light weight forecart.

I really appreciate all those that responded. Being located in central Texas, their is no old timers I can pick their brains about how it’s done. About two hours away, in Blanco, their is a carriage museum run by a nice fellow that also has a carriage business. He helped with getting the forecart and harness for my fjord, however I am probably the only dude around in 100 miles that is trying to replace his tractor with horses.

I have been reading a lot but we all know that is know substitue for actual experience. I hope to get some carriage driving experience when I return from oveseas as I start back to training my fjord (she is about 14.5 and 1400 pounds) and my roping horse.

One reason I am stuck on working the single horse is I believe in starting slowly, plus, I reckon training them (and myself) to work single will get them in the fields sooner. My real motivation though for working them single is that it will get my kids involved. That is my main motivation for this enterprise. I’m not trying to make money, just work with my kids and teach them hard work and you can get the job done without big expensive tractors. My kids will work with my quarterhorse because despite his unsocialable behavior, my kids learned to ride on him and he is fairly bombproof. The first time I put him in harness we were able to drag my round pen and arena like he’d been doing it all his life.

Back to the origin on those post…..I’m thinking that I will get a shop to custom make a forecrat for me, though the white horse looks lighter than the forecart I currently have, my location in central Texas makes it difficult to find the right equipment. As far as the question that was asked about whether I have the right size forecart…I honestly don’t know. The man that found it for me (carriage business owner) works with Belgians so we both guessed if it was right size. I’m probably being too sensitive about the weight issue, I reckon I should make that determination once I get my fjord hitched up to it and see how it goes. My hay field is fairly flat.

I apologize for the rambling, ya’ll have a great day,

Vince.

Another question, what are the options for a rake that can pulled by a single horse? I have used wheel rakes and gyro rakes on tractors. I read above where Mr. Low said he pulls a side delivery rake and tedder with his fjord. Again, because of the 100 degree heat in Texas during the summer I’m looking for the lightest tool that we can get the job done. I thought of using something that you might use behind an ATV but I don’t know if those can handle long coastal bermuda which is the only variety I plan to harvest for the time being.