Hitching for the first time

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Ed, The line tension should be equal on both sides of the bit. Light! If your eveners are 42″, start with a stub line that is 8″ longer than the outisde line. That should space your horses about right. I used a spreader for years and recently quit. Don’t know why, I just took them off one day and started to adjust all my lines so they weren’t necessary.

[grey]

@Marshall 15572 wrote:

Grey, I hve one that likes to chew on the neck yoke also. I bought a bottle of chew stop spray from tractor supply. It must taste horibble because it worked right away. I have to reapply every once in a while, but it gets the job done.

I’ve used three different kinds of commercial preparations (McNasty, Quittit, and Chew Stop) on my neck yoke to try to keep my thumbsucker off it, but all it does is cause her to look very sorry for herself while she mouths it. The only thing I’ve found that keeps her off it is straight iodine spray (caution: poisonous) … which unfortunately causes people to think that I have caused my horse to bleed on her end of the neck yoke!

Maybe I should coat the whole neck yoke and doubletree in iodine and say that it’s my new, fancy, “oxblood” colored wood stain.

[Marshall]

What about a steel neckyoke?

[TBigLug]

They love the taste of steel just as much! lol

And as far as spreaders, we use them for everything we’re doing, ground driving, no pole, pole, etc. Just a personal preference (that and they look nice if you have the right set). No matter how much you adjust the lines there will be times when the horses are walking closer and the stub lines slack or they wander away from each other and the lines get taught. Moreso when you don’t have anything hooked to them but it will still happen.

[Anonymous]

Hi Ed
I live in Hillsboro Lower Village and have a team of Suffolks. I have had some of the same problems you are encountering. Give me a call at 478-0344 and maybe I can give you some help.
Floyd

[Ed Thayer]

So we hitched the horses to the bob sled for the first time yesterday. We had some adjustments to make on the forward side straps and the lazy straps. They stood perfectly in the hitch side by side for at least a half hour while we fussed with the adjustments. We were very impressed. Not that they aren’t good any other time, but it was the first time we had them together on the pole and eveners.

After all was secure I gave the command to move and they hesitated briefly but finally stepped up and off we went. They were preety amped up initially so I let them go about 20 feet and gave the whoa command. A little line pressure and they stopped perfectly.

Overall the team was very good. After going around the field several times they began to slow and sweat. The more we worked them the better they responded to the lines. I assume this is normal for a team that gets over the inital excitement of the situation.

I have a couple of questions on the harness arrangement.

We are using a D ring harness and I was unable to get the tension between the rear evener and the forward side strap as clearly discussed in Les Bardens video and seminar. It was like the rear traces did not have enough chain. I could not grab another link at the evener. I had the forward side strap adjusted so the front was in the right position I think. What am I missing? Pole length is 9″6″ from the end to the evener.

Secondly, Don suggested 8″ longer on the stub line for a 42″ evener. The pole we used has a fixed evener at 46″ and I seemed to have only 4″ difference in the stub line length. I adusted them out further initally and they were too loose on the inside line.

One of the pics shows the black horse with his arse end out away from the pole. He did this preety consistantly and I could not tell why. Any ideas.

Here is a link to the other photos

http://picasaweb.google.com/108015252120457183879/TeamHitch?feat=directlink

Ed

[Does’ Leap]

Hi Ed:

I am going to reply as a green teamster whose information should be confirmed by others with more knowledge. That said, I believe your forward side straps should be tighter. If you have no more holes, punch some new ones. This will give you more room on the evener side and tighten things up. Judging from the tension on your lazy straps (they should be lose), I think you could hitch tighter.

Regarding the positioning of the black horse, check to make sure your neck yoke has the same centers as your evener (46″ in this case). If the neck yoke is smaller, this would account for the black horse sticking his rear end out. If it is smaller, you need to change your evener or your neck yoke so they match. No amount of line adjustment will remedy this problem (if it is one).

Good luck.

George

[Ed Thayer]

George,

We realized the neck yoke is 42″ and the evener is 46″ afterwords.

I thought this might work but I guess not.

I will have to make a 46″ neck yoke to match the rear as you pointed out.

I don’t know how much more I can adjust the forward side straps before the interfere with the chest of the horses? Should I have the team step up a little to take out the slack in the traces then tighten the side straps?

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Ed, I have looked at your pictures several times today and thought about some comments. First the horses look calm and relaxed and you know how important I think that is. Nice Job. Second, while I usually find it pretty easy to throw my two cents in, it is a little harder here. I think there are still some small adjustments to make, but it will also take the horses a little time to relax and except this arraignment. Those adjustments will be hard to make from photos.

I certainly can’t comment on the “D” ring adjustments. If the tongue was longer you would have more room to make adjustments, but I can’t really tell if they are really needed.

