Cutting a mower down to one horse size?

[cherprit]

Have any of you cut down a mower down to a one horse mower?

[Carl Russell]

I have a New Idea mower with a 5 foot bar that I added shafts to so that I could mow with the mare alone. I did nothing to the mower, just cut off the pole and added an A-frame and shafts. She was a good sized mare, 1800ish.
Carl

[cherprit]

I did read about someone on the Rural Heritage site that cut down the blade to 4 feet. My mare isn’t quite that big. I’m taking my #7 to an old teamster on Saturday to see what he thinks. I might just have to wait until i get a teammate for my mare.

[TBigLug]

Just curious, have you tried her with the mower as-is? It may work if you let her rest more frequently. How long is the bar now?

[cherprit]

Thanks for the replies. I haven’t tried her on the mower yet – would I just make up a set of shafts for it? I’ve only had it a week, and it does need a few small parts – off to get those on Saturday. It’s a 5′ blade.

[TBigLug]

I would imagine you could fab up a set of shafts. Mybe mount it with a reciever style hitch so you could swap out shafts for a pole when you get a team. Just an idea.

[Crabapple Farm]

I’ve got a #7 One Horse mower, the main differences I see between it and a mower made for a team: 4′ bar, shafts, narrower frame & chassis.
The bar can be cut down easily by someone with the tools and knowledge. But with a well tuned mower and horse, and rests, you might not need to cut a 5′ down.
You can make (or have made) a set of shafts easily enough. Cut the tongue (assuming it wasn’t cut already) or better yet make a stub tongue based on the original, so that you can switch it back later if you want to use it with a team.
The frame/chassis you can’t modify. A One Horse mower built as such is narrower, with the cutter bar starting just over a half a horse width from the tongue, whereas a team mower is designed to fit a whole horse between the tongue and standing grass. Plus, the narrower frame weighs less. So you’ll have to teach her to walk the right distance away from the edge, and there will be a little more weight than if it was a “real” One Horse Mower. (remember: at the turn of the century, most folks were using horses more in the 1400 lb range than 1800)
Get it as well tuned as you can, because a smooth running mower pulls much easier than one that doesn’t run smooth.

[cherprit]

I took my #7 to the 82 year young teamster last weekend. He showed me two parts missing, a spring and the stay rod. Other than that it’s in great shape. When I asked him about cutting it down into a one horse, he looked at me like I had just grown two heads…………

[TBigLug]

@cherprit 3453 wrote:

When I asked him about cutting it down into a one horse, he looked at me like I had just grown two heads…………

LOL I can see it now. I think you could do it with one horse. You could even fab ub a set of shafts that would put your horse right next to the uncut hay so you don’t have to keep it in the middle or side.

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