What type of Cart ?

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Elizabeth Pannill

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I have an easy entry cart but am looking for another cart. Right now I am doing pleasure driving but may try dressage driving , CDE or small local shows.

We have a lot of mesquite thorns where I live so need a cart without inflatable wheels and one that would be acceptable in different venues .

Thanks

Elizabeth in Texas
 
Leia needs to take this one on.

The only wheels that would be acceptable in both would be wooden.

The steel wheeled carts are great for CDE, etc, but I've never seen them used in the show ring. I'm not sure they're even legal in the show ring I'd have to look up rules.

Have you checked out sites like Ite Bte Buggy ?
 
The Smart Carts, steel wheels and all, are starting to be used in the show ring, at least in Country Pleasure; they seem to be frowned on in open pleasure. I'd use mine in open, except that it's not set up to use without breeching, and breeching in open is less accepted. The Smart Carts aren't common in the show ring yet, but considering that they have been on the market not much over a year I guess that's not surprising. Give it a little more time & I think we will see more of them.
 
I'd like to see the smart cart more accepted.

This mini thing about breaching (most judges don't know what it is ) and checks are required ( so everybody overchecks the head up and pulls the nose in and calls it collection).

Sounds like a song lyric.

Very fustrating.
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just a thought but why not look into another set of wheels for your cart? I dont know about the show ring but dresage and CDE can be done with an EZ entry cart. as far as the thorns go, have you tryed No Flat liners instead of tubes? they are like soft rubber rings that replace the tubes. since they dont hold air they cant go flat. DR.
 
You called?
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You've gotten good answers so far from the no-flats inserts to the explanation about the Smart Cart in the breed ring. The short version is the most versatile cart style I've found so far (and what I'd go back and buy if I was starting over) is an open-wheeled show cart. No, really! There are removable after-market products you can buy now to convert them to close-wheeled carts so they're legal for roadster, they're becoming more and more preferred in the breed ring over closed wheel models if the win photos I'm seeing in the Journal are any indication, and if you remove the patent boot and put wooden wheels on they're more than suitable for ADS Pleasure Driving shows, CDE, or any sort of local shows at all.

Mini road carts and easy entry carts all use 20-24" wheels and that not only doesn't pull well but is not a particularly traditional carriage look. Show carts are about the only mini vehicles I've seen that are proportioned to allow wooden wheels in the 26-30" range without sitting you up too high above the horse and therefore correctly match the visual scale of the road carts used on large horses. There's just nothing quite as neat to watch as those spokes flashing around and around behind a classy mover! Even a plain mover looks somehow more dignified in front of a wooden-wheeled cart.
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If you can't afford a Jerald (and who can these days?
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) you can custom order an open-wheeled cart from Graber for half the price and with any features you want. My dream cart which I hope to upgrade my current show cart to in the next year or so is a ADS model Graber with a brass rein rail, singletree down in line with the shafts instead of up above it, 26" or 28" wooden wheels (also 24" pneumatics for deep arenas) and a couple of other nice features. A cart like that combined with an easy entry with steel wheels means you have a cart suitable for literally any event you might want to try.

Just my .02 of course, but that's what I've found. The only downsides I can think of are that the springs are not great for cross country and the shafts may not allow a lot of room for bending depending on how your horse is built.

Leia
 
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Okay, what is a Smart Cart? I've been looking at the Smart CARS
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so had to look twice at the name!

Jan
 
Jan, here is the Smart Cart info, with photos:

Pacific Carriages

I absolutely love mine, but I am using it with the taller B's. I haven't tried driving my 33-34" horses on it, and probably won't very often. I think it might be heavy for them. I know others have said it's too heavy for their under 34s.
 
We share your thinking about cart needs, and we just ordered our third cart!! But we are training at least three of our minis to drive so we can use the extras. Here are the options that we considered that might help you:

1. Easy entry cart, Amish made, wooden, that we could get wooden wheels for (but haven't yet).

2. New Graber show cart, custom ordered, rubber tires for now, but wooden wheels can be ordered later. We haven't used this one yet but it is gorgeous.

3. A show/pleasure cart from A Silver Penny Farm (http://www.ccfdriving.atfreeweb.com/index.htm) with wooden wheels for under $1,000. Custom made (Amish) too. Haven't gotten that one yet.

We show mostly at New England Pinto shows where wooden wheels are common because there is a lot of interest in carriage driving.
 

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