given the economy and world situation these days, a group of us had the discussion about how we would survive if we actually did suffer from another great depression. of course with horses and land our friends think we’d have it the easiest, and i think they’re right!
so that gives me a good reason to hold onto my collection of harnesses and it reminded me about this cart i’ve been wishing i could build. it would be an old fashioned work cart for around the farm, but with some modern conveniences. i’d like it to be just the size for a haflinger to pull, with a comfy seat for me and a small dump body for whatever load i’m moving. an easy to use dump body, too, like the one on a gator.
has anyone ever seen a carriage like this anywhere? i think it would be so useful around the farm, i can see myself moving wood, hay, water buckets, manure, just about anything, really.
There’s loads of carts like that. It’s called a tipping cart.
I’ve a load of photos of what one of those is as I’ve some friends that show in Agricultural harness horse shows. I put their horses to harness and originally restored their vehicle.
I personally wouldn’t have said there was any need to change what is already a perfect purpose built design.
I don’t know what a gator is though!
[QUOTE=Thomas_1;3995180]
I don’t know what a gator is though![/QUOTE]
A “gator”
Though I must admit, on my first blurry-eyed read through of the OP, I thought she meant a NAVIGATOR. Not quite the same thing! :lol:
Ah … it’s a boy toy yuppie tractor for city folks 
Can’t help thinking that would be a heck of a lot cheaper to keep and maintain than a horse and cart!
With Thomas’s tipping cart, not sure if it entails removing the horse from shafts, then lifting the shafts so everything falls out. I have seen drawings of carts with a release in front, to allow tipping of box on frame, but none in real life. Carts are very heavy to hold heavy loads.
The dump body as in a gator, would need a set of hydraulics, with the engine or hand pump to run them. If you were to get into more modern adaptations, there is probably some kind of dump vehicle that hooks onto a Forecart used with draft type horses or ponies.
The Forecart is pulled by the horses, and allows all kinds of implements, vehicles to be hitched on. Farmers seem to use the horse/s with Forecart as a tractor, to move the work implements for getting jobs done. I have seen home designed implements, one of a kind, and other production run, implements for use with forecarts. Seems to be what folks can think up, how useful a tool it is, what gets made. Amish use quite a few implements behind forecarts, often can design things as needed. Looking at Draft Horse sites might find some implement makers and forecarts to use for pulling implements.
Putting a dump box on 4 wheels, especially hydraulic, will make it more stable in towing behind a horse or forecart, than just a two wheel box. Stable ride gets more important as dump box increases in size, weight and what you can move in it. Lawnmower carts are small, can be moved easily, loaded or empty. Much bigger, and they get heavy to lift for hitching. Might just self-dump when unhitched because you could not hold tongue down.
No a t
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v258/flodden_edge/Driving/DSCF0037.jpg)
[IMG]http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa178/classic-carriages/carriages/tippingcarttoberestored.jpg)
Found this link showing one in use in the old days:
http://prints.leics.gov.uk/pictures_671159/Navvy-with-horse-and-cart-St-Johns-Wood-London.html
What a beautiful job you did restoring that cart! Thank you for sharing the photos.
Thomas,
you must understand the southern redneck culture that spawned the “gator” to understand what a gator is. Anything that moves through tough ground, brush, swamp like an alligator is referred to as a gator.
That and anyone in Florida (of which there are a bunch on this page) knows the gators or Gators are really found at UF in Gainesville!!! Go Gators.
Ah right
When I first came here you guys used to talk about gators in relation to HDT and I remember asking then what it was and being told it was the groom or backstepper.
So is that because the vehicle goes through tough ground etc…??? or because he’s the navigator??? I though the latter but maybe I made a wrong assumption?
It’s about the smile
Gator has come to have a meaning also deriving from the impression made by the smile–human or reptile --and their intrinsic similarity. If we think about gator for navigator and alligator, and any confluent imagery, we might imagine some rough terrain, and a quite obvious display of dental endowment.
Gator is also a type of gas powered all terrain vehicle, which might be made by John Deere,and is useful for hauling multiple bales of hay, feed, muck, et cetera if you have too much land to make a wheelbarrow suffice nicely. I have driven them, but don’t own one–no need, and the parts for repair are pricey.
In all cases, we have the sense of difficult terrain traversed.
Regarding the vehicle dilemna, remember the natives of this place had travois (sp?), two shafts in a triangle fashion that dragged goods, bodies, etc behind a horse. If we have severe circumstances–more severe–it strikes me that a designer carriage would be a type of offense.
I have a “box cart”, as we call them in Canada. I’ve heard tip cart, or coal cart used as well.
see it here
http://www.k12.nf.ca/helentulk/HTE%20website/grade4research/matthewnewfoundlandpony_files/image015.jpg
