hey thomas and all those that drive

[goeslikestink]

just for you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcCyMRON1zk

[horseyfolks]

Thanks GLS... I enjoyed that!

Don

[MySparrow]

Very cool! Did you see the man in red, on the left, using his whole body on the reins?

[Ashemont]

Is LF in the middle there somewhere???? :winkgrin: I can tell you I sure wouldn't want the job of the guy walking in front of all of that horsepower!!!

[RidesAHaflinger]

I'm with Pat- the guy walking in front (backwards, yet!) is either brave or crazy. Maybe both. A stampede of 48 Belgians and he'd be nothing but a greasy spot on the earth. :eek:

I've been told (and wonder if it's true) that in a mega-hitch like that, many of the horses are really not hitched in at all- they just kind of move along with the herd. Are the wheelers doing it all?

[Renae]

Cool! But I was equally impressed by the Priefert Percheron Hitch doing this high speed manouvering in the Minnesota State Fairgounds Coliseum http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0wz1Qt2xq0 That arena is 270'x120', but with the rodeo chutes at the end its a bit smaller. When you are in their during the state fair and the 8s come in the whole building shakes!

And yes, a lot of times in big farm hitches only a few of the horses are actually being driven. Buck Straps or Jockey Sticks are used to provide the other horse's guidance and keep them with the team.

[Cielo Azure]

Look at the same six-up above -Priefert Percherons, except that the Priefert guy is roman riding in this video. If you ever have the chance to watch these guys in action, it is amazing and he will canter/gallop them while roman riding the six-up too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbT04aePenA

The thing about driving multiple horses is that the horses absolutely love it. They love moving as one great big, organized herd with a strong leader. My mares that have been in hitches just can't stand it when a hitch goes by when at a fair or event, they want to join up so bad that they dance in place with excitement!

[goodhors]

Thanks for the great videos.

GLS, we saw the Old's Gold 40 Horse Belgian Hitch years ago at our Fair. They were put to a hitch wagon, in a 4-across arrangement. They hitched and drove as an exhibition every day, did manuevers and could ALMOST make one side with bend, of a figure 8 with the horses and wagon! DID make a complete circle. The Hitch did move at a brisk trot, no cantering, Every horse had reins, was driven. Seems like they said the reins alone, with some pull, was over 200 pounds, so they had two drivers that kept trading. What a fistful of lines!! Watching them be hitched was fun, had lots of action, took a very long time. They toured for a few years.

Renae and CA, I also liked the videos you posted. Of course the excitement is always speed, chance of danger!

We have a video of a 6-up wrecking that was on our news one night. The Leaders swung fast for a turn, swept the swing horse off his feet with the pole, tripped his partner, wheelers ran over him and went down too. Tipped the wagon over, all caught on tape!! Threw the driver and groom off too. Miracle was that no one was seriously hurt, just cuts and bruises. We must have watched that tape 100 times, still cringe!

[justslide]

So that's what a 48 hp looks like. :)

I have goosebumps from Priefert videos. Those are really great videos! Thanks for sharing them.

Pam

[Happy Feet]

My question is where the heck do you store all that harness!???? I can't keep up with harness for 2 ponies...

[Rayman421]

ha ha ha

half century of Progress show in Rantoul IL

Rantoul is a tiny town in the middle of cornfields in the middle of NOWHERE IL!!

must've mostly been Amish/Mennonite? farmers horses by the looks of the clothing

pretty neat hitch - how'd the driver hold all those reins? LOL

[LostFarmer]

Those horses are all hitched in. They are using a combination of a pulley evener system. I tried to count but lost track I think they are 12 abreast and 4 up. The 4 up are hitched in with a pulley and come back to a 6 horse evener to each forecart. At that point I would guess that they use a huge evener to hitch the chisel plow disk combination to. Depending on the soil I would guess that a 350 hp 4WD tractor all dualled up would be needed to pull this piece of equipment. The old timers figured a 1300 to 1500 lb draft horse was good for between 5 and 10 hp all day and capable of up to 3 times that for a few minutes at a time.

Often only the lead horses are driven and sometimes only a lead pair will be driven and the rest of the horses tied in with buck backs and jockey sticks.

I have a booklet put out by the Montana state ag department in 1912 that talks about big hitches and how it was done. The teamsters had systems of harnessing, hitching that worked for them. They also had some pretty ingenious ways of feeding and watering the horses in the field during lunch breaks.

I have a local photo from where they had 42 horses on a ground drive grain combine coming up over the hills. It was quite a site.

Thanks for sharing the link that is good stuff. LF

[Drive NJ]

the amazing thing to me is that usually these horses have NEVER all been hitched together as a unit (at least these days) Bunches of owners bring their teams together for "The Big Event" and off they go . . .

Friends have been in the Milwaukee Great Circus Parade (riding) a few times and seen them put together the big 40 horse hitch for that. And there they are doing the practice runs on the banks of Lake Michigan

Thanks for the pix - its an impressive sight

[LostFarmer]

DriveNJ,
I think it comes down to broke horses.
Story time: We were at the state fair with the 4-H. A kid was there who had his single pony. The pony did very well and competed his heart out. Talking to the kid and his dad we found out that the kid had qualified in team, but the other horse was lame. There is a provision in the rules that if a horse is unable to compete an alternate can be used. Another kid from my county who had competed single was there with a pony almost exactly the same size and movement. They were both black hackney shetland crosses. Those two ponies were put together in a borrowed harness, put to a borrowed vehicle and sent into the ring. The kid had about 15 minutes to practice with them as a team. He went out and did very well in the class. The point is, both ponies were very well trained and very broke. One was experienced as a team, the other had some team experience 3 to 4 years prior. The kid was also one heck of a hand with the lines.

Broke is broke and the horse get it. A horse is a herd animal and therefor a big hitch is a herd deal.

LF

[goeslikestink]

cor-- lf great info--that makes perfect sense to me - being a herd hitch
but great video i found it by accident on another bb and just had to post it here

if i didnt you all would have missed it maybe- dunno

but its a great site for sore eyes having that many horses to a hitch and working all together