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I’m sorry that I offended you with my snap judgement, Rod. Admittedly, it is a very grainy photograph and probably not a good one from which to make such judgements. Let me show you what it is I think I’m seeing. The black outline is where I tried to color in where I think your plow share is. The red is where I feel the share has been worn from its original shape.

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The hole in the end of the beam is missing a bolt. It isn’t for adjustment, it is just for keeping the bridle attached to the end of the beam and parallel to the beam. You are correct: probably the reason that there are three holes in the wood and only two holes in the bridle is because that bridle isn’t original to that beam. The hole spacing was different on the bridle that came with that beam. When they replaced the bridle, they had to drill a different hole to make it fit.

I don’t see any way of adjusting the width of the furrow, only the depth. Can’t quite tell what’s going on back there at the end of the beam where it attaches to the plow and the handles… depending on how it’s made, there might be a way of adjusting the furrow width back there. If not, then a 2nd horizontal piece could be added to the bridle in order to allow for adjustments to the width of furrow.

Can you take a full side photo of the bridle of the plow? Also, one of the back of the beam where it mounts to the plow and handles?

Sorry to say, that share looks like it is done for. Not much left of it.

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Carl – that grubby line across the back of the shirt makes me grin. I did some plowing and then, seeing the late hour, dashed into town to the hardware store before they closed, to get some parts to finish a plumbing project. Old-timer in line behind me at the register tapped me on the arm and asked, “Been plowin??”

I was floored! I said that, yes, I had been plowing earlier that day and how did he know? The guy had a huge grin and said that he recognised the dirt ground into a stripe diagonal across the back of my shirt from one armpit up to the opposite shoulder. We went out into the parking lot and leaned on my truck and had a long talk about the local soil and plowing and horses. It was great. If it weren’t for the reek, I’d say that wearing your plowing shirt into town is a great conversation starter.

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John – looking at “Speedy” in all those photos, he/she (sorry, don’t recally the gender) sure looks unhappy. Blowing the nostrils out in irritation, crabby expression, crabby ears. Hopefully he/she settles down soon. Plowing with a “Speedy” take a little bit of the joy out of it. At least you have a good anchor horse to help keep him/her in check. I had a “Speedy” and was plowing single with her. Talk about flapping in the wind beind the plow. Neither of us were having much fun. When she finally “got it” and slowed down, things clicked and suddenly it was a joy again.

Remind us; how long as “Speedy” been in harness?

On a different note, I am very jealous of your land. Someday I hope to run a plowshare through our ground and *not* turn over rusted sheet metal, huge chunks of aggregate or concrete, half-burned logs or solid clay. Someday…

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Keep us updated on your situation with the collar rub. Really interested in what you end up doing and what the solution ends up being. Might be helpful if you post a photo of your whole setup. Sometimes a detail elsewhere might give us a clue as to the underlying issue. Curious about what sort of wagon you are using… the type of wheels, the style and angle of the tongue, how you have adjusted your neck yoke, breast strap and pole strap.

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Well, even horses get up on the wrong side of the bed some days.

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Wet collars is the real solution.

In the short term, yes, you could try a jerk line. You could put a set of single lines on Speedy Gonzales, in addition to the team lines. You could use a buck-back from the halter to the evener pin. You could put a leverage bit on the fast one and drop down the shanks one notch.

If Speedy gets out in front, though, the other’s lines get slack and you are really just driving Speedy. So any contact through the lines is only affecting the offender.

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For me, it depends a lot on how far away I am driving, whether it will be a regular gig or not, and whether I will need the wagon elsewhere between time. Not having a van, I have to make separate trips to deliver the wagon and the horses. If I will being going back time and again, I can leave the wagon there and just travel with the horses. But if I have to bring the wagon home again each time, those trips can really add up.

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Yes, exactly. If the collar fits correctly, it will match the angle of the shoulder when the horse is in “normal” draft… like dragging a log on the ground or a walking plow. The back pad and belly band get adjusted to maintain that ideal angle so that when you have “abnormal” hitch heights, the collar still lies correctly against that horse’s shoulder.

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We, too, have hames that allow for hooking the traces at different heights. Here is one example: http://www.smuckersharness.com/harnesses/pg51B.jpg (the wood hames on the left)

However, we would not choose a different adjustment based on the height of hitch. Those adjustments are to make one pair of hames fit one animal or another, just like the three slots in the top of the hame. Once you have found the proper setting for that animal, you would not change the adjustment, regardless of the height of the point of hitch. You do not want the horse pushing against the collar with the traces hitched too high or too low on the shoulder, or having the traces leave the hames too far off 90 degrees. It causes the collar to press unevenly against the horse’s shoulder, or to lift and press against the windpipe.

When dragging things on the ground (logs, walking plow, etc.), the belly band and the back pad are a convenience, only. They are not necessary for keeping the collar in place, once the horse is in draft and actively pushing against the collar.

