What, pray tell, is a footmans loop?

[earthchild]

Yes I am new to driving.

I read several articles mentioning footman loops. Not knowing what they were, I went to my carriage driving book and failed to find any info on them. So can anyone tell me what they are, or better yet, post a pic of them. Thank you.

 

[maggiemae]

On my cart - they are small metal loops on the bottom of the shafts that I wrap the hold back straps from the breeching on and they keep the wraps from sliding or moving around on the shaft.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

Maggie's right- footman's loops are the brackets on the shafts that you run the breeching holdbacks through to anchor them to the cart. Show carts do not usually have these and many cheaper mini carts also may not, or they may be in the wrong place up by the tugs instead of back by the end of the ribs. You can always have those rewelded though or add your own to a wooden cart!

Leia

 

[Sandee]

If this picture is big enough (click on it and I think it gets bigger) here is my old cart with the footman loops cirecled in red. [for those who scour this site for mistakes, his traces are slack because he's not in draft].

 

[Barnmother]

Ok one question always leads to another. What is "in draft"?

 

[Performancemini]

In Draft harness rather than pleasure harness.

 

[Katiean]

But isn't the horse supposed to pull from the breast collar and the singletree?

 

[Al B]

In Draft simply means the horse is pulling the cart. Out of Draft means the horse is not pulling and the traces are loose. With a single if the cart is moving the horse is suredly in draft. On multiples where you have horses in front such as a four in hand or tandem the lead horses may or may not be in draft when you are moving.

 

[Katiean]

Good to know.

 

[Barnmother]

In Draft simply means the horse is pulling the cart. Out of Draft means the horse is not pulling and the traces are loose. With a single if the cart is moving the horse is suredly in draft. On multiples where you have horses in front such as a four in hand or tandem the lead horses may or may not be in draft when you are moving.

Thanks that is what I thought but wasn't absolutely 100% positive. I didn't know this applied to singles.