The Single Heavy Horse Harness
The single heavy horse harness, also known as the thill or ridger harness, plays an indispensable role in horse-drawn transport. It’s important to understand its construction and its function.
Components of the Single Heavy Harness
The single heavy harness comprises several key components, each with a unique purpose:
- Heavy Saddle: This robust, square-shaped saddle, frequently made of wood, acts as the anchor point of the harness. It often includes a distinct channel for the ridger chain that attaches and provides support to the shafts, managing both forward and backward draught from the horse to the vehicle.
- Heavy Collar with Hames: This large collar is outfitted with hames—structures made of either wood or metal. A brief chain links the hames to the shafts of the vehicle, facilitating effective transmission of power.
- Crupper and Breeching: Attached to the saddle’s rear, the crupper and breeching help maintain the saddle’s position. The breeching chains latch onto hooks on the shafts, and additional hip straps keep the trace chains elevated, avoiding interference with the horse’s legs.
- Bridle and Reins: The bridle, optionally equipped with “winkers” or blinkers—usually square in shape—helps guide the horse. It’s fitted with either a ring snaffle bit or a Liverpool bit. Reins, often made of cord, provide manual control to the driver.
- Mouthpiece: The mouthpiece of the bit is usually attached to the ring cheeks either with an easy-to-remove hook or a strap, allowing for simple removal when the horse needs to eat or drink.
Understanding these intricacies of the single heavy harness can help both novice and seasoned handlers ensure the comfort and safety of their horse while optimizing draught power output.
Heavy Pair Harness: Exploring Varieties and Uses
The heavy pair harness, used with commercial and heavy horses, can significantly vary in its design and construction. Its usage spans from minimal designs employed by omnibus companies of yesteryears, to much more elaborate versions favored by brewers, millers, and heavy farm wagons.
Harness Design for Buses and Trams
Bus and tram horses typically sported a simplified version of the heavy pair harness. It simply consisted of a bridle, collar with hames, and traces, supplemented by two short pole chains. These chains were connected from the kidney link at the collar’s base up to the pole head. Given that these harnesses saw daily use, padding was considered unnecessary. Also, since these vehicles were equipped with reliable brakes, breeching—used to slow a vehicle running downhill—was not included in the design.
For carriers and tradesmen who used medium-sized horses, also known as ‘vanners’ or ‘parcel carters’, the harness was & slightly more elaborate, incorporating a pad for additional comfort.
The Inclusion of Long Breeching
Certain designs of the pair harness include a long breeching extending to the trace tug buckles on each side. The function of this addition is to transfer a portion of the vehicle’s weight to the pole head and the base of the collar. This design element is particularly beneficial when navigating downhill, as it prevents all of the load weight from bearing down onto the horse’s neck from the top of the collar.
The Role of Pole Chains and the Shepherd’s Lock
Pole chains are frequently attached to the rings in the kidney links using a quick-release knot known as the ‘shepherd’s lock’. This cleverly designed knot allows for the speedy detachment of pole chains in the event of an accident, thereby enabling swift and efficient response to emergency situations.
Housens: A Crucial Element in Heavy Horse Harnesses
In the world of horse driving, the term “housens” refers to an instrumental yet somewhat unsung component of the weightiest types of harnesses used in heavy-duty horse-drawn conveyance.
The Role and Design of Housens
The hefty styles of harness frequently feature substantial hames that extend 20 to 30 cm (8 to 12 inches) above the collar’s top. Acting as supportive backdrops to these towering hames are leather shields known as housens. These housens, frequently richly decorated, serve prominent practical functions, often overshadowed by their vivid aesthetic appeal.
The Practical Use of Housens
One of the primary utilitarian benefits of housens lies in their ability to protect the horse from rain. When folded down, they effectively prevent rain from running down the horse’s withers (the ridge between the shoulder blades), thereby providing an additional layer of protection and comfort to the animal, and ensuring they remain dry and comfortable even in unfavorable weather conditions.
Brasses and Other Ornaments in Heavy Horse Harnesses
The world of equestrian tack is one not limited to function—it also embraces flair and aesthetics. One crucial aspect of this is the use of brasses and other ornaments in the design and structure of heavy horse harnesses.
