A Road Cart will put you higher behind the horse than a Meadowbrook. This lets you see ahead of horse for excuses to spook or things to avoid. Seat is above the shafts, entering and exiting ease can vary between builders. Easy Entry has shafts under the floor or ending at cart front. Other models will need you to step over the shafts to get to the seat. Meadowbrook is a lower seat, BETWEEN the shafts, which can make you crane your neck sideways, to see in front of the horse. They can be a bit easier to get into, but involve seat flipping up and down to pass between seat halves. Because you are lower, they can be difficult to exit QUICKLY, should you need to.
Horse NEEDS to be rock-solid standing, to allow you getting in. Shafts of ANY 2-wheeler will go up and down during entry and exit, pivoting on the axle with weight changs as you move in the cart. Even seated, moving body forward or back changes shaft weight on the horse saddle.
What kind of carts or carriages do you see at the local shows? Probably lots of 2-wheelers because they take up less room, are easier to handle by yourself. Do you know the width of trailer inside the walls? 2-wheelers are usually wider for stability, may have hubs that stick out, to make fitting it inside more difficult.
We have a gooseneck stock trailer, 18ft on the floor. Horses in front, cart or carriage behind center door. You can put cart shafts up over the center door and tie them down for travel. Hauling a 4-wheeler the shafts must be removed, then slid in under the carriage for hauling. Do tie things down well, so carriage is not bouncing, messing up paint and wood. Every bounce is doubled with springs above the axles if not anchored well.
You will probably want to start with a wooden 2-wheeler, be similar to others at the local shows. Natural varnished or painted are both good choices. Draft folks tend to have BRIGHT colors on their vehicles, often the Farm Colors in yellow, purple, bright blue, etc. The bright colors can be hard to match, keep looking good, compared to darker colors and natural finishes. Know your horse’s size, body length, where level shafts are midway up the body from the ground, to prevent getting vehicle too tall or short. The ADS has a chart of lengths and heights for shaft fit to look at.
4-wheelers are out there! Despite advertising, very few are “the only one lIke it” or extremely rare. You will want to wait a bit, get better trained as a driver, horse should have more hours, driven to be obedient to you, before hitching to a 4-wheeler with your beginner horse. You will want to look for a cut under vehicle, which makes turns easier. It might have “a reach” which are wood pieces underneath body, helping hold front and back end together. Front wheels will go under body about 75 degrees, not a full 90 degrees. A full 5th wheel allows front wheels to turn way under the body and nothing to stop them. Very handy unless horse won’t go forward and jack knifes the vehicle. The ride is MUCH better with 4 wheels, you get no bounce from the shafts as horse trots. Just that 4-wheelers are a step taken after you and horse are good, she is obedient EVERY time, confident when out with the 2-wheeler.
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