Marathon shafts?

[Christie]

HI! Life has been busy this summer... I'm just catching up on the forum along with life and chores in general. I'm still cart shopping. I did purchase a beautiful wood cart, and I'm very pleased! Oh My! It's beautiful!!!! I just don't want to do my training with the cart and I didn't take into consideration how difficult this cart will be for me to move about with out helping hands. SO I'm shopping for a lighter weight cart for training, that will adjust to fit all my small equine and when I don't have helping hands to load and unload a heavier cart.

I know little about marathon carts or marathon shaft lengths. To me at times when driving, I was gald to have my horse/pony between the shafts to their shoulders. Is there anything I should know before making such a purchase? Do most horses do well with the marathon shaft lenghth? And they are metal shafts, any consideration there?

Thanks!

Christie

 

[RhineStone]

In general, the nice thing about marathon shafts is their adjustability. Yes, they are metal, but usually a better grade than your typical pipe cart.

I have not had a horse go any different in marathon shafts than other ones, but I know there are people that have.

Myrna

 

[Christie]

Myrna; Thank you for the reply. I feel good about my decision. Thank you!!!

 

[hobbyhorse23]

Well, first of all what do you mean by "marathon shafts?" True marathon shafts are closed loops that come only to the saddle and require special tug loops to hitch up. I've seen several cheap miniature horse carts advertised as having "marathon shafts" which in fact had nothing of the kind but rather a shorter shaft with a little tiny curve at the end that ended right in front of the tug loop. Those aren't a good idea for a beginner because you need to be very careful that your traces are tight or they can slip backwards out of the tug loops and fall to the ground, causing a bad accident.

Leia