Myrna, if you read this...is it at all
proper to paint a meadowbrook style of cart? Another thing I do not like, (although I LOVE the look of natural wood) is a colourfully spotted black and white horse put to a natural cart. I would love to paint it black. Is that a huge faux pas?
Well, there are two thought processes here. No, it really isn't "proper" to paint a Meadowbrook. However, you can
stain it!
There are very few carts that we produce that are just varnished (polyurethaned, spar urethaned, clear coated, whatever) without being stained first. You can "match"/complement the horse better and it will be different than all the other carts in the ring. A nice ebony stain might look good with that horse. Get some stain samples from the hardware store and some scrap wood (the same species as your cart), stain a piece and then hold it up to your horse. Sometimes even one coat will look better than two depending on the horse. The challenge with staining the cart is that you will have to strip whatever finish is on there first. It isn't impossible, but call it a
winter project.
However, if you are stripping the cart down, you really won't have a Meadowbrook in the true sense of the word. A Meadowbrook is a rear entry cart usually with fenders if it has two seats for two people. I don't call
my cart a Meadowbrook, but a "Meadowbrook-style" cart because it is not rear entry. (We have built true Meadowbrooks, too.) We decided that the engineering for the rear entry added too much weight for my 34" mare it was built for. It is a step-over without fenders. Yes, you can take off the fenders, spares box, dash, and a few floorboards and you will have more of a lighter "road cart". Road carts
can be painted.
If you are going to paint, that is a process in itself if you want a
great finish (and another thread topic!). Don't just brush it on unless you don't care how it looks. Yuck! (And it won't get you very good Presentation/Turnout points, either.) In order to do it right, it will be MUCH MORE work than staining it (and more expensive). If you don't care how it looks and just use some Rustoleum, then yes, it will be less work and cheaper. One reason some vehicle makers' painted vehicles are cheaper than the stained ones is that they use crap wood and cover it with crap paint. Natural vehicles need good wood, but so do well painted ones, as every imperfection in the wood will come out in the paint.
While you are tearing your cart apart, you might want to consider mounting the cross/circle bars and singletree on under the shafts. That way your line of draft is not going uphill. That is a typical problem with mini carts, because it is a typical mount with big horse carts. Inches (and 1/4 inches) matter in mini carts, where you can "get away with it" in big carts.) Mount the cross bar underneath and put the singletree on top of that if it will fit between the shafts. Sometimes they are too long and you are stuck, though.
Yes, I agree, a black spotted horse to a natural (not stained) finish is ugly. Especially when there are so many other options!
I think your maxi mini looks great! He looks like he would have made a nice wheeler in a tandem!
Myrna
We ended up Champion of our division, and Champion of the show! Hopefully next time he'll remember that he can indeed pull without his head in the air. 
