Tell about your first cart

[Marsha Cassada]

Some drivers, like myself, bought a first cart with zero background in driving. I bought a miniature horse with the express purpose of being able to drive. I loved the idea of it! I knew no driving folk at all (this is rodeo country.)

A local man had a racing sulky and harness for sale and I paid $400 for them. I had no idea if that was good or bad. The sulky was an old Jerald. Since I knew absolultely nothing, I naturally thought I should have a Jerald cart. Contacted the company and got some prices. I don't think they were online then.

I bought some ebay shares through Scott trade, using money I earned with handmade crafts. The time line to sell the shares was when I had earned enough for the cart. It took about 4 months. Cashed my shares, ordered the Jerald, paid with a MO, and I've loved it ever since. That was nearly 10 years ago.

Still know few local driving folk and see few other vehicles. Julie Miller has some wonderful parade-type vehicles, but bascially I've only seen metal carts and show carts in person. There are so many more carts to choose from now--some gorgeous ones have been shown on this forum, for sure! Would I buy a different cart now???

 

[targetsmom]

Is this going to be like "tell me about your first mini" and then "how many do you have now?" I swear there is a relationship!

I started with a wooden Amish built EE cart that I bought from Star Lake Tack in around 2006. I now have 4 carts (still fewer than the number of minis though!) and find the EE still gets plenty of use for training and giving cart rides. (My other carts are Graber and Jerald Show carts and a Silver Penny Farm road cart with wooden wheels). I really like the looks of the wooden EE cart and it has held up very well. Price was very reasonable and it wasn't that hard to assemble - just a moderate pain!

Wasn't sure I could find of photo of it on Photobucket, but I did: I guess it is also handy for early spring driving clinics!

 

[Sixstardanes]

My 1st cart ,a basic EE, (the one I still have) I bought from Karen of Honeypony as she said it was a good size for Saber.

Since her dogs had chewed up half the seat I repaired that.

Here's a screen grab from earlier this year

I keep thinking about painting the cart red.

A friend of mine says if I wanted to I could spray paint it with enamel paint after taking steel wool to it.

Do you think this would work?

 

[Field-of-Dreams]

Ours was a handmade, funky green NON EE metal cart. It got us through the learning stages but the basket was so short I didn't fit right! Sold it to a friend.

We then ordered an Amish Meadowbrook which was lovely but HEAVY. Had lotsa fun with that one, traded it for a broodmare. Bought a Superior showcart which we used for years! Sold that when we got the Jeralds. Bought a used EE cart which we still have. Bought a driving gelding who came with a Meadowbrook, still have this one. Traded a mare for a Graber, which ended up too small so we sold it and used the $$ as a down payment on a Houghton. Sold the horse that pulled the Houghton, and since it was a bigger cart, sold it and put the money on a open wheeled natural oak Jerald (Jane's showcart). Bought another Meadowbrook at Nationals several years back, still have this one, too. Traded a 26" stallion for an open wheeled Jerald with chrome undercarriage. (This is my showcart). Found another Jerald on Craiglist, this one was closed wheel and bought it.

Now, to save my $$ for a Smartcart and I'll be content. For a while....

 

[hobbyhorse23]

Oh lord. LOL

When I got Kody I wanted to buy the little homemade cart he'd been trained with but the owner wasn't ready to sell yet so I looked elsewhere. I got in contact with the folks down at Happ's after I stumbled onto their website and they recommended a couple of people I could call to see about borrowing equipment for the clinic I was interested in. One of them (Stormer's, maybe?

) gave me the phone number for a local guy making CDE carriages so I called him and ordered one which was supposed to be delivered in about a month. A month turned into two, into three, (I borrowed that homemade cart for my clinic after ground-driving the entire first day of it

) and when it finally showed up I was horrified by how heavy it was. It was well-balanced and had a lot of great features (adjustable shafts, torsion axles, etc.) but it was way too much for my little guy and me. We used that cart for a long time though!

I'm embarrassed to admit that I can't remember what cart we got next. I think I got my Hyperbike, then I tried getting a Houghton but it didn't fit Kody so I traded it for some cash and a small homemade show cart from Canada. Showed in that for a year then upgraded to a Graber closed-wheel show cart which I still have. I think I sold the Edgeman and bought my Minicrown around the same time I sold the Houghton. Somewhere in there I bought my Frontier because even with all those carts there was still a gap- I needed a general beater cart I could take through the winter mud and give pony rides in without worrying about the paint job.

I was pretty happy with the combo of Frontier, Minicrown, Graber and Hyperbike for Kody (yes, four carts for one horse

) although I would have liked to get a marathon seat on the Minicrown and switch to an open-wheeled Graber with both wooden and pneumatic wheels. Now with Turbo I'm torn because he fits all the same carts but needs everything in stainless so Kody's gold-striped stuff won't work!

