Chat
01-15-2017, 02:55 PM
Ooh, I like how the corners on your shafts look now. They look much neater! However, it looks like the angle on your shafts is steeper now than in the first photo. I'm guessing it's because you shortened the traces a bit? I'd lengthen them back again and get those shafts back to a less steep angle. You don't want the end of the shaft to poke Koby in the shoulder or neck when he turns, and in this position it looks like it could. You also don't want him to be so close to the back of the shafts that he could bump his legs when he trots or runs.
I totally forgot about unwrapped shafts riding up when the goat stops! Shaft wraps are definitely necessary to prevent that! Good thinking.
You said you lowered the breastcollar because the neck strap was too tight. I'm guessing this is because of the angle of draft created by a low singletree. We faced this problem with our team setup and there are a couple of things you can do about it. First, you can lengthen the traces to make the angle of draft less steep. You can also put a small pad (such as a fleece horse halter pad) under the top of the neck strap to pad any weight that falls on it. The other thing you can do is fix a strap between your neck strap and saddle. A small dog collar would probably work. This helps transfer some of the weight from the neck strap to the saddle. The other thing you could do is run the traces through the rings on your britchen if the rings are large enough to allow the traces to slide through fairly freely. This is less efficient because it breaks the line of draft, but it will hold your traces up level with the breastcollar. It will prevent the downward weight from falling on Koby's neck and will put it on the hip strap instead, which he may prefer. A breastcollar set as low as you have it in these photos is going to tire him out once he starts pulling real loads, and it could also chafe since there's a lot more shoulder movement at that height than there is up higher near his neck.
I can't tell from the photos whether Koby is suspended correctly between breastcollar and britchen. This is something you usually have to play with by starting and stopping and feeling. When I'm hitching an animal up for the first time I usually have to walk alongside and play with the harness adjustments a little as we start and stop. Often I slide my hand under the britchen and feel how much play is there when we start and stop. (Yes, your goat will give you funny looks!) Is there a lot of slack in the traces when Koby stops? Then you either have to shorten the traces or the holdbacks. On the other hand, if his hind legs are getting chafed by the britchen as he walks then your traces or holdbacks need to be lengthened.
I'm not sure why the britchen is getting pulled around when you turn. I would hazard a guess that you've got too much play in your holdbacks, or possibly your shafts are too wide for him. The shafts should hug his body pretty close. I'm not sure if too-wide shafts could cause the britchen to slide around on turns because I've never personally experienced this problem, but I'm trying to visualize it in my head and think of reasons why it could occur.
For your footman loops see if you can find a type of anchor in your hardware store that looks like a miniature cabinet handle. They are basically a piece of metal with a hump in the middle and a screw hole at either end. I think they are called footman loops or strap loops and most hardware stores should carry them. You don't have to thread the holdbacks through more than once. They just need to anchor the straps in place.
Thanks for sharing all these photos! I think it will be very helpful for other folks setting up wagon shafts! I'm hoping to make some for our wagon this year or next. Last summer our boys weren't old enough to pull it single so I put that project off and concentrated on training them as a team. I'm sure when we get around to making shafts I'll be looking at your set-up!
I totally forgot about unwrapped shafts riding up when the goat stops! Shaft wraps are definitely necessary to prevent that! Good thinking.
You said you lowered the breastcollar because the neck strap was too tight. I'm guessing this is because of the angle of draft created by a low singletree. We faced this problem with our team setup and there are a couple of things you can do about it. First, you can lengthen the traces to make the angle of draft less steep. You can also put a small pad (such as a fleece horse halter pad) under the top of the neck strap to pad any weight that falls on it. The other thing you can do is fix a strap between your neck strap and saddle. A small dog collar would probably work. This helps transfer some of the weight from the neck strap to the saddle. The other thing you could do is run the traces through the rings on your britchen if the rings are large enough to allow the traces to slide through fairly freely. This is less efficient because it breaks the line of draft, but it will hold your traces up level with the breastcollar. It will prevent the downward weight from falling on Koby's neck and will put it on the hip strap instead, which he may prefer. A breastcollar set as low as you have it in these photos is going to tire him out once he starts pulling real loads, and it could also chafe since there's a lot more shoulder movement at that height than there is up higher near his neck.
I can't tell from the photos whether Koby is suspended correctly between breastcollar and britchen. This is something you usually have to play with by starting and stopping and feeling. When I'm hitching an animal up for the first time I usually have to walk alongside and play with the harness adjustments a little as we start and stop. Often I slide my hand under the britchen and feel how much play is there when we start and stop. (Yes, your goat will give you funny looks!) Is there a lot of slack in the traces when Koby stops? Then you either have to shorten the traces or the holdbacks. On the other hand, if his hind legs are getting chafed by the britchen as he walks then your traces or holdbacks need to be lengthened.
I'm not sure why the britchen is getting pulled around when you turn. I would hazard a guess that you've got too much play in your holdbacks, or possibly your shafts are too wide for him. The shafts should hug his body pretty close. I'm not sure if too-wide shafts could cause the britchen to slide around on turns because I've never personally experienced this problem, but I'm trying to visualize it in my head and think of reasons why it could occur.
For your footman loops see if you can find a type of anchor in your hardware store that looks like a miniature cabinet handle. They are basically a piece of metal with a hump in the middle and a screw hole at either end. I think they are called footman loops or strap loops and most hardware stores should carry them. You don't have to thread the holdbacks through more than once. They just need to anchor the straps in place.
Thanks for sharing all these photos! I think it will be very helpful for other folks setting up wagon shafts! I'm hoping to make some for our wagon this year or next. Last summer our boys weren't old enough to pull it single so I put that project off and concentrated on training them as a team. I'm sure when we get around to making shafts I'll be looking at your set-up!