[jac]

Hi Tim… That plow looks like the Canadian built Cockshutt that I have.. the landside arrangement is unusual to me tho ???..
John

[jac]

Hey JL… Only work we got on just now is finishing off the pasture harrowing. Going to get that slitter that I made and give all the fields a double going over. Lets the surface water away. First of the frost and we get the manure on..
John

[jac]

You have a good time over there.. Its sure to be a great weekend… seems like everyone is there except me…
John

[jac]

Jeez Bill your weather over there is about as off the wall as ours… We have really great weather right now and very little rain.. very very unusual for Ayrshire.. Sympathies with you on the clean up…
John

[jac]

English farm wagons made in hilly regions were made with double shafts. These wagons in the foto have been made for heavy road freight.. perhaps moving boilers or other heavy equipment.. at a walk.. The cart saddle with the ridger chain was not suited to fast road work. I agree on the easier turning also think they thought twin shafts would offer more stability and perhaps easier to hitch extra horses up front. ..
John

[jac]

Thats the kind of thing im talking bout Marshall.. the plow takes off the 1st 8″ or 9″ and that leaves an easy 2″ or 3″ for the subsoiler.. or would a rotor with 4 blades like the ones I have on my slitter work.. less pull and 6″ deep slots over the whole field ??
John

[jac]

Thank you Mitch and Tim.. Now this has me thinking.. If a horse farmer has a pan that is say 3″ thick at 9″ deep.. could a small ducks foot type of sub soiler be bolted on immediatly behind the plow body and go down 3″. This way a shallow rip would be made with each pass of the plow and do away with having to chisel plow down to 9″ ??? … Tim the min tillage machines we have over here use a combination of discs then heavy spring tines with more discs following up with a packer roller at the rear.. all pulled with 300hp tractors..
John

[jac]

Mitch by jerk lines I assume you mean a single line ? I have no idea but it looks pretty cool. The back pad seems to have been held in place by the fact the line of draft was broken.. not a great idea really but it seems to have worked.i prefer the modern harness. Wish I could have went with you and Penny on saturday. Next year for sure. Enjoy your day. .
John

[jac]

I cant answer that one Mitch:).. Mabey if I had asked grandfather more questions.. who knows.. Even the way they hitched a trace horse was a bit odd. The chains were hooked to the front of that slide arrangement and when the pull went on it must have put extra weight on the back of the horse in the shafts ?? As you say.. tons of eveners for pole work..
John

[jac]

Youre right Grey .. British design wasnt that great, which is why I try not to use it. If I had any problems with hocks I would just knock out the staple and move it forward. That horse is probly the biggest I have and I admit there isnt a lot of room. The straps are on slides and assembled as per instructions by Arron Martin…remember I have no one else within 200 miles of here that uses horses for anything but showing !!. Believe me.. i wish I lived in a more horse based culture but i dont so I do what I can to improve the job. The hay turner was a machine I put together myself to get a job done . The shafts are off a 2 wheeled cart for Clydes but the horses are bigger now. I totaly agree that the British way of no single trees on equipment like that made the horses job harder…. I dont think I have any fotos of the tails.. I dont show any more but the Budweiser Clydes do the same tail…
John

[jac]

Grey that was an awsome description.. the foto shows the turner slightly on the over run and the breeching is working.. hence the closeness to the hocks. Never had a hock strike and would alter it if I did. As long as the slide is greased I have had no probs with it pulling the pad and the machine is light at the shaft tip because I fitted the singletree lower down. That old horse did the hay with no rubs or sores. I agree that the breeching wouldnt suit a heavy 2 wheel cart but is ok for the work we do.. The doubled up straps are the quarter straps which I looped thru a ring and clipped back on so I didnt have to alter when I put him back into the wagon with the neck yoke:rolleyes:.. The tail thing was for parade work.. shaved stump and the tail pleated up and put up in a bun.. great for show but looks awfull in the field… I would have to say that your top foto seems to show the breeching a bit low and a lot broader than is normal over here..I recon if that horse had to stop a load that justified breeching as wide as that its hind legs would be knocked from under him.. As for the English having problems with coach horses and sores.. an over greased turntable can cause the pole to waver back and forth thus tugging on the pole chains and pulling at the collar. The neck yoke and eveners is a much better idea. The harness in the foto is what we bought from Arron Martin in Canada 15 years ago and is sold as suitable for field or parade.. Oh and those shafts are off a 2 wheeled cart.. hence the weight.. but they work on the turner fine because they ballance out the rotors and the fact the singletree is lower… I would also like to add that British farmers refused to accept change.. Western breeching harness was demonstrated at Perth in the 30s but never caught on..neither did the sulky plow or manure spreader. Single furrow 10″ plows remained in use till the tractor came in. I dont use much of British harness..
John

[jac]

Mitch British shafts have a slide arangement that takes a ridge chain over the cart saddle on 2 wheeled carts. 2 draw chains, as they were called over here, went from the collar to staples towards the rear of the shaft. A hook on the front of the slider took the trace chain from an extra horse hooked up front. In the picture I have modified the original set up by using the staple that used to take the short chain from the collar, and used that for my quarter straps. a hook on the back of the slider took the original breeching chain..
John

[jac]

Andy I should have elaborated a bit more .. the original Scottish set up didnt have a singletree. I put one on the turner to make it easier to use the American harness.. full length traces straight to singletree and the quarter straps snapped to the staple under the shaft…
John

[jac]

Yep I would agree with your father in law.. we have exactly the same set up over here in Scotland. The top chains went to the collar and the lower staples took the breeching… Works well…tho i would second Andy on the singletree .. I converted my shafts on our hay turner and it works a treat with the western breeching harness we use now.. look forward to the finished article Jamie….
John

[jac]

These guys are awsome.. that looks like being a great machine when its finished..
John

[Author]

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