D-ring Front Trace

[dominiquer60]

Carl, modifying the pole to fit the harness is par for course around here, it may change more with the new knowledge that we have. I hear what you are saying about shortening up the front end.

The photo below might be a good example, we lengthened the pole on this sprayer to accommodate our harness. As you can see we have dropped a few links of heel chain, but the yokes and front side backer straps up front could really be taken in a bit. The side backer straps are on the tightest holes already, but there is plenty of room to make more holes and space to bring the jockey yokes back.

I like your chain neck yoke set up, I see how that is handy. The plug yoke makes sense too, EXCEPT that there are several pieces of equipment where we use both horses and oxen, and the plug yoke only allows for horse use. I assume that if we thought about it we could rig up a pole to accept both ring yoke and plug yoke, but knowing Sam’s work load that won’t happen any time soon. So for now I will work on burning holes in front side backers, I am happy that we at least see the light, it may just take a little while getting there 🙂

We will see what we can do about the plow draft angle and the front end, I will post when we figure it out better.

I am calling Abner this morning and will let him know about our conversation here, I am sure that he would thank you all for your input.

It is always a pleasure being part of these in-depth conversations.

Erika

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[Does’ Leap]

This thread inspired my to look more critically at my harness fit. When I bought these used d-ring harnesses I cut several inches off the short tug on one horse (the smaller of the pair) and left it “as is” for by bigger horse. It seems to me like a could benefit from cutting 2-3 inches off the short tugs on the horse pictured below. Two other things of note: (1) the breeching looks low in the first picture but you can see where the hair is worn above where the breeching normally sits while holding back a load…interesting. (2) Notice the difference between the tug/hame angle between the two pictures. At rest it looks pretty close to 90 degrees while under load the angle looks more acute.

Any thoughts on whether the short tug needs to be shortened? How about the change in hame/tug angle when at rest vs. under load? My thought is to move the hame/tug spacer on top and possibly lengthen my market strap and shorten my girth. Opinions? Any other thoughts on harness fit would be appreciated.

George

• This reply was modified 10 years, 7 months ago by Does' Leap.

[Does’ Leap]

For some reason the “img” button is freezing/not working. Here are some links to the pictures…

Short Tug Under Load

Short Tug At Rest

[Carl Russell]

George, I have to run to some hot issues this morning, and needed to log into the google account, which I can’t remember the password for, so I’ll get a chance to look at the pics a bit later today.

Have a glorious day, Carl

[Donn Hewes]

Hi George, I couldn’t make the google plus photos work. Sorry. I have been fixing some of my short tugs as well. They are easy to shorten. Last year I had a local harness shop repair one that was broken (don’t ask) but I ended up with two tugs that were almost an inch different. This year I had a local shop make me some replacements, but left them unfinished on the front end. Now my intern and I are slowly measuring the best tug length for each horse and finishing the tugs with clips and solid nail rivets. Some of my harnesses are wearing out, so these kinds of parts replacing are the only alternative to buying harnesses which I hope to do some day. Once I am done with all these I will have to adjust the length of the front side strap and market strap? (from the back saddle to the D ring) to make it all fit right again. Donn

The bowing tug never bothered me much, but it can be an indicator of a tug that doesn’t fit right. I am looking forward to the higher D ring and improved angles making hitch easier. with less tension

[Does’ Leap]

[Carl Russell]

Sorry George I cannot get the google to load the photos either… Hopefully the image post will be remedied soon….

[dominiquer60]

I keep looking at our front tugs that could stand a shortening. This is one place (there are pros and cons for both) where I think leather trumps nylon. I don’t have a good way to cut our nylon harness and catch the strands with heat before they fray too much while I hack away at it. Plus there is a decorative piece of synthetic leather to cut thru as well, it won’t be very decorative once cut. We may send our good blue harness out for shortening, it may be cheaper than messing them up and needing new front tugs.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 7 months ago by dominiquer60.

