D-ring Front Trace

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  • #83286
    Does’ Leap
    Participant

    Thanks for the responses. I will shorten the front tug and repair my belly band. I usually run the belly band pretty snug and have torn out 3 holes which need repairing (maybe too snug!?).

    George

    #83287
    Carl Russell
    Moderator

    No it really cannot be too snug.

    It is just the angle of the shoulder in relation to the high draft on your cart, and the belly band should be strong enough to sustain that divergence of draft.

    If you remember at one point we had a discussion on here with Andy Carson, and we were trying to figure out how much pressure would be diverted to the belly band…. and it turns out not much. However, if it does not hold that angle, then the divergence is shifted to the hame where the collar can slip.

    Putting the point of draft angle-change down by the D-ring, locates it more central to the bulk of the animal’s weight, while keeping the collar firmly in place. This accomplishes two things, no shifting collar to cause sores, and it also allows the animal to lift the load with it’s hind end, while still having enough weight on top of it to pull it down as it moves forward.

    If the angle of draft changes up at the shoulder, then the animal cannot lift as high without going under the draft, and then having to expend extra energy to pull it down as it moves forward.

    Most of the time this is truly minimal, but the D-ring harness affords mechanisms to maximize ergonomic efficiencies, and this is a good illustration.

    I suggest getting a biothane, or nylon belly band.

    Carl

    #83289
    Donn Hewes
    Keymaster

    I think work on belly bands will be the next thing I need to work on. Another thing I can do on one of my main forecarts is move the evener from above the tongue to under it. This will improve the angles and ease the hitching.

    #83306
    Does’ Leap
    Participant

    Hey Carl, I thought you were a leather man. Why biothane or nylon on the belly band?

    Thanks.

    George

    #83319
    Carl Russell
    Moderator

    Only suggesting that because it sounds like the leather in you belly band is weak.I have been using nylon belly bands of a few years, just because I had some, and they do hold up well…

    Carl

    #83479
    dominiquer60
    Moderator

    In our quest to figure out what we want for a front sidebacker lazy strap, we discovered a use for a heavy duty strap.

    We have been using what ever straps are around and long enough to keep front traces from dragging, and lone enough to let the better fitted harness do its thing regarding taking weight off the collar. One set of straps is a pair of cow neck straps that I had for my steers when they were smaller. They are at least 1.5″ wide and triple thick with a roller buckle and a D ring. These came in rather handy today after we packed up a pair with plow, disk and stone boat to plow for a blueberry patch the next town over. We brought everything that we thought that we would need extra evener, bridle, lines, etc. But we forgot the jockey yokes 🙁 We did not want to go back, so we proceeded to use the cattle collars that were on one harness, a couple extra hame straps and a pair of heavy duty double snaps to rig the horse collars to the neck yoke. We put a cattle neck strap thru both lazy strap rings and used a hame strap to keep the big strap from cutting their wind, the double snap attached to D on the cattle neck strap and to the neck yoke.

    It was safe and worked well enough to get the job done, steering was compromised compared to a tight properly adjusted D-ring harness set up. I don’t know that we will eventually order heavy duty lazy straps, but forgetting jockey yokes and needing to improvise could be an argument to have them. I think for now we will return the spare set of jockey yokes to their place in the gooseneck of the trailer (everything was cleaned out recently for a beef show).

    • This reply was modified 10 years, 6 months ago by dominiquer60.
    • This reply was modified 10 years, 6 months ago by dominiquer60.
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    #83483
    Jay
    Participant

    Thanks for the description and picture. Good going. Jay

    #83754
    Does’ Leap
    Participant

    I ended up taking 3″ off the front trace and fixed the belly band. I ground off the old rivets, drove in 20d nails, ground and peened them. I was hoping this would cure the sore shoulder issue I’ve been having during hay-making, but I was still having problems.

    A friend recommended Coblentz Collar (3348 Us Route 62, Millersburg, Ohio 44654 / (330) 893-3858). I ended up sending them about 30 photos of this horse (working and at rest) with measurements of hames, collar, and pad. They suggested new hames as they thought mine were too small. Even with the new hames, we still had problems. I finally asked them to make me a custom pad that would cover the area where he was getting sore. That seemed to do the trick (see picture below)! They are great folks to work with if the need arises.

    George

    front trace

    collar pad

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