Tandem Hitch

[Rick Alger]

Does anyone have experience using a loose-hitched single ahead of a pair pulling a forecart?

[HeeHawHaven]

Are you thinking a unicorn hitch? I plan on putting my young mule team on the wheels and fjord horse gelding up front. I will do it with more experienced teamsters first. I understand the front animal needs to be really excellent!

Dave

[Rick Alger]

Thanks for the reply. Nope, I’m not thinking of a typical unicorn hitch.

I was thinking along the lines of Jason Rutledge’s four-up tandems that he uses for heavy pulls. Draft would be an issue.

I know back in the days of logging with a set of bobsleds, they would sometimes hook a third horse to the tongue in front of the regular pair to get up hills or whatever. I wonder how high that hitch point was and how they set it. I also wonder if you’d go four in hand or if you’d buck back the team and just drive the front horse.

[Jay]

Rick, I’ve had to ad a team out front a few times just to brake trail after a big (24″) storm. I just hooked the leaders onto the end of the pole with a short chain and drove with 4 lines. I found that the horses usually gave me about 20 minutes of grace – they were really paying attention. After that they began to think they knew what we were doing and I had better have it figured out too. I was happy with the way it worked. Jay

[Rick Alger]

Hi Jay,

Twenty minutes of grace is more than I deserve, but it’s probably all I would need at any one time. If it worked for you, it’s worth trying. I’m thinking the D-ring harness may help with the draft issue.

Thanks, Rick.

[Jim Ostergard]

Rick,
A couple of years ago Jason Glick and I used our singles in a tandem hitch. the wood was a little too big for Jason’s single so I brought Rusty over and we hitched the tugs to the “D” ring and each of us drove our respective horses. It worked but we only did a few twitches. Neither horse had ever done it before. We needed a lot of space for turns in order not to loose the draft.

[Roscoe]

@Jim Ostergard 26722 wrote:

We needed a lot of space for turns in order not to loose the draft.

For sharp turns you have to take the lead horse(s) out of draft, otherwise the wheelhorse/team will flip over.
Driving the leader(s) and bucking back the wheel team only works with equalizer system (evener/rope & pully).
If you hitch the front horse to the pole or to the D-ring, you need to drive four-in-hand or a driver for each team/horse.
Even with a equalizer system, for logging, field work in narrow or fenced patches and road work, I would highly recommend to drive four-in-hand. For a tandem or unicorn hitch, it needs a excellent lead horse and a skilled driver.
A couple of years ago, I was breaking old pasture with a two-way plow, brabant style. Two Haflinger (1000#) were pulling on one side, using rope & pulley, two Freiberger (1300#) on the other side, hitched to a double tree, with a offset draft point, using two set of team lines.During plowing, I hung the lines of the wheel teamto the plow and just drove the lead team, while turning I drove four-in-hand.

[Rick Alger]

Jim, Roscoe,
Thanks for the replies.

[LStone]

Hi Rick. I had a learning opportunity about this sort of thing last weekend. I remember also that Jason Rutledge described in a thread posting how he did this but haven’t chased down that thread for reference recently. I don’t want to be misleading so anybody please correct me if it is appropriate.

I am familiarizing myself with a unicorn recently and I hitch a chain and single tree to the end of the pole generally. I was talking with someone who is familiar with multiple hitches last weekend and it seems that if you hitch to the end of a team pole your not really pulling, you’re playing; and though this is done, its usually for exibition. If your’e really interested in using the lead team or third horse effectively to move the load I think I remember correctly, that JasonR said he runs a chain from the load hitch point under the forecart up the pole and through the neck yoke ring. to a single/double tree on the lead horse/team. I found a YouTube video of his doing this also but it was a team.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRWcJKHOzsI&NR=1

Jason’s Recent “Axeman casting video” didn’t get in close enough for me to see how they rigged those forecarts pulling that monster tree; but maybe he could describe the technique he used for that. That was a work of art and I appreciated watching it.

[Lanny Collins]

@LStone 26782 wrote:

Hi Rick. I had a learning opportunity about this sort of thing last weekend. I remember also that Jason Rutledge described in a thread posting how he did this but haven’t chased down that thread for reference recently. I don’t want to be misleading so anybody please correct me if it is appropriate.

I am familiarizing myself with a unicorn recently and I hitch a chain and single tree to the end of the pole generally. I was talking with someone who is familiar with multiple hitches last weekend and it seems that if you hitch to the end of a team pole your not really pulling, you’re playing; and though this is done, its usually for exibition. If your’e really interested in using the lead team or third horse effectively to move the load I think I remember correctly, that JasonR said he runs a chain from the load hitch point under the forecart up the pole and through the neck yoke ring. to a single/double tree on the lead horse/team. I found a YouTube video of his doing this also but it was a team.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRWcJKHOzsI&NR=1

Jason’s Recent “Axeman casting video” didn’t get in close enough for me to see how they rigged those forecarts pulling that monster tree; but maybe he could describe the technique he used for that. That was a work of art and I appreciated watching it.

As far as draft I don’t see any difference from hooking to the end of the pole versus hooking a chain back to the axle. What I think it may be done this way (chain back to axle) is to protect the pole/neck yoke ring. If you had a horse out front that was a real puller there is maybe a possibility they could damage your hitch point and for this reason it may be better to run a chain back to the axle or a more solid point that could not be damaged.:)

[Ronnie Tucker]

in tn almost all tongues have chains. makes it lower than with a breastyoke with a ring on the tongue you hook your stretchers to it .th ring is not on the end of the tongue. it is located 100 inches from where the double is for the wheel team.it does not affect the wheel team neck.you will not pull a tongue into. ronnie tucker tn logger

[Rick Alger]

Thanks for the replies. Lot to think about. Obviously from the video the “Hillbilly Hitch” works. I like Ronnie”s idea of the hitch point set back a bit on the tongue.
But any setup sure seems dicey on corners. A second driver appears to be the safest way to go, but they are hard to come by when you work alone. Anyway, thanks again for the input.

[jac]

Ronnie does the pole hang down on a chain from the ouside of the neck yoke to form a shallow v? I take it that when the pull goes on from the leaders the pole can rise to find its natural line of draft ??…
John

[Ronnie Tucker]

i use tongue chains there is no neckyoke.the pull is on the tongue there is no extra weight on the tongue when the leadteam is pulling. ronnie tucker

[Ronnie Tucker]

ifailed to answer you yes it all levels out as to the line of draft. ronnie

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