new trail cart for my candy arse

[Cartfall]

I have been banging around the woods for several years in a Pioneer/Frontier pipe cart with NO SUSPENSION. I sometimes feel 5 inches shorter after a long drive!!!:lol:

Had a little OT at work this past fall and put my money into a new cart made by Sue Ahonen out of MN. This cart is a Spirit Training cart that she modifed for me.

I had a split seat with one side as a wedge. This cart also has 2 u springs to help soften the ride , plus pneumatic tires on steel wheels. This is not a modification, but large steel carriage wheels with pneumatic tires.

She shipped it on a tractor trailer so the shafts had to be fashioned to taken off. We picked it up over in Ocala at a truck stop, brought it home on a trailer and assembled it in the barn today. It has been beastly cold for our area and rainly – the snow that you guys up north have.

There are some tweaks we need to do—equalize the turn of the shafts and may have to balance it on the axle.

I am pretty excited. As youcheck out the photos of it, please remember it is a trail cart, not a show cart and has not yet even been on the horse. Will get photos of it on Zanzer once we have it fully adjusted.

Webshots - Wallpaper / Screen Savers

PS Dale, has yours come yet?

[49_er]

I think that is the cart I have that you saw at the distance driving clinic two years ago. I have 3 sets of shafts so that I can use it for pony, cob and horse. Very versitile…but I still prefer my marathon 4 wheelers. Have fun.

[RidesAHaflinger]

Sue, I bet you’ll be very happy with the ride. I loved my Spirit cart and I put a lot of miles in on it. Not nearly as many as you will, though. The wedge seat is a nice addition.

Karen

[MySparrow]

Mine should be here any day now! Can’t wait, and seeing yours has made me even more excited!

[Cartfall]

[QUOTE=49’er;4682937]
I think that is the cart I have that you saw at the distance driving clinic two years ago. I have 3 sets of shafts so that I can use it for pony, cob and horse. Very versitile…but I still prefer my marathon 4 wheelers. Have fun.[/QUOTE]

3 sets of shaft— good idea. I know you prefer your 4 wheels, but the miles that we do, the drag in the sand would be a lot of wear and tear on my horse, plus I would think would take the finish off your wheels.

I have done some trail work with my steel rimmed marathon carriage --it was a pretty bumpy ride sometimes when we hit trails with lots of roots. I had no person on the back to counter the springs. Plus I personally do not want to put that kind of wear and tear on that expensive a vehicle.

In the weeks before the recent Withlacoochie 30, I ws out on the trails 3 to 4 times a week, doing 15 to 20 plus miles a day. We did this for at least 6 weeks. This is legging up time before the CTD. That alone is almost 500 miles in just a couple of months. During the off time we will usually get out 2 or 3 times a week no less than 10 miles a day, sometimes up to 15.

My little Pioneer cart literally was coming apart from the mileage and banging over roots, logs, etc. We have rewelded it a couple of times over the last 2 years.

Hopefully the suspension and design of this new cart will be a better design for what I do.

49er–have you seen Julie A. training cart that she uses when she competes? Nice one, with shocks , brakes and a nice seat design–allows you to stand. It was just a bit out of my cost range.

Dale–waitinf for photos of yours even if it is in the snow!!!

Thanks Karen, I can hardly wait for some warm weather to get Lester to come out of the house to help me tweak it., It will take two of us.

[Thomas_1]

It’s pretty much similar to the exercise vehicle I use when I’ve first put horses to harness. Mine has interchangeable wheels so that I can either use traditional ones with clincher and cab tyre or else swap to pneumatic depending on the time of year and land!

[49_er]

The vehicle Julie has is a TH from Sweden that Olof Larsson sells. A lot of the CD drivers take that along to their shows as a single warm up vehicle. We call it the “Market Basket or Cart”.

I still think my 4 wheeler is more comfy than a 2 wheeler any day of the week. But I do understand your other points.

[Renae]

Looks like a very useful vehicle! I think it needs a cup holder (with some sort of bungee to hold your drink in when you get rockin and rollin) and some sort of box or basket under the seat for snacks, sunscreen, bug spray, and other odds and ends

Reminds me that the spokes have fallen out of one of the wheels of my favorite jog cart (it is 50+ years old) and I have moved it out to the hay shed. We got 1 new wheel for it a few years ago (an innatentive person ran into it with the tractor :mad:), I should keep on the lookout for another.

[Yip]

saa-weet!!

That’s the cart I wanted! I would have gotten the wheels you got, but I wouldn’t have ordered the split seat, merely because I know nothing about its pros or cons.

It was so far away from NC, I never considered it further.

Have a blast!!!

Yip

[nightmoves]

That’s the cart I wanted too. I contacted her a few months ago but haven’t had the money to order what I want. I was quoted around 1700 for what I wanted. What does the cart run with the split seat?

[Cartfall]

The base cart is 1200, the seat went about 150 and shipping was 150 from MN to FL. I have about 1500 in it.

NM–I don;t know what other options you asked about that would drive up the price. Sue is really reasonable and will work with you. Were you looking at her Traveller perhaps in stead of the Spirit?

Yip–my cart with its split seat is a proto-type. Sue has never made a Spirit cart with this arrangement before. I asked for the wedge seat for a couple of reasons-- additional height to see over/around the horse (my Pioneer cart had me at eye to gas level if you get my drift) and added security. Having had the security of a wedge seat up in my marathon carriage, I enjoy that snugness. I ordered this after my bear incident and other incidents where I slide all around the seat out in the woods. I almost had a single wedge seat put n the middle–but on occasion, although rare,I will carry a passenger and for possible resale value–I put the second half of the seat back in the design.

Hope this clarifies why I did what I did.

[Thomas_1]

The main purpose of a wedge seat is to put you in a more balanced and stable seated position and to ensure you’re higher than your passenger and hence don’t poke him/her in the eye quite so often.

With a vehicle like that I’d personally say it wasn’t worth the extra time and expense.

I know I’ve not bothered with mine that’s similar and I build my own and it’s really easy just to put in a wedge seat.

[Yip]

$150 shipping to FL? It would be a little less to me. I am REALLY kicking myself now for not even asking before ruling it out. That was just a dumb mistake on my part. The Spirit cart might still be in my future when we are ready to make some changes.

Yip

[nightmoves]

NM–I don;t know what other options you asked about that would drive up the price. Sue is really reasonable and will work with you. Were you looking at her Traveller perhaps in stead of the Spirit?

You’re right it was this cart and this is what she quoted…
Traveler is 1400 torsion axles 200 more 100 for the dash and 75 for the box.

So 1775.00
http://www.ahonen.com/assets/pony%20torsion%20cart.jpg
http://www.ahonen.com/competition.htm