Take another look at this photo:
[img]http://www.draftanimalpower.com/photoplog/images/42/1_DSC01784.JPG[/img]

The two horses in the center of the lead do not have properly-adjusted belly bands. The angle of draft has not been maintained. The high point of hitch, combined with the improperly-used belly bands, has caused their traces to lift their collars. The collars are pressing into their windpipes. The traces do not leave the collars at a 90-degree angle. The angle of their shoulder tries to press against the collar evenly. This results in either lifting the collar or rocking the top of the collar forward and back, applying uneven and intermittant pressure against the shoulder and creating a sore.

When you use something with a high point of hitch, such as a high-wheeled passenger cart, you like to have the tugs come straight back from the collar, run alongside the shafts, and go directly to the point of hitch? Similar to the effect that you would get by using a breastcollar harness? That is fine as long as it is something light such as a little passenger cart. Relatively little force is exerted.

[img]http://www.draftanimalpower.com/photoplog/images/706/1_DSC00034.JPG[/img]

Although this is a vehicle with shafts, it has been designed with a low point of hitch because the angle of draft between the collar and the point of hitch needs to remain as close to 90 degrees as possible, while still allowing the collar to lie flat against the angle of the shoulder. The angle of draft that is acceptable on a light passenger cart would be unacceptable in this situation. If you had a very wide belly band and/or a D-ring harness, a higher point of hitch could be tolerated, but it would still not be ideal.

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That’s very true. I guess the only reason I put that in there is because I sometimes see/hear people say that they use their harness this way or that way and never had any problems. However, the reality is that most people don’t actually use their horses, so they never see any ill effects from their badly-adjusted harness. Like the show horses with their way-too-big Scotch collars… a few turns around the ring isn’t going to sore a shoulder. But plow half a day with such a sloppy collar and you’ll do damage to your horse.

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That photo is a very good one for demonstrating a properly-fitted and properly-adjusted harness. The well-groomed gray horses make an excellent canvas for the harness. I have absolutely no complaints about the adjustment of the harness in that photo, which is rare. It is so much easier to find a photo of an incorrectly-adjusted harness.

When you have one horse or one team and have a low point of hitch and are dragging dead weight on the ground, the adjustment of your harness is not very critical. As long as your collar fits, nothing is sagging down where it can get a hoof caught, and the load isn’t hitched so close that it hits the horse in the heels when he walks, everything else is largely irrelevant.

When you start hitching multiple teams, or hitch to something with wheels or start going over varied terrain or raise your point of hitch, harness fit and adjustment becomes more and more important. The length of time you have the horse really working in harness makes a difference as well. If you’re just going up and pulling out a little log or two, or making a few passes across the field with the harrow, or going out for an hour-long wagon ride down the road, a maladjusted harness likely won’t bother the horse. There might be some safety issues if the horse is pulling a vehicle and the harness isn’t adjusted correctly.

Increase the length of time in harness or the weight that the horse is pulling and an ill-fitting harness will sore a shoulder.

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Here is another one.

Look at the team in front. See how high their heel chains are? Their point of hitch is well above their hocks! Look at how the angle of the traces changes at the belly band.

[img]http://www.draftanimalpower.com/photoplog/images/42/1_DSC01784.JPG[/img]

Also, look at the little horse closest to the camera. The rope and pulley evener system they are using makes the point of hitch quite high for the lead team. That little Hafflinger’s harness is adjusted properly to make sure that her traces and hames stay at a 90-degree angle to each other, and also the traces are 90 degrees to her shoulder. The market strap must be long enough and the belly band snug enough to maintain that angle. After or behind the belly band, the traces have a different angle.

When you are going to use your horse in such a way as to have a high point of hitch like this, make sure you have a nice wide belly band. You can see how a narrow one would cut in and cause discomfort in a situation like this.

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Not sure I understand… you move your tugs up and down on the hames according to the height of your hitch point?

The tug should always be centered over the “draft” of the horse’s shoulder. There is one spot on the horse’s shoulder that is above the point of the shoulder (the bone) where the muscle is broad and flat. The widest part of the collar should ride there, and the tugs should attach to the hames there also.

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Well, I stumbled across one image that shows the belly band in action.

Even if this wasn’t a D-ring harness, you would still see the tugs bend at the belly band. The collar (and hames) lies against the shoulder. The tugs leave the collar at a right-angle. The belly band and the back pad are adjusted to anchor that tug in a position that holds the angle. Then, from the belly band back to the point of hitch, the tugs may be at whatever angle is required.

If your point of hitch is low to the ground (walking plow, stoneboat, etc.), the adjustment of belly band and back pad is not as cruical. Still, for safety’s sake, you don’t ever want them “loose” and I certainly would never leave them so loose as to have them hanging down six inches, as it appears to be in the video.

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