Here are a few thoughts; not necessarily things I would change but things I would consider. If I am unsure of the lines / neck yoke / evener spacing I wouldn’t use a piece of baling string to try to hold the horses (black horse?) head out. How will I know if things are right? How will I keep from pulling the horse in two directions at once? Perhaps you want a 42″ evener instead of a 46″ neck yoke. I think they are already having a hard time being worked that far apart. Moving them closer together will make them more comfortable perhaps.

They look pretty even as far as height, but one picture made Oz look taller than the black. Is he taller; specifically is the hames ring higher on one horse than the other? If so that is one thing to fix. Drop down to the next ring on the harness and clip on a ring there to use as a hames ring. This lets the blacks head out.

The check reins don’t look tight in the pictures, but not very loose either. Some horses really work with a low head carriage and they won’t relax with out it.

I wouldn’t shorten the stub lines because they “look” too loose, until the heads are spaced the way we want. A 46″ evener would have stub lines 10″ longer than the lines! Picture # 6 shows the lines well extended but it is hard to tell how well spaced the horses are. A good picture to take sometimes is from the teamster’s view.

If you want to mess with them, switch sides, can’t really hurt. Don’t try that if you don’t feel comfortable with it.

Please Take ALL these comments with a good doze of salt. I think you are on the right track to work these two together. Keep them going and give them time to figure it out. As long as they are calm you have all the time in the world. Make any changes in small increments. I think it will be good for them and the teamsters.

I do make little deviations from those standard line adjustments, but it is a slow process that requires seeing them work, and slowly figuring out what is holding them back from being exactly were I want them. From a teamster’s point of view a fat necked horse or a short necked horse, or a horse that likes it’s head down, can all look like a lazy horse that won’t get up were it belongs no matter how much you ask it to. The difference is when you make the right adjustment for those horses they end up right were you want them, and the lazy horse is still back where he started.

[Does’ Leap]

Ed:

One thing you can try is to unbuckle one of the front side straps (I do outside left) and try hitching them as tight as you can. Then go back and buckle it up. Another method is to have someone lift up on the pole as you are connecting your last heel chain the evener. Both strategies together should give you considerable slack. I agree with Don with the evener (make a new evener) – 46″ seems very wide.

George

[Ed Thayer]

Thanks for the replies, I will change the rear evener to match the 42″ front neck yoke.

I will also adjust the side straps tighter and see if that will work.

The baling twine was to try and keep the balck horse from lipping and mouthing the other horse. I did not have another strap and therfore used the twine as a check line. We ended up taking it off shortly after.

I will double check the hame locations when we hitch them next.

We did have them on opposite sides a couple of weeks ago when I ground drove them. Maybe we will go back to that arangement and see how that works.

Thanks for trying to help from the pictures, I know that is not really easy to do.

ED

[Carl Russell]

Ed, It is hard to tell from the pics about your heel chains as they are absent. Do you mean that if there was more distance between yoke and evener then you could make it tighter? Drill another hole and move your evener back, or drill a hole and put a bolt through the pole at the yoke.

I would lengthen your market straps too, they seem to short… the ones that the hang down from the hames.

It shouldn’t matter how close the yoke comes to the front of the horses, they won’t run into them, shorten the front side straps. I hitch mine so tight that I usually have to grunt, swear, and push on the evener with my thigh to get the last link on my heel chains.

Again hard to tell, but you might measure your front traces. They may be a bit long, placing the D-ring too low.

Lot’s of things look good. Keep up the good work, Carl

[LStone]

Ed,

It works out that on one of my poles I hitch my heel chains to the evener on the last link too. I am sure there are adjustments to be made in my case, but I have the weight off the neck and so I think I am managing ok. I probably could use a longer pole, But I think that I’m working ok despite the last link. It seems easier to turn in tighter places with a shorter pole out front. I have a longer pole on my “arch” and I am thinking of swapping them when the weather turns.

It looks like your safe and having fun out there though despite having these things to ponder. Those are the main things that I focus on in my case. So you still got it licked, it’ll just take a little more time to figure it out. I don’t know how many people do this, but I have notes that I keep on the adjustments that I make and how I put the harnesses away every time I hitch and change something I document it on a small notepad. I am basically a beginner and I have three horses I hitch so I have to keep the notes accurate so I can hitch them the way I want and it’ll work out at least as good as the last time I drove them in that configuration. My grandfather used to say “if it isn’t one thing its 10”.

LStone

[Ed Thayer]

We plan to hitch them again this weekend and try the suggestions made by you all above.

These include, Switching sides, longer lazy straps, adjust the market strap and tighter front side straps.

I guess we will figure it out eventually.

Thanks for all the help, I will keep you posted.

Ed

[Ed Thayer]

We have hitched the horses together a couple more times and they continue to be very good together.

We rearanged the evener assembly and have the harness working the way it should.

Thanks for the help. Here are a couple of pics from yesterday at the sugar house where we were giving rides to visitors.

[Author]

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