Any good diagrams for hitching a pair? ("Hitching for Idiots" would be good!)

[Miss_Anne_Thrope]

I have two minis who both drive single. I have a wagon with a pole for them to drive as a team, and back when I had a trainer, he had hitched them to the wagon a couple of times, so they (the ponies) have done it before, but I haven’t.

I no longer have a trainer, and we had a long break from driving due to pony injury, but I’ve been getting back into it this year.

So, this week, I dusted off the wagon, put on the pole … but, oh dear me, where do the holdback straps hook? What do you do with the tugs? Etc.

I have the pairs reins and know how those work, but I realized I have no idea how to hitch a pair. I did find a box full of extra straps but haven’t been able to find anything online to help me identify those straps and how they hook to the pole and harness.

Do I need to give up until I find a trainer again?

[ladymcts]

Unfortunately I’m not a very good resource because I’ve had a whopping ONE lesson myself. (One in which I watched but didn’t participate, which means I remember nothing.

Found this for you by googling …
http://smg.photobucket.com/user/flodden_edge/media/Driving/singlesharness0087.jpg.html

Which was actually posted from another COTH thread.
http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?246745-How-do-carriage-horses-pull

[goodhors]

I am presuming you are talking about Draft style harness, to pull your wagon with? Or maybe you have carriage style harness, for using on your Pair.

This needs to be said, because there are different terms, pieces, on each design of harness to describe where you put it or attach things on the horse.

So maybe starting with your harness design, we can give you some aid. I don’t think the previous links mentioned are going to be helpful in harnessing the Pair.

[Jim_R]

I hope I can explain it, easier for me to do.
Their should be straps that go from britching up to breast collar. Maybe a buckle under where traces come back.
Rings on your breast collar to hook pole staps from pole to breast collar.
Tugs should come off if it is a convertible harness.
So you are looking for longer staps that go from britching to breast collar
Shorter straps from breast collar to poll
You said you have the lines figured out.
Hope this helps.
Maybe google your brand harness and see a diagram there of the pair harness.

[Miss_Anne_Thrope]

[QUOTE=goodhors;8261280]
I am presuming you are talking about Draft style harness, to pull your wagon with? Or maybe you have carriage style harness, for using on your Pair.

This needs to be said, because there are different terms, pieces, on each design of harness to describe where you put it or attach things on the horse.

So maybe starting with your harness design, we can give you some aid. I don’t think the previous links mentioned are going to be helpful in harnessing the Pair.[/QUOTE]

I’m pretty sure I have carriage-style harness (not a full collar … breastcollar?).

[Miss_Anne_Thrope]

[QUOTE=Jim R;8261281]
I hope I can explain it, easier for me to do.
Their should be straps that go from britching up to breast collar. Maybe a buckle under where traces come back.
Rings on your breast collar to hook pole staps from pole to breast collar.
Tugs should come off if it is a convertible harness.
So you are looking for longer staps that go from britching to breast collar
Shorter straps from breast collar to poll
You said you have the lines figured out.
Hope this helps.
Maybe google your brand harness and see a diagram there of the pair harness.[/QUOTE]

Yes, that helps a lot!!

I have 4 straps with snaps on each end. I think those must be the longer pieces that go from britching to breast collar.

Then I have 2 straps with a buckle and then a V-shaped not-sure-what-to-call-it, but I think that must what connects breast collar to pole.

Then there are 2 other short straps with rings on each end.

Oh, it just dawned on me … I’ll take some pics and post them.

[Miss_Anne_Thrope]

OK, here are the 4 straps that I think go from britching to breast collar:

And here are the shorter straps with the V-shaped thingie (one is looped back on itself):

Close-up of V-shaped thingies:

Here are the 2 straps with rings on each end:

More to come in another post.

[Miss_Anne_Thrope]

Here’s the one (I have 2 altogether) that looks so complicated it must be important:

There are loops at all 4 ends of the X-shaped section:

And on the longer section of this strap, there’s a sort of free-floating snap:

Any help in identifying these straps and suggesting where they go would be greatly appreciated. In the meantime, I’m going to go out and drive them one at a time!!