Role and Evolution of Brasses
All heavy horse harnesses are typically decorated with brasses varying in designs. The original intention behind these decorative components was to ward off evil spirits. However, in more recent times, these embellishments have gained purely decorative value, often being used to depict the trade of the owner and add a touch of individuality to the harness.
The first brasses were hand-crafted from hammered brass sheets, also known as latten. The appearance of cast brasses in the 1820s marked a significant development in their manufacturing process.
Additional Ornaments: Fly Terrets and Bells
Additional ornaments incorporated into the horse harnesses include fly terrets—also known as swingers, danglers, or hodders—and bells. The production of fly terrets began around the mid-nineteenth century. These were fitted on top of the headpiece, and on the browband and collar, serving a practical purpose in helping to ward off flies in the summer months.
Bells, on the other hand, served a distinct purpose: to notify others of the approach of the horses. This function was especially critical in the absence of lights and highly beneficial during dark conditions, ensuring the safety of both the horse and other road users. The bells were often attached to the pads and would produce a clear ringing sound that functioned as an effective warning system.
Trace Horses: A Historical Overview
Trace horses played a pivotal role in the world of horse-drawn machinery and transportation in the past. These heavy horses were driven one in front of the other to assist with pulling substantial loads, enhancing the overall efficiency of the process.
Trace Horses vs. Tandem
Despite the sequential arrangement of the horses, this type of turnout was not classified as a “tandem.” Instead, the horse at the front was simply referred to as the trace horse.
Assistance in Challenging Terrain
In historical times, spare horses were often stationed at the base of hills, at the ready to join forces with a single horse when confronted with a particularly heavy load. By hooking the trace horse to the front of the existing single-horse arrangement, the combined strength significantly eased the task at hand.
Some companies even sent their single-horse turnouts in pairs, enabling them to help one another when needed. In this scenario, the trace-horse chain traces were attached either directly to the vehicle’s shaft or to the traces of the horse already harnessed within the shafts. This system provided practical assistance, ensuring smoother and more efficient handling of burdensome loads.
The Bodkin Hitch: A Farm Hitch for Ploughing Heavy Land
In agricultural settings, the bodkin hitch is a type of harness designed for ploughing heavy land. This unique hitch configuration allows optimal utilization of multiple horses to significantly improve efficiency and productivity during ploughing tasks.
Implementing the Bodkin Hitch
The bodkin hitch is characterized by its utilization of a trio of horses. Two horses are hitched together as a pair, while a third one is yoked ahead of them. This leading horse offers additional support by walking in the plough in front of its companions, while the other two horses walk on the land to assist in pulling the plough.
Adjusting the Bodkin Hitch for Balance
Given that two horses are tasked with pulling on the same bar, the bodkin hitch includes a unique component called a two-horse swingletree. This swingletree is equipped with an iron crab, which allows for the addition of a crab hook. The crab hook can be adjusted along the iron crab so that it rests just inside the two furrow horses, balancing the distribution of force and ensuring a smooth ploughing process. This strategic arrangement of horses and their harness components greatly increases efficiency in ploughing heavy land and has played an essential role in the history of agriculture.
Multiple Hitches
While most multiple hitches are showcased today in show rings with perfectly groomed horses in immaculate chain harnesses, the history and practical applications of these hitches are deeply rooted in an agricultural context, dating back to the early 20th century.
Multiple Hitches in Farming
The advent of the tractor in the 1920s and 1930s led to a change in the horse-drawn machinery landscape. The multiple farm hitch emerged as the horseman’s response to this mechanized innovation. Interestingly, even today, some farmers find multiple hitch arrangements with horses to be more favorable than relying solely on machinery horsepower.
Despite the complexity of configuring multiple hitches, they offer a variety of advantages. Notably, these hitches serve to equalize the pulling effort among the horses, allowing each horse to remain cooler and more comfortable during strenuous work. This distribution of responsibility prevents any single horse from enduring excessive strain. Additionally, multiple hitches eliminate side-draught, leading to more efficient operations.
Record-Breaking Multiple Hitches
The awe-inspiring power and complexity of multiple hitches are well exemplified by the record-breaking 40-horse hitch driven by Dick Sparrow from Iowa. In this exceptional arrangement, the head of the front horse was situated approximately 30 meters (100 feet) away from the driver. This remarkable feat highlights the versatility and adaptability of multiple hitch configurations as a means to tackle challenging tasks with superior efficiency.
