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That’s pretty neat. I don’t know if I’d ever have cause to use it, but I’d love to have one of those in my collection of harness curiosities.

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The sulfur block is supposed to cause the animals to be less attractive to biting and blood-sucking insects. Cobalt is supposed to help aid digestion and also is necessary to formulate vitamin B-12. Many horses are found to be cobalt-deficient. Truly, however, I don’t know how much cobalt is needed in a horse’s diet. It could be that the trace mineral block has enough cobalt in it and the blue block is just wasted. But sometimes they work at the cobalt block pretty hard, so I continue to provide it.

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I leave out three blocks, also. A trace mineral salt block, a sulfur salt block and a cobalt salt block. Sometimes one block gets hit really hard by everybody and disappears. Other times they ignore it. It comes in fits and spurts. I had one that gnawed on wood when she was in the tie stall but I think it was just anxiety. At the time, I tried everything under the sun to coat the wood with something repugnant enough that she wouldn’t chew on it, to no avail. I tried six different commercial preparations marketed for just such a thing and all it did was slow her down a bit. The behavior has since disappeared on its own.

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Foot brake on the wagonettes, yes. But also the straps that go from the end of the pole to the dee at the center of the breastcollar or around the throat of the neck collar…. those provide braking. Not the best arrangement (spoken from my lofty Western-centric feeling of superior harness technology), but it does work if the vehicle is light. You’ll see that some of the breastcollar harnesses have a strap that wraps around the neck to counteract any downward pull from the wagonette pole. That puts some of the braking on the crest of the neck. Many of the breastcollar harnesses have the traces secured at the girth before continuing back to the singletree or roller bolts. So when the breastcollar gets pulled foreward by the pole, the girth helps anchor it. It is likely that some – if not many – of those horses have never felt a britchen. Some people in the sport of combined driving feel that a britchen is too confining for the horse to perform his best.

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I use Moorman’s Grostrong.

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Oh, and trot is a diagonal gait while pace is a lateral gait.

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The trot gait has diagonal legs moving in unison. Left front and right rear strike the ground at the same time. It is a two-beat gait. That is, there are two beats before each foot has struck the ground and the cycle repeats.

Pacing has legs on the same side of the body moving in unison. Both front and rear left legs strike the ground at the same time. Also a two-beat gait.

A tolt is a four-beat gait, like a sped-up version of a walk. No two feet strike the ground at the same time. We have an Icelandic here for training and his tolt is a real hoot to ride. Just gliding along.

Some of the gaits among the various “gaited” breeds are pretty similar but because they came from different parts of the world, there are different names for them. Also, some people just like to argue so they invent nano-increments of difference between different gaits and then make a fuss about them. 😉 Add to that the fact that many gaited horses don’t always exhibit the textbook-perfect cadence of their breed’s special gait and you get a whole cornucopia of different gait rythms.

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Looks like that trace clip has seen some pretty good wear also.

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Depends on if they’re trotters or pacers.

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In my experience, even when Irish *are* speaking English, you wouldn’t necessarily know it through the brogue and the vernacular!

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Sorry, numbers aren’t my strong suit. I measure eight times and still have to cut twice. Wanted to congratulate you on your new acquisition. I’ve been keeping my eyes peeled for one but haven’t managed it yet. Don’t forget that it does make a sound all of its own.

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I was still a few minutes from the end when I posted that. Guess all those cars were full of spectators and cheerleaders! Crazy!

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The part that I found mind-boggling was all the people on the wrong side of the road. No, no, even taking into account that they drive on the opposite side of the road over there, there’s a staggering number of people (including the person driving the car that is taking the video) who are simply driving on whatever part of the road they desire. Lots of people vindictively tailgating the sulkies. Such strange behavior!

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Thank you!

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That’s interesting. Obnoxious, I’m sure, but interesting. The ones in the picture – are those cast? I’ve never seen a swiveling one before. Is the swivel of any benefit? When it is functioning correctly, I mean.

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