[Brad Johnson]

I have had no trouble shortening my biothane front tugs. A good hacksaw, with a large nail and propane torch (to put new bolt or rivet holes in) is all that is needed for the alteration. Small hex head bolts work just fine if you can’t find the rivets, just put the bolt head on the inside and cut the end of the bolt on the outside short after you tighten the lock washer and nut. And, I made the same change on the nylon harness we used in Maine with no more trouble. The end does fray a bit but some heat melts the loose strands back together just fine. This adustment really makes a big difference, though the end does not look as nice as when I started.
-Brad

[Does’ Leap]

I haven’t been able to figure out why my pictures aren’t posting. Here’s a copy of my original post (see below) with another attempt at posting pictures. I will try to post the link again herehere again. as well as attaching the images

______________________________

This thread inspired my to look more critically at my harness fit. When I bought these used d-ring harnesses I cut several inches off the short tug on one horse (the smaller of the pair) and left it “as is” for by bigger horse. It seems to me like a could benefit from cutting 2-3 inches off the short tugs on the horse pictured below. Two other things of note: (1) the breeching looks low in the first picture but you can see where the hair is worn above where the breeching normally sits while holding back a load…interesting. (2) Notice the difference between the tug/hame angle between the two pictures. At rest it looks pretty close to 90 degrees while under load the angle looks more acute.

Any thoughts on whether the short tug needs to be shortened? How about the change in hame/tug angle when at rest vs. under load? My thought is to move the hame/tug spacer on top and possibly lengthen my market strap and shorten my girth. Opinions? Any other thoughts on harness fit would be appreciated.

George

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[Donn Hewes]

Hi George, Those are great pictures. I have been meaning to take some myself, but I have been too busy to stop! I will be interested to hear what other folks say as i am not the expert on this, but To me you could shorten those front tugs if you wanted to. Mine were about like yours and the big horses now measure 21″ from the hames to the Dring. You are probably at least 24 if you measure from the hames bolt. I don’t think I would move the tug attachment to the hames, but again there is a fine art to fitting the point to the underlying muscle. The hames angles good to me and i wouldn’t lower the dring. I fact when you shorten the tugs you might have to shorten the market strap a little to compensate. Very happy with the horses hooked to spreader today. still get some bowing tugs when backing hard in the mud, but you will get that as long as the rear side straps have that room to give. Good luck, donn

[Carl Russell]

George, is this the horse that has the funny skin thing under the collar? I think the front trace may be a little long, and inch or so, but I am more concerned about you belly band.

The belly band should be snug enough that you can just slide your fingers under, like collar, or britchen. Otherwise, every time the load is tightened the front trace will line up with the rear trace, and you will be losing your right angle at the hame.

I know we spend a lot of time making sure that the pole weight is carried on the jack saddle, so that takes our focus, but there really are 6 attachments (front side, front trace, saddle market, rear side, rear trace, and belly) on that D-ring, and they all play an important role in effective fitting.

Hope that helps, Carl

• This reply was modified 10 years, 6 months ago by Carl Russell.

[Carl Russell]

George, I’ll point out another thing, you should be measuring from the hame bolt, which I missed before, so that would change my previous comment about trace length. It appears that length would be about 24″ which would require a pretty large horse. I would think 21-22″ would be more appropriate for your horses.

As I said though, your biggest issue is belly band tightness.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

My point about the belly band and the skin irritation under the collar is that when the belly band is slack, the angle changes at the collar, which allows the collar to slide upward under load, and back down when un-loaded. This slight shifting could cause the chafing that irritates the skin.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

I keep remembering something else I want to mention…. As the trace angle shifts, the D-ring rises, putting slack into the rear side strap. Also the collar slides up the shoulder under load adding slack to the top straps. Both these actions cause the britchen to drop.

When backing, or holding back, the forward pressure tightens these straps and the britchen rises into the prescribed location.

Carl

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