[Equibrit]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWNnd7w2qTA

http://www.ponyandcarriage.co.uk/zilco-carriage-driving-harness-sl-sportz-horse-harness-parts-shop.htm

[Miss_Anne_Thrope]

[QUOTE=Equibrit;8261936]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWNnd7w2qTA

http://www.ponyandcarriage.co.uk/zilco-carriage-driving-harness-sl-sportz-horse-harness-parts-shop.htm[/QUOTE]

Thank you!! That’s exactly the sort of thing I was looking for, although I still have a mystery strap or two.

These with the rings on either end:

And the ones with the X-shaped section and free-floating snap:

[Equibrit]

Sorry - my talent is googling not driving !

[Miss_Anne_Thrope]

[QUOTE=Equibrit;8261976]
Sorry - my talent is googling not driving ![/QUOTE]

:lol: Well, my talent is obviously in neither!!

[Jingo-ace]

The picture of the straps with rings on each end is used to keep your reins/lines on top of the butt of the horse. The 2 ring strap goes thru the spot on your backstrap where your spider straps go thru the backstrap… essentially you have a ring then on either side of the backstrap… then you thread your lines THRU those rings before the lines would come back to your hands in the carriage. Draft horse people use these all the time. This keep your reins/lines from falling downwards around the side of the horse & keeps the reins/lines UP on top of the horses butt… if that makes sense. I believe these are called “line holders”
J

[Jingo-ace]

addtl info

The pic with the Xshaped section & free floating strap MAY be a part which goes on the front of the horses face. The conway buckles attach to each side of the front of the bit, the X part goes up the front of the horses face, the other end of the X goes thru slots in the poll section of the headstall, then the free floating section adjusts from that point behind the poll to the waterhook on the saddle. I believe it is called an overcheck, but I could be wrong. It could be used for single driving horse or for pairs… Many harnesses come WITH either an overcheck or a sidecheck, and if your horses don’t need them, you just take that part off the driving headstall. that is probably why you have two of them, imho.
J

[Jingo-ace]

The 4 identical straps with snaps on each end you have identified as going from your breastcollar ring to your britchen ring on each side of each horse - they are called sidebacker straps I believe. To use them you would remove the holdback strap off your britchen ring. When you attach these straps from breastcollar to britchen you are making your BRAKES. The pole between your horses is attached by a leather POLE STRAP to a ring on the front of each horses breastcollar, from there the breastcollar is attached to the sidebacker straps to the britchen, which goes around the butt…

Soooooo when your horses slow down, or stop, they stop the forward motion of the carriage by preventing the britchen from coming forward, which in turn transfers the stop thru the sideback straps to the breastcollar then thru the polestraps to the pole itself, which now stops the forward motion of your carriage. So now you have BRAKES.

J

[Jingo-ace]

The tug, or pole shaft carriers, are removed when you drive a pair, as you have no need of them. The strap on which those tugs usually reside is then often buckled into the breastcollar for support. (don’t lose those pole shaft carriers if you want to transition that harness back into a single driving harness!)

The traces for each horse or pony still attach or buckle into your breastcollar in the front & attach to a single tree at the rear of the horse. You should have a movable singletree for each horse in the pair, one on each side of your carriage pole.

I hope this helps. J

[Jingo-ace]

If you go to this site on driving pairs, look for the page of photos - it may show you what you need to figure out your harness…
http://www.frogmusic.com/drivingpairs/articles/pair-driving-102.html

[Miss_Anne_Thrope]

[QUOTE=Jingo-ace;8264536]
If you go to this site on driving pairs, look for the page of photos - it may show you what you need to figure out your harness…
http://www.frogmusic.com/drivingpairs/articles/pair-driving-102.html[/QUOTE]

Thank you!! I missed all of your previous posts when I saw this one. The pics weren’t especially helpful, but your other posts certainly were. Yes, I bet those X-shaped straps are the overchecks, which I don’t use. Whew, glad that mystery’s solved!!

And I haven’t been able to find any pics of “line holders” in use, but your explanation makes perfect sense.

So, today, I got my (totally non-horsey) husband to help me get them both in harness with all the requisite straps for pairs driving. We put them in place but didn’t actually hitch them to the wagon (I think I want a third person to help with that), but I did ground drive them a bit:

I remember back to when I first started learning to drive. Just putting on a single harness seemed a monumental task, and now it’s pretty easy, so I guess sooner or later, harnessing and hitching the pair will also seem like second nature.