Having been flipped a time or two with a 2-wheeled cart, I am trying to find a 4-wheeled vehicle that is suitable for a single pony - 12.2 hand refined pony and 11.2 hand chunky Dartmoor. I’d really like something on the order of a wagonette so I could use it for training as well as taking the grandkids for a ride. I’m thinking the weight would have to be 300 lbs. or less. Does such a vehicle exist that doesn’t break the bank or am I looking for the impossible?
I would talk to Sarah: http://highhopesfarms.com/htmldocs/carriages.html
She drives a lot of similar sized ponies and uses these vehicles for hers. The dominiaks are not that expensive in comparison to others. I think that fancy spider pheaton i think was $4270 when i asked about it (which was a year ago, so please dont quote me on that!), i know when she posts prices on FB i always think of how reasonable they are when looking at a new imported vehicle. And these are not cheap junk vehicles.
My other thought was a hardwick tadpole, if you could run across a used one. I rarely see the dominiaks used.
Thanks but I can’t get that site to load 
Is the URL correct?
Well, it just told me it’s down right now… Her email is: highhopesfarm@aol.com
She has a wagonette mix that i know can go single or pairs and she pulls with a pair of minis. So i would think it would be suitable for 11-12h singles. I cant remember the weight, but i think it’s right at 300lbs or somewhere about there.
She’s on FaceBook, here’s her profile: http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=1319708168
She has pics of some of her carriages in her photos, not sure if you need to be a friend to see them. Of course, i cant find pics of that wagonette on FB…
So, another way to see what she can get/has, is to go to Dominiaks website!
http://www.dominiakz.pl/web/eng/carriages.html
I hope that helps! lol. I know she’s got several carriages in stock right now. And she’s SUPER nice and helpful. I was looking at getting a small “gig” from her for my mini a year ago.
Sarah’s website is working again, i think her server was down earlier. You might try it again. The one i was thinking of is called a marathon mix on her website, i think on dominiak they call it a wagonette mix.
Still looking…
High Hopes Farm has a nice new carriage that might work but I’d have to see it hitched to a single pony to know for sure. However I’m hoping for something used that wouldn’t cost quite that much.
the only other one that comes to mind besides the hardwick is the bellcrown wagonette, but i never see them used and they are even more money than the Dominiaks at High Hopes.
My 13h pony is really refined and narrow. I’m guessing she’s lucky to weigh 550 soaking wet with winter coat… I’m hoping i’ll get some muscle on her this year, but i’m not sure she’ll ever be able to handle my kuhnle marathon carriage, which is designed for large ponies and weighs 400lbs. So i’m kinda in the same boat as you. If my cob doesnt come sound this year, i’m selling it and getting one of the dominiaks i think. I dont know if i’ll get another large pony for the Kuhnle or not.
I was doing some searching and came across this one, you might see if they know what it weighs:
http://www.runningbrookfarm.com/html/html/products/c_smallpony_wagonettepm.html
I dont know what these weigh, but maybe an option? I’ve seen one of these hooked to a pair of 12h ponies with a few adults on it, looked nice.
http://feonow.com/Pony%20Redhawk.html
The Pacific Dartmoor is 330lbs, buck22 has that one for her morgan, but it says it’s sized for 12.2-14.2, so i dont know if you could get it suitable for the smaller pony…
I think i’ve seen one hardwick come up used on the CD-L in the past year… Their “horse” model is 175lbs. I’m not sure sizing wise what it would look like with small ponies… But might be an option.
I would second the Tadpole. It is the only thing I know of that is really, truly, light enough for ponies that size.
I have owned about 4 bellcrowns over the last 15 years, including the first one brought over in pony size. It’s still going strong, being driven by an advanced driver at this point, 12 years later. I love them, but I would check the weight on them. An 11.2 single pony to pull a 4 wheeler, an adult and 2 kids is asking a lot of that single pony so would be very careful about weight.
THE NUMBER ONE ISSUE WHEN BUYING A CARRIAGE IS VERIFYING THE WEIGHT.
DO I NEED TO SAY IT AGAIN?
Virtually none of the sellers are honest. Now having said that, Bellcrown (Carriage Machine in the US) is very good. Russ Harwick is very good.
Kuhnle, Kutzman and some others not so much. My Kuhnle was about 50 lbs heavy, my Kutzman was 140lbs heavy…(no that is not a misprint). Fortunately, I had learned my lesson by then and had the weight guaranteed in writing, so returned it but it took me over a year to get my money…
My only thought with the tadpole is it might be too small for the 12.2h pony. It sits the driver pretty low, more for the VSEs. Maybe you can get it with a little larger wheel?
I second to verify weight, my kuhnle says on it that it weighs 350, but it’s 400…
They weigh the Kuhnle’s with no shafts. I told Gustav when he could tell me how to pull a carriage with no shafts, I would accept the weight with no shafts…
There is another size for the Tadpole and puddlejumper, not sure what he calls it.
My morgan is 14.3, and while in photos the carriage might look a hair small for him, it feels like a perfect size and I really couldn’t imagine asking him to pull something much heavier (considering someone on the back step too).
I will be driving a friend’s 13h morgan mare this summer with it too, but I really couldn’t imagine going much smaller unless they are really built like a tank.
Russ call the other size PJ a Pollywog.