I desperately want a pair vehicle, I would still love to have a wooden-wheeled vehicle for Pleasure-type shows, I'll probably need a new show cart to suit Turbo...*sigh* And that's not even considering the chariot I'd love to have!

And the sleigh, and the gig, and the....

Now if only I was made of money.

Leia

 

[Jill]

My first cart was a black, used metal easy entry cart. I still have it along with various other easy entry carts and a Houghton show cart. I remember how excited I was when I got the first one and how much fun it was to pretty it up. Harvey and I got some surface rust off it and repainted. I have no idea how old the cart is, but it's really well made and fun to have around

 

[ironbessflint]

Wow let's see...I was very fortunate to start driving by introduction from a fabulous coworker, a third-generation draft guy, now working with Haflingers. He really turned mentor and was wonderful in teaching me to drive. I'd been working with him and using all his equipment with my mare for several months, and then one day he came running over to my cube telling me I had to call on this ad he found - NOW. A carriage maker was selling off his own "beater" of a cart for $250, and I was oh so fortunate to have this already banged up but very solid Kentucky Breaking Cart for my first vehicle:

It served me very well for a very long time. When I moved on to training my own to drive, several times over, I decided I needed something a bit lighter for the babies, and snagged this sulky on ebay for $75.

My dad took the body to the paint booth where he works and gave it some nice new auto paint, a coat of poly went on the shafts, I picked up a new seat, and it was fantastic for my purpose.

I'm new to minis now, and just started my collection there with a Frontier cart, something to start basic arena work in, beat up on, and take my little niece for rides in. I'll be purchasing a hyperbike this winter, and if possible I'd like to get a nice road cart for ADS shows before next fall.

And just for some major laughs...as the person always buying things for a bargain to fix up, you all just have to see the sleigh I bought for my Haflinger. Have you EVER seen such a horrific paint job? Perhaps I'm too conservative, but I'm all for a glossy black with some nice pinstriping. Elves holding mysterious objects are just beyond me...

(Yes, that's shag carpeting for upholstery)

 

[shorthorsemom]

I'll play... My technical "first cart" was a full sized horse cart I bought at auction. I had never driven, I saw this cart and I swear it looked so much smaller sitting out in the field.. with nothing to compare too, I thought it was a pony cart... I stuck up my hand and it was mine. <My trainer laughed out loud when she saw it, the wheels were taller than my minis and neither of them were broke to drive yet.... It was a nice cart so I sold it. Cart number 2 was a nice amish made meadowbrook with all the extras and it came with a free miniature horse already broke to drive and his harness came with him (That was my boy Ike).... I sold the mini meadowbrook after driving it for 6 months getting lessons, because it was HEAVY for my boy to pull me up hills and my driving lessons were very short.... I then bought a lighter cart (my new aerocrown) and I lost a bunch of weight and I am in love with the aerocrown and with my boy Ike

...

My advice on choosing carts... listen to your trainer... She tried to steer me toward a bellcrown early on...I wouldn't listen... I re-visited the bellcrown idea after two wrong cart purchases and ended up going with the aerocrown. The only thing I can say though is if I had not bought meadowbrook cart number two I would have never met my Ike boy... so I kept the horse and got rid of the cart.. So I guess it is kind of like a journey through carts, kind of like goldilocks and the bears... The one I have right now is "just right"...

If you aren't happy with your cart.. keep looking. OMG I just scanned back... that elf set up sleigh is hilarious. I LOVE it.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

And just for some major laughs...as the person always buying things for a bargain to fix up, you all just have to see the sleigh I bought for my Haflinger. Have you EVER seen such a horrific paint job? Perhaps I'm too conservative, but I'm all for a glossy black with some nice pinstriping. Elves holding mysterious objects are just beyond me...

(Yes, that's shag carpeting for upholstery)

You're going to paint over the elf?? You're terrible! LOL. Someone put a lot of work into that thing and I think it's priceless, shag carpeting and all.

Leia

 

[Margo_C-T]

My first cart after I got into minis was borrowed; it was not easy entry; the shafts went straight back beside the seat, so climbing in was a bit of a challenge! Don't know a maker/brand name, but it was wooden,painted red, and had no backrest on the seat...and was tht only cart I've ever been 'tipped out' of, when the first mini I was training(now a retired 29 YO), spooked sideways as we left my arena, had to turn sharply at a fence, and dumped me out very unceremoniuosly!!

