DIY swingletree for non-vehicle pulling

[Ceylon_Star]

Okay, the title makes little sense, sorry!

I’m wanting to start using my pony to drag the sand arenas as cross training while we don’t have access to our cart. I have an arena drag that is designed to be pulled by a quad, so would work well to hook to a singletree for pony to pull it, but i’m not 100% sure how to go about making a singletree that I can hook it to.

Right now my thought is to use a length of 2x2 with screw eyes in the ends, that I can attach my quick release snaps to for safety, but I’m not entirely sure what to do to connect the drag to it. It has a solid bar that is connected to the harrow itself with a hinge, designed to attach to the hitch on a quad or tractor, like this:

The drag is designed to be weighted with wood or cinderblocks to adjust the “bite” of the teeth on the underside, so we can start with it unweighted or minimally weighted, and add weight as we get comfortable.

My thoughts on connecting it to the singletree so far are to either screw a second screw eye into the middle of the bar and hitch the harrow to that, or to drill a hole vertically through the bar itself and hitch the harrow to that.

The last non-cart we pulled was a wood pallet, and I just looped some baling twine to it and then clipped the quick releases to the twine, so didn’t really need the singletree. This time I know I need one.

Thanks in advance for any advice you might have!

[goodhors]

Sorry not to notice this sooner. Do you have a local welding shop nearby? I would have them make me a singletree out of rectangular tubing metal. I think ours is 2in by 1 in. They can drill a center hole to put a clevis in. You could have them weld on big loops of solid rod at each end for your quick releases or drill more holes for a clevis at each end to use for the quick releases. I would prefer the welded loops , at least in wide for less moving parts to lose, neater with a coat of spray paint. Singletree should be wider than pony to prevent traces rubbing his sides. I think you said he was a sturdy type cob pony, so he needs a singletree strong enough for his load behind. Wood you describe doesn’t sound like it will be up to the job, between him and loaded drag. Sure don’t want things breaking on a green pomy!

I would suggest you start his dragging with an old truck tire off a pickup truck. Easily moved yet resistant with friction on the sidewall. Cut a hole in the tread. Use a short rope thru the hole to a piece of solid rod, a short metal bar, tie the rope to metal piece to form a T, inside the tire. He can pull the tire with rope to singletree. Rope won’t wear out coming thru the tread like if you wrapped rope around the whole tire to pull it from.

You will want a strap across his hips to carry the traces up away from his legs while pulling. Too low a trace line will probably let him get a leg over very easily, adding to his confusion. You CAN add length to traces with rope to get tire further back from his hind legs. He needs to stand quietly as things get attached, walk FORWARD when asked. I strongly suggest a helper to lead him forward the first few times so he does not back away from tire weight, get tangled in traces. Needs to stop and STAND STILL when you want to remove tire as well to prevent tangling.

I recommend oiling your quick release shackles before each use, make sure they work easily, no dirt in them. Check this EVERY hitching, so they release easily when needed. I also suggest you add some cord to the loop that pulls to release the shackles. Red parachute cord, knotted on ring, maybe with a couple wraps of electric tape to form a bit of handle for easy grabbing. When you need to release him, make it easy on yourself and any helper, you may only have a second or two. In a crisis you may not get a good hold on the ring only or be able to pull ring only hard enough to release the shackle. Been there, done that! My leather pull tabs broke right off!! Had to go get pliers with a leg over the pole!!!

[Ceylon_Star]

No worries goodhors, you’re a busy person! I appreciate the response though!!

Yes, he is a cob type (morganXhaflinger, though 14hh on a tall day), so super solid guy. We have a collar and hames set up for his regular driving setup as it works the best for his conformation. I only have a super V breastcollar on hand for when we get to where we can do marathon since our collar and hames aren’t the safest for out on course.

He is accustomed to having chains between the rings on his traces and the quick release shackles on the far ends from when we’ve pulled pallets and tires in the past, so it’s just a matter of reintroducing them since we haven’t done anything in harness since the summer since he’s been on lease as a therapy pony at my local therapeutic riding center. I got trace “hangers” that loop onto the breeching rings to hold up traces for low line of draft when I had my harness made, and we used them with the pallet and tires for exactly the reason you brought up. don’t need him and his occasional high-stepping action to stick a leg over the trace/chain!

Being able to use him to keep the rings dragged between full tractor harrowings would be a lovely way to give back to the program (the person in charge of harrowing the rings with the tractor is only able to do it every other week, and it needs to be at least dragged more often than that), not to mention a good way to get him in shape in harness before he comes home for the summer and gets put to cart again.

I’ll take your description of what to do for the singletree to my landlord and see if he can whip something up for me. He’s got some welding skills and is engaged to my BO so has an idea of what is and isn’t safe for horses.

Good tip re: cord on the shackles! My trainer had me do that the moment I got them. I used fluorescent yellow for extra visibility in case of a messy situation, haha! I check everything, every buckle and strap, before and after use, and I do grease my shackles before putting everything away. Would it be better to grease them before use instead? Or to grease them before as well as after? I greased my car tire chains before I put them away from the season in hopes that they will open easier next year when I need to put them on the first time, unlike the fight they gave me this year, haha.

He is “greenish”. Because of ring drainage issues, he’s only been put to cart in the summertime for the fourish years he’s been going in cart, but we’ve done a lot of pallet dragging (mostly because we have access to pallets more than other items), and “logged” with jump poles behind the pallet. He is aslo used to things being around and between his legs, spent two years doing nothing but desensitizing to all kinds of bizarre things when I first got him in 2012 because he wasn’t rideable, and carried those desensitizing exercises and games over to when he started in harness. I think that time and energy I put into desensitizing to EVERYTHING is what has allowed him to step into the shoes of a therapy pony and not only do well at it, but absolutely thrive in their program. The hope for the next year or two is to test out a therapeutic driving program with a handful of current program participants, and if it goes well we hope to make it an actual thing and invest in a wheelchair accessible cart so we can actually offer it to clients who may not be eligible for the riding program but who would benefit from something like the driving.