone
    Participant

    Yes but the roll is square. Not sure about the simplicity of changing this one but I don’t have another pole to use anyway. I thought about the lines getting fouled up but I think I can control that enough.

    February 17, 2013 at 5:47 am #77426
    Big Horses
    Participant

    Sounds like yours attaches something like this one on my feed sled….. Sorry I don’t have any of it with the pole down.

    PB220093-1.jpg

    If you’re not willing to cut the pole, then by all means move the evener up… having the pole hanging out in front is just begging for a wreck in my opinion.

    February 18, 2013 at 2:47 am #77427
    Jay
    Participant

    I have a couple of neck yokes I use some times (when I have a long pole) that are 3 piece (for NE Dring harness) with a center ring and chain to each end of the spread stick with the jocky yokes (short ones in front of each horse) attached at the end of the chain. Depending on the ratio/ length of the spread stick- to the length of the chains, this set up can add up to a foot or more to the length of pole needed for a given team. I think the kind of place this might have been used most might have been on a scoot in the woods where the horses need to move independently of each other at times. It does allow that. They were the 1st neck yokes I had so I used to use them alot and now I use them less because they add so much required length to the pole/hitch. Jay

    February 20, 2013 at 3:15 pm #77424
    LStone
    Participant

    Would love to see picture of that in use HP51. If you could. Is the spread stick what the jockey yokes are attached to?

    February 21, 2013 at 2:13 am #77428
    Jay
    Participant

    I’ll see if I can get a picture up here. The jockey yokes are attached to a ring in the end of the chain just beyond the end of the spread-stick. I’ll get the measurements of the two on my bob sleds, too. Jay

    February 23, 2013 at 2:03 am #77429
    Jay
    Participant

    I checked my neck yokes: 1) spread stick 38″, chain on each side from center of ring on pole to end of spread stick 24″, distance on pole from ring stop to spread stick 11″ #2) spread stick 39″, chain on each side from center of ring on pole to end of spread stick 24″, distance on pole from ring stop to spread stick 12″.
    They ad about 6-8″ to the length of the hitch over a “regular” neck yoke (ring connected directly to yoke). I’m sitll working on a picture. Jay

    February 23, 2013 at 5:04 pm #77434
    j.l.holt
    Participant

    Are you useing a chain spreader or some sort?

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