The first cart I bought was a Frontier; there was a tack store in Albuquerque that also was a sometimes-dealer for Frontier, and she ordered it for me! I've since owned three Jeralds, a Bennington, a Pequea, a Heindl training cart,a Missouri Flyer, a 'failed' Scotsman(I do NOT recommend buying ANYTHING from that buiider/dealer!!),and a nice little 'unidentified' cart similar to what Graber builds...but for everyday use, the Frontier is STILL my 'go-to' cart!!!My second one is still going strong and looks great!!

Margo

 

[Sandee]

Here's our first cart.

It came with the horse (8 yrs ago) and a badly fitted harness. Since we bought it all in Kansas and live in Wisconsin and only had the pickup to bring it all home [actually brought the little guy home with a truck topper].

We then ordered a cart from a local guy that did a lot of CDE driving. His "easy entry" cart was NOT easy to enter but it is easy for the horses to practice with in the pasture as the wheels are 26".

Now I have a Graber and a Jerald for minis and a 66" shaft Jerald for my double reg. Shetland. Next on the list is possibly a Viceroy.

 

[Minimor]

My first cart was one my mom got for our pony (Mini sized, Patches was half Shetland and half POA, about 35" tall at the wither)--don't know what brand it was, but it was a pipe cart similar to the EE carts we buy today--it was lighter/cheaper made than the CTM or Frontier carts available now. It worked great for the driving we did--Mom and I put a lot of miles on that pony & cart!

When we started driving our Morgans we had a friend's husband make a cart for us. He made quite a number of carts at that time & actually did a nice job, but the cart wasn't an EE--the shafts extended back past the basket and under the seat, so to get in/out of the cart you had to step over that bar. It didn't have springs. When the cart was delivered & we hitched my gelding to it the first time we discovered that the shafts were way too long--when Shad was hitched with the traces on the longest hole the shafts stuck out way in front of his shoulders. We did take it back & had the shafts shortened--the fellow said his wife had told him that we had really big horses, so he'd made really big shafts.

We later met a fellow who said he could convert the cart into an EE cart, so we went for that--he did make it into an EE cart but he reinforced it with angle iron & it made the cart so heavy & unbalanced. We were relieved when we got that cart sold!

Our first Mini cart was made by a neighbor--also a very nice cart but as it turned out it was a little small for our bigger B horses. We sold that one and bought a CTM EE cart with 54" shafts. That has worked very well for training. Three years ago we bought a Smart Cart & liked it so well we bought a 2nd one a year later. We do also have a CTM pony cart & I am hoping to buy an Alpine EE cart for our ponies next spring--it will be nicer for showing than the metal EE cart, and I'm hoping that the Alpine cart sits a little lower than the CTM cart does--the CTM and Frontier "pony carts" are really full size horse carts with pony size shafts on them, and they just sit too high for the 42-44" ponies. I am also going to buy longer shafts so that we can use our Smart Carts for the taller Shetlands.

 

[BBH]

I literally put the cart before the horse and bought an Alpine.......nice cart.....some adjustments for balance with my mare after she was trained, but having two minis and one cart just wasn't working so 2nd was Frontier EE.....to both carts I added solid black steels wheels. Both cart have been better that expected, and would like to have a Smartcart some day.......

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I have been wracking my brain here...I am not completely sure but I think that the first Miniature cart I had was a little four wheeled London Trolley- and I have no pictures on Photobucket do I can't show you but I shall try to scan one in if I can. I drove Rabbit's sire, Fred in it, and he was brilliant- even after an accident took one eye he still drove- just needed blinkers after that to keep him straight!

Then we got a two wheeled "breaking cart" that very nearly broke a little Shetland I was training- learned the hard way it is a good idea to have something that will break before the horse does!

Then I got a "Ken Jackson" (very old name over here) two wheel EE cart which was great and I had a Bellcrown for about five minutes- that the Jackson and the breaking cart were all stolen about three years ago- no wait a minute- the KJ and the breaking cart were stolen, I got the Bellcrown (which I did not like BTW) to replace them and then it was stolen along with a little cheapie I had acquired- (Bl**dy Gypsies!) So now I have just the EE cheapie- I have another one at home I have never assembled, it sits in my living room and I use it as a clothes dryer!!

I am after a Jerald, and I desperately want a Hyperbike, but that is for the future...

 

[shelterwood]

This is my first cart for my 40" mares. Actually I bought an EE no-brand probably home-made cart off Craigslist locally that was too small for my growing girls, so I sold that and tucked the money into my Hyperbike fund, since I WILL own two Hyperbikes eventually!! I have awesome trails that are actually snowmobile corridors in the winter a mile down my sleepy road, and I could actually go all the way to Canada from here....like 100 miles maybe!! So a hyperbike is definitely what I want and need, as my girls are strictly for pleasure and I can't imagine showing them, but you never know. I do like the Shetlander by Bellcrown I think, and I know eventually once I have my girls going as a pair (probably like three years from now if I'm lucky!) I would love a 4 wheeled rig. Oh to dream.

