horse drawn snow grooming

[jen judkins]

Anybody have any ideas for grooming snow for skiing (or skijoring in this case)? Would have to be something you could sit or stand on. I have the little garden cultipacker I use to drag the arena in the summer. I wonder if it would work in snow?

[Does’ Leap]

We use a huge tire off a front end loader. I built a simple wood deck inside the tire, sit on the tire itself with my feet inside, and wrap a chain around the tire. It does a great job packing ski trails weighing 500+ lbs. You should be able to get a free tire from any contractor with large equipment.

George

[jen judkins]

Do you think a single horse could handle that in deep snow? I wonder how much the tire ‘really’ weighs when dragging it through a foot of snow?

[Does’ Leap]

Jen:

I would a single could pull it, but not very far and not for very long. I used work my horses single on the tire as a training tool to work them single in the woods. This was mainly on grass and was a good pull for them. Add the resistance of moving snow and it would be difficult. I imagine you can get a smaller tire. This tire is about 4.5 feet in diameter and stands about 2′ off the ground. The 500 lbs was a guess, but two people can’t budge it.

George

[Mark Cowdrey]

Jen,

What about using a tire harrow similar to the one Carl has posted pictures of? That way you can make it any size you want, both width & weight.

Jay Bailey uses a “sports car” (his term) for grooming his sleigh trails: 2 wood pallets chained together front to back with a seat secured to the front one. With a team it really moves. I have also seen him use a double disc.

I have chained a pallet with a few sticks of cordwood on it to the back bob of my sleigh to groom trails & give the horses some exercise.

Mark

[matt wny]

i use a little home made sled to get wood out with this leaves a good packed path. it mite be good enough for what you want.my sled is 4ft wide by 6ft long and a single draft horse pulls it easy. i just used two 6ft hardwood 4x4s for runners and nailed some 4ft 2×8 across for the floor then put 2×12 on edge across the front and on each side and left the back open.i cut notch in the middle on back side of the front 2×8 floor board so i can rap a chain around it to hook to a single tree.so the front floor booard should either be lagged down or use those big ribbed pole barn nails to attach it.it is preaty simple and cheap to build if you have any scrap lumber laying around

[jen judkins]

Thanks for the ideas, everyone. Mark, I have the split tires all ready to assemble into a harrow, just haven’t gotten there yet and now I’m not sure where to dig in the snow to find them, lol.

I think I’ll start with an oversize tractor tire. I use them as feeders. Not as big as the frontloader tires, but should be easier work for Reno. I’ll just lay a piece of plywood in the bottom. I’ll let you know how it goes…

[Ed Thayer]

@jenjudkins 13378 wrote:

Thanks for the ideas, everyone. Mark, I have the split tires all ready to assemble into a harrow, just haven’t gotten there yet and now I’m not sure where to dig in the snow to find them, lol.

I think I’ll start with an oversize tractor tire. I use them as feeders. Not as big as the frontloader tires, but should be easier work for Reno. I’ll just lay a piece of plywood in the bottom. I’ll let you know how it goes…

That was going to be my suggestion. I hava a front truck tire that is large but not so big that Reno would not be able to pull it. Put a piece of plywood under it with a small curl on the front so it glides over the snow and doesn’t plow it up and that would work good.

[near horse]

Didn’t they used to “roll snow” in the old days to make a good base for sleighs etc rather than plowing it off? The folks at Troika Drafts up in Maine had an old snow roller for sale a few years back – must have been 4 or 5 feet in diameter! It looked like something one could fabricate w/o too much trouble. Or why couldn’t you use something like a 55 gallon drum w/ some weight in it (sand, gravel ….or water) to roll and pack the snow down or even one of those rollers they have for ATV’s to use on lawns? Just some thoughts.

To tell the truth, where we go to do sleigh rides they make trails with their CAT dozer 🙁

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