# Chariots



## greentree (Feb 27, 2013)

It is REALLY difficult to drive standing up......It requires a LOT of strength and balance to avoid balancing with the reins. A decent carriage, especially for a beginner, must have a rail to brace a foot against, and a single seat(as opposed to a bench seat) allows the driver to avoid a slide in the event of a sudden turn. 

Carriage roll overs are one reason that we should not drive alone.... It is very difficult to get to the top of the carriage to right it if the driver is still holding the lines, and bracing the feet, which are automatically at the BOTTOM of the carriage. 

If you have ever sailed on a fairly fast sailboat, it will make more sense.

Hope this helps.....


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## elkdog (Nov 28, 2016)

I like to train to drive in the winter using an old car hood. Throw a bale of hay on it and for 15 dollars you have a one horse open car hood. I start driving with just a harness. Then add the single tree dragging on the ground. Then by making a "Y" with a heavy chain in front of the car hood, when the horse stops it acts as a brake. I tried to train a Morgan all this in one day with horrible results. I recommend taking baby steps over several days. 2 steps forward 1 step back.

The car hood has been a great way to feed when the snow gets too deep. Not to mention just plain fun. If we hit a stump or rock, no big deal.


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## Hondo (Sep 29, 2014)

I take it you sit on the bale of hay? Love it! Add an axle and wheels for when the snow melts. An old pointy hood from the past would seem to work best for the stump strikes.


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## Caledonian (Nov 27, 2016)

A relative built something similar for his carriage horses. It was a sledge for a single horse, made up of a sturdy wooden base, runs and a bale of hay for a seat. He eventually added a wooden seat. He only used it on earth and grass surfaces as we rarely get snow.
He tended to work the more difficult ones in it and as he was in his sixties or seventies at the time, he liked how it sat low to the ground for an easy escape.


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## secuono (Jul 6, 2011)

A chariot sounds like a lot of fun! 
Reminds me of when I was a kid and we'd stand on the open metal carts in home improvement stores. My brother would pull while I stood on it with a pvc pipe stabbing stuff, not holding anything, and we'd switch places. Never broke anything, so no one really stopped us.


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## Hondo (Sep 29, 2014)

Arizona where I am has lots of rocks and little snow. So I'm thinking wheels mounted independently on each side so the box could sit low. Also a hydraulic suspension swivel tractor seat would be nice with a foot brace in each corner. Low CG would be less likely to turn over, and closer to the ground would be less distance to fall if it did. Maybe the Romans knew something we've forgotten.

I'll be staying extra alert on my next trip to Home Depot.


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## elkdog (Nov 28, 2016)

Hondo said:


> I take it you sit on the bale of hay? Love it! Add an axle and wheels for when the snow melts. An old pointy hood from the past would seem to work best for the stump strikes.


I tried an old Desoto hood once. The pointy kind. It wanted to veer left and right constantly.

I used the car hood logging on bare dirt (mostly sand) before with a shire. It was the safest way I could find to drive him and not be run over by a log. The car hoods will drag over anything and go where a cart won't. Bash into trees, rocks, stumps, they just bounce off. They make a lot of noise going over gravel so beware. My favorite hood is the old 90s suburban hoods they take a lot of abuse


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## Hondo (Sep 29, 2014)

I wonder how the pointy hoods would do if you used a single tree and connected at the point of the hood?

I guess if he wide part got loaded on one side it would still tend to veer off. Ok. Got it. Suburban hood.

Used to be an old Dodge pointy car hood that was a favorite for welding two together for a canoe that was wide in the middle. Pretty stable and narrow in the back for rowing.

Sounds fun. Particularly in the snow. Sounds like you've got a good life goin' on up there. Take me some getting used to for the winters though.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

Pioneer Forecart. Google it. Can be set up several different ways. Easy in, Easy Off.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

Finally it is letting me reply. Like I was saying - it can be configured several different ways. You can drag whatever weight to put a load to get a horse used to the job. Short enough you can walk behind to get them used to a wheeled vehicle without being on it. Never had a worry with rocks and we have used ours on some rocky trails for St Jude Ride/Drives. Safer than a chariot. It takes a lot of core strength and great balance to drive standing be it a wheeled vehicle or sledge type. I wouldn't recommend it. BTDT and would like to leave those days long behind me. I still will if we have two that want to go for a drive and would rather not go separately. Have had our Forecart 25+ years...Wouldn't trade it for the world. We have used it a lot for farming as well. Not only can you change out the seating but you can configure for single or team. You can even get sled runners for it. No tools necessary well maybe a wrench to change the seating out....


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

Working Horse Tack has a page for carts and one for forecarts that are worth a look.


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## Hondo (Sep 29, 2014)

QtrBel said:


> Pioneer Forecart. Google it. Can be set up several different ways. Easy in, Easy Off.


Now that is cool! Thanks! I'll take the 15 inch radial tires with independent rubber torsion suspension and hydraulic brakes..

Implement seat without cushion. I'll use a burlap bag stuffed with straw for the sake of memories. And sun shade of course. No cup holder. Both my hands will be busy.

I may not wait until I get too old to ride. That looks like so much fun. And with the implement seat the exit would be as available as a chariot. I could put a dog box on the back for Meka as she's getting too old to go too far anymore.

