Random "thing" bought at auction...

[MisfitFarm]

An old gentleman who used to be an icon around here for driving downtown and such years ago decently passed away. His children could not agree on his estate so they held a public auction, selling a great variety of old driving equipment (most of which was so old and worn/abused it was about the worth of garbage). We bought a box of random horse equipment, and the one thing we can't figure out is some form of what we presume is decoration. It's approximately 12-18" long, with a series of wooden circles that overlap on a leather strap, and the circles gradually increase in size. I would google it, but to be honest I wouldn't know where to