cart advice

[lipizzan]

Hi,
How are you all?
I am new to the forum, and new to driving.
Can someone maybe advise me?
I have seen the following cart for sale;

http://capetown.gumtree.co.za/c-Stuff-for-Sale-general-items-for-sale-Kaapse-Jagkar-W0QQAdIdZ138825688

Can it be modified to be used with one horse?

Would this do for starting out?
Are rubber wheels more comfortable for passengers?

Thanks

[Drive NJ]

Well, Im going to assume you are in or near South Africa, as that is the origin of the capetown cart and you dont see them very many other places.

The cart is supposed to be very comfortable and has a unique place in the history of carts for its use with pairs (Not many carts were built as 2-wheel for pairs)

It "could" be modified by removing the pole and attaching shafts. I dont know what it would do to the balance of teh cart - could be very front heavy for the horse.

But there are many people out there who would cringe at the thought of ruining a good capetown to make a jockeyed together single cart. Of course if the car is not selling . . .

How readily do you have available makers of shafts?
They might be able to tell you more if the cart really is easily modified into what you would REALLY want.

Rubber tires dont necessarily add to the comfort of the drive because they are a hard rubber; they do help with the noise of the cart on stones or pavement. The alternative is an iron tire or rim, and those can be very noisy on stone - loud crunchy noises.

Best of luck

[goodhors]

Are you in the USA, or in another locale?

Not sure of how large this cart actually is, for one animal to be pulling it. The structure might be designed for only using the pole, not shafts. Could be very heavy, so a lot of weight when passengers are in, for one horse to manage. Might not be heavy at all, just appears that way.

It probably could be modified to have shafts, but would be a fair amount of work to do. Can't see the skeleton of the vehicle or the underside and how things tie together as it would be when driving.

We like rubber tires on the wheels because they are not noisy on the ground. Steel tires make a lot of noise crushing rocks when going along, makes it hard to talk!

Body has a nice style to it, but of course should be checked over for bad wood, and the wheels should be checked to ensure they are solid. Hubs may need grease or oil, depending on the style inside the wheel.

Welcome to the group. You might enjoy reading some of the older posts about vehicles, and the permanent posts, with helpful driving information right under the header.

[lipizzan]

Thanks for the great feedback.

I found the chronicle forums only today, so will be doing a bit of reading.

I am in SA, yes. I am looking to buy a cart. I saw the Cape cart and liked it. But, would probably be better to start driving with a single horse and not jump straight in driving a pair...

Makers of shafts, I don't think I've ever heard of one around our area.

[Drive NJ]

As Goodhorse said, this looks like it might be a heavy vehicle - what type of horse are you driving? A Lippizan per your name? How does his size compare with the vehicle size?

Alternatively how difficult is it to find vehicles in SA? You may want to look around on the net for local drivers or clubs to find out more about how people find equipment.

[lipizzan]

I haven't seen the cart yet. I agree it does look quite heavy.
Driving doesn't seem to be that popular thing over here, which is quite surprising really. Maybe I haven't looked in the right places yet.
I have a couple of Lipizzans. They are quite strong horses. They have the 'oh they look so small till you try and fit a harness or fit them in a horsebox..' kinda size.
Can anyone suggest a good book on driving?
Need to shape up on the correct terminology, so I don't have to ask questions riddled with words like 'thingys' etc.

[twofatponies]

Thanks for the great feedback.

I found the chronicle forums only today, so will be doing a bit of reading.

I am in SA, yes. I am looking to buy a cart. I saw the Cape cart and liked it. But, would probably be better to start driving with a single horse and not jump straight in driving a pair...

Makers of shafts, I don't think I've ever heard of one around our area.

Do look online for a South African Carriage Driving Society or something like that. There must be one. They would probably have a magazine or newsletter or website with advertisements of trainers, events, farms, repair people, etc.

I know there are a lot of Friesian horse breeders and Saddlebred breeders in South Africa - those breeds are commonly trained to drive as well as ride. Try looking for some breeders or the breed organizations, and contact them about driving resources.

Also, it is possible there are Amish (religious group) in South Africa - they use horse-drawn vehicles every day, so here they are a good resource for harnesses and repairs.

[Thomas_1]

It could from an engineering perspective be altered but it would require quite a lot of work to fit shafts etc and it wouldn't be cheap and indeed not viable.

Furthermore and more importantly, it's a cart built for a pair of heavy horses and once converted you'd need something like a shire and it's never going to be easy to balance for a single horse. For certain it's going to be too heavy for a lippizaner

[Renae]

Here is a South African site that has classifieds that has some carts for sale suitable to a single horse http://www.equinesa.com/

Ads CA61, CA49, CA41 (although described as a 2 horse cape cart the picture shows a 1 horse road cart, i would check out what it actually is) all look potentially promising.