I wonder what the ratio of miles covered in a cart to horseback are considering the same amount of effort by the horse?


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## Hondo (Sep 29, 2014)

Ok, just saw your other two posts. I have stood on a drag, (two logs with boards nailed between them) for smoothing freshly plowed ground. Been 60 years since I've done that. I had figured with a chariot I'd use something like an implement seat but but this is already done. If it lasts 25 years I'll be 100 YO so it'll probably do me.

Walking behind sounds like a good idea for training. Might even remove the seat and step up on it for smooth ground. Might need to bolt a hand hold wher the seat goes.

I'm glad I posted this thread. This is exactly what I'd like to have.


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## anndankev (Aug 9, 2010)

A few years back I was driving (a car) down a little used gravel lane when a man drove two fine large black horses across a field and stopped at the edge of the road. I thought he must be training them so I continued slowly past them, not stopping to talk or ask questions. Could see them go on across the road after I passed.

Always wondered what kind of cart/wagon/thing he was standing on. Now I know - a Forecart.

Boy o' boy, those horses were fine.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

I'm sure mine has another 3x25years left. It'll go to my child that is using it now to learn on. The only thing I have had to replace is the shaft that goes between the team. They're wood and the first wasn't treated just painted and left in the weather with the cart. The second was treated, primed and painted and it's still in decent condition. I have a set of shafts as well for the heck of it. Why buy a fancy when you have something that does the job? I don't need a team for just fun or checking out a horse and I like driving single. It really is versatile and the most used piece of equipment I own besides my husband's logging clevis. There is a three horse evener if you want to go three abreast. You have said you have three right? You could haul a heck of a lot of hay that way. We've done rounds with it. You don't really want a hand hold but depending on your height another brace across the front could help if you did drive standing. I have two tractor seats on mine and when working with equipment one is taken off for ease of getting on and off to deal with equipment unless there are two of us working together then the second seat stays but I have never had trouble going off the side. I always wanted to try the sled option but alas no snow here though I wonder if it would work just as well in sand??????? 

If you get one post pics. If you get the chance for a vacation and have a truck look up Horse Progress Days. Happens every summer around the 4th of July. You can see all the different set ups. Most of the vendors sell their demo items for a discount. That is how I got mine.


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## Hondo (Sep 29, 2014)

I only own one horse. I'm caring for three others one of which may become mine.

Sled in sand? Would want some hard steel runner surface I'd think. Still might be a lot of wear.

I think elkdog's setup would be best for sand.

Horse progress days is quite a doings. I checked out the photos. I actually drove a team quite a lot up until age 14 YO when dad bought a tractor. I mowed hay, raked hay with a dump rake, drag and springtooth, hay wagon. After that we only had a small draft for the garden/truck patch which I used some with a double shovel.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

I'm jealous. I didn't get into drafts until I was an adult but I love working them. I prefer tedding to cutting. I let someone else handle that. I also prefer planting to ploughing though I have done my share of both. Took a while to get used to the farm equipment. Some of it I still find scary. RE: Elkdog - I wouldn't want to be that low to the ground behind a set of hooves. Have seen someone killed that way when the horse kicked at something. Also have seen the aftermath of a hood behind a 4wheeler. Not pretty. But perhaps wider runners. Just a thought I don't think any around here would appreciate seeing a horse on the beach. Might mess up their pretty white sand.


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## Hondo (Sep 29, 2014)

There's one member that rides her horse on the beach a few times a week. That's in Oregon.

The dump rake was my favorite. Had to pay attention to keep good ground pressure not to miss any hay, then dump in straight rows, then come back straddling the rows and make shocks even so there'd be one on each side of the wagon stop for loading. Dad on one side of the hay wagon and grandad on the other, and me stomping around on the hay and driving the team forward. Both of those were fun.

I hated dragging and spring toothing newly plowed ground. Hard work and dusty. Walking behind the spring tooth or standing on the drag.

Strangely, the horses were perfect for all the stuff I liked doing but seemed contrary as all get out for the stuff I didn't like. I didn't know why then but I do now.

Lot of people killed by horses back in the day. One of my dad's brothers was killed at a young age by a horse.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

I think my least favorite but it is how I met my husband is loading loose hay. That stuff is like quick sand...


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## Hondo (Sep 29, 2014)

QtrBel said:


> I think my least favorite but it is how I met my husband is loading loose hay. That stuff is like quick sand...


Depends. If it's alfalfa, it's pretty solid. Particularly if the people on the ground know how to pick it up, turn it up and stack it on the wagon.

On the other hand, oats that has got a little too mature befor cutting can be a bear to keep on the wagon. I remember one time, only one time, an entire load slipped and went to the ground. Had to be reloaded. Grandad didn't load as well as Dad. Each fork full has to be placed just so overlapping the last fork full to tie it together. All of our hay was loaded loose and put in the barn loose.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

This was a bunch of newbies loading coastal. We were up stacking. Somehow we didn't overlap correctly so there was a hole in the center. It had enough hay to make it look full but that is some slippery stuff. I went straight to the bottom and had hay sliding in on top of me. Covered me up pretty quick. The only experienced one was the driver.


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