Draft advise wanted

[meleon]

Finally got the sled together enough to go for a test drive. Also my filly maiden voyage between the shafts. All was good apart from a little rodeo when her leg touched the shaft when she tried to turn on her forhand. Got her stopped and calmed down, and she behaved like a champ. 10 or 15 minutes making wide turns around the feild and back to the paddock. very pleased.

anyway what is your oppinions on the placement of my shafts? I placed them low thinking I’d get better lift from there, but I’m not sure I am. Should the be closer to the tips of the runners?

currently there are chain attached mid shaft (I think they are visable in the picture) the attach to the hames.
I am considering changing to a single tree attached to the crossmember on the shafts.

Thanks for your input
Jamie

[grey]

The pivoting tree allows the horse’s shoulder to move more freely. Using a static setup without a tree *can* gall a horse’s shoulder or just make him sore and balky. HOWEVER there are plenty of cultures and communities that do not use a pivoting tree, so it can be done and, in fact, IS done in that manner. It just isn’t optimal. You could leave it as-is with the trace chains attached to the shafts and see if you get along okay like that.

Nice little sled! I start out de-sensitizing a horse with ropes on his legs and all around his body. Later, I use a cobbled-together home-made travois to introduce solid shafts. Don’t want to bust up my good equipment if the horse objects. However, with adequate de-sensitization at the rope phase, I seldom get any objections to the shafts.

[meleon]

Thanks Grey, The shafts are over fifty years old, stored in my father-inlaws loft. They were off of a manure sled arrived on his father’s farm about the same time as there first tractor. My father inlaw said the manure sled got beat to pieces being hauled by the tractor and the shafts where never used. (luckily there isn’t a termite problem here)
I believe the chain setup was quite common here on Prince Edward Island. Since I got these shafts I’ve seen several sleds for sale with the same setup, and I’ve also meet an old timer who still makes and sells them that way.
I agree about the range of motion the single tree provides, I am planning to order some single tree ends soon. I believe the cross member is more beefy enough to attach it to.

I guess my question was more geared toward where I attached the shafts to the runners. Do you think it’s too low?
I just want it as easy as possible for her to pull.

The sled was really fun to build.

[mink]

id say its too low , if you ran over a stone or stump you’d be caught on it for sure. i’d move it towards the top and put metal on the outside for some strength so it wouldnt pull threw the runner.

[grey]

Never having used shafts on a ground sled, I’m afraid I have nothing to contribute regarding your design. I have only ever designed my ground sleds to be drawn via a bridle chain, which may allow for more articulation over obstacles. The runners on my sled aren’t nicely shaped like yours – just straight with a bevel at each end so it may be drawn from either direction without biting into the ground. I took a length of chain and attached either end to the runners, then I just put the grab hook on my evener on that chain. Not very elegant, but I mostly use the sled as a stoneboat for getting rocks out of the pasture, or sometimes for moving stacks of hay bales or other materials through a narrow gate that the wagons can’t fit through.

[meleon]

Thanks mink, never even thought of hanging up on stuff.
Grey I’d like to put together a little stone boat some time. I still got a few runner blanks that were supposed to become a bob sleigh when there were originally cut. I salvaged them out of an old timber frame barn that was being torn down, but I could only find three of them.
Jamie

[chrisf.]

I’m in Quebec and shaves like yours were used all the time in the bush and they weren’t shy to load. The only difference was that the pins were a bit closer to the end than yours. As for where your shaves hook to your sleigh the only time I’ve ever seen them hooked back that far was when you’re using trailing shaves. Trailing shaves are exactly like yours but instead of being fixed to the sleigh with a pin they were hooked about where you are with a short piece of chain. The chain ran to a J-hook with the open end turned towards the back of the sleigh and sunk into the outside of the runner. The bottom of your shaves have to be a bit wider than your runners though for this to work. The advantage of this is that when your horse is holding back your sleigh on a downhill slope the sleigh runs up on the cross member of your shaves and push it into the snow to help in breaking. It’s a pretty good way to go. I’ve even gathered sap on small hills with no britchen with no trouble(not by choice I had no britchen lol). It can be done with a pole too but I’ve never actually seen it.

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