hobbyhorse23
Well-Known Member
I'm not sure without seeing what's going on in person but let's start at the beginning, shall we? So when you first put a horse to a new cart, you should put the shafts through the tugs and draw them forward until the shaft tips are even with the point of the shoulder. Then you attach the traces so that they are comfortably tight in that position and the cart can't roll back. If you have breeching you'd attach it next, adjusting it so there's a couple of fingers' width of clearance when the traces are snug. I usually play with the cart a little at this point, rolling it gently back and forth to see how far forward the shafts go before the holdback straps become tight and the breeching engages. You want to see that smooth give-and-take I talked about earlier on this thread and the shaft tips should not go past the point of the shoulder or swing upwards. Once you're happy with how things are adjusted it's time to add the wrap straps or overgirth. You wrap it once back to front in front of the tug, around and up behind the tug, throw in any extra wraps you need to make to take up slack then tuck it back through where it crosses in front of the tug and buckle it down. Having the wraps in front of and behind the tug keeps the wrap strap from slipping down the shaft by itself and tucking it through creates a sort of temporary knot if the leather should break in an emergency and may hold things together long enough for you to get stopped. Repeat that procedure on the other side making sure that both sides are even and adjust it until the overgirth is gently snug but not tight. The cart at this point should be held where it is but not tied down hard in any direction. (If you have open tugs you just buckle them in on both sides, adjusting it to about the same snug-but-not-tight level.)Knottymare said:
If you don't have breeching then you'll just skip that step and go straight to the wrap straps. Your cart should be equipped with tug stops (little after-market pegs on the shafts) for this arrangement and you'll install those so they are just behind the tugs when the tugs are hanging straight down in line with the saddle and the traces are tight. You'll wrap just the same as if you have breeching but you'll have to snug them down a little more so that when the shafts start to swing forward as the horse stops they are immediately held back by the saddle. You want much less slack and give in this arrangement but IMO it is unnecessary to tighten them down so much the shafts are pulled inwards as you'll sometimes see. It's harder with thin metal EE shafts but with anything wooden it's pretty easy to get the wraps to "grip."
If you've followed this procedure when getting everything adjusted you shouldn't really have any problems with loose traces. Try it and let me know what you find! You can always haul your girls up here and drive at my place and we'll get it all sorted.
Leia