This little metal sulky was $80 from a lady in Vermont, and its ride reflects its price, but it is balanced well, just no suspension and a hard little seat for your bottom. But it is light and my mares seem to do well with it. so for now, it is what it is. With my new Comfy Fit harness with sliding backband the ride is improved alot on uneven terrain.

 

[Flying minis]

My first mini cart was a basic EE cart, BUT my first "cart" (I use the word very loosely) ever was a barrell! I bought a cart that someone had made by cutting the top off a barrel, and cutting it in half, except leaving the bottom. They welded it to an axle (I think from an old jeep - that's what the tire rims were we found out), and added shafts. It was actually really well balanced believe it or not, and a lot of fun to drive, although no springs, and you had to lean into the front when driving so got a few bruises until you were "seasoned" driving it.

I drove a 1/2 Arab 1/2 Saddlebred pinto to it, and we trained by driving up and down the gravel roads. Had a friend go to my house once and my dad told them I was "out on the road in the barrell."

It got destroyed in a barn fire years later - I watched the mini chariot classes at Nationals and it made me want my barrell back, but in mini size!

 

[RhineStone]

This wasn't my first cart, my mom bought it when I was in college. It was a pony cart with shafts that were too long, so my stepfather cut them down and we put chair leg protectors on the ends, and then my mom paid to have this red seat made (don't know what we were thinking there....

) My brother started showing 4-H in it in 1993 when this gelding was 2 yrs. old. I showed the gelding at local open shows in this cart for a number of years. We did a couple of breed shows, too. This was taken in 1997, where I won this Pleasure Driving class. Tuxedo shirts and "rosette" ties were all the rage, and I think I bought the sparkly vest around Christmas somewhere. I do have a driving apron, but my gloves were black and my whip was too short (I'm not sure they made appropriate length whips yet at that time. At least we couldn't find one....). I also showed Patriot in Sr. Showmanship and my sister showed him in Jr. Showmanship, so we usually used our outfits double duty. I also showed in a black Saddle Seat suit with a red tie. You'll notice that I had a "typical" breed show harness with a side check, martingale, wrap straps, thimbles, and no breeching. I am not a big fan of that set-up now for various reasons, but see, I do have experience with it!

Then my mom finally bought a used "show cart" in 1998. It was a Wagoner's and also came with another show harness which I used instead of the above one. That harness had a decorative saddle pad with the red piping that matched the striping on the cart. The caveson also had piping, too. The cart came with wire wheels, but I wanted the wooden wheels SOOOO bad, so I bought them myself in 2000 when I had a real job. This was taken at the 2000 Midwest Horse Fair in April, before I started showing at ADS carriage shows (Villa Louis) in Sept. (It took me almost TEN YEARS from the time I went to spectate at Villa until the time that I finally had the right stuff to be able to show there!) I showed in this turnout for a couple of years, and didn't even place in Turnout (I know why now!). My first ADS show, I got a 3rd in Novice Driver Pony Cones, and a 4th in NDP Reinsmanship out of six classes and was THRILLED that I even placed at a carriage show!

MY first cart that we (Chad & I) owned is a big horse Meadowbrook. By the time we bought it in 2000, I knew what I wanted in a cart, and it wasn't a little metal one. Mom had the little metal cart (and even a big one for the bigger horses) that kept us out of carriage shows for SOOO many years, that I wasn't even going there. This is the 2003 Villa Louis Carriage Classic and we won Novice Driver Working Pleasure! I was so excited that I broke down in tears and had to have my sister drive Spider back to the barn! (We don't even use this cart much anymore.)

Now we have two marathon vehicles (one big horse and one sm. pony/pair mini), three big horse tradtional vehicles, three mini vehicles (just sold one), and a pony Phaeton cart. And we have plans for more!

So that is how we started out. So I DO understand how the novice driver starts out in the sport of driving, and really want them to get a leg up quicker than I did because I remember the frustration of not having the "right stuff" to be able to compete.

Myrna

 

[LazyRanch]

Saw video of Leia driving a HyperBike and I was cooked. There was no looking back. My mom got a Frontier EE. This year, I drove Mom's horse in a show series with the EE cart. After 8 shows, the EE cart still scares me. Rascal gets cruisin', that EE cart slews all over the place and I just pray my hair stays on. I probably drive the HyperBike 95% of the time and the EE only for the pleasure classes once a month.

I might consider an Easy Rider if I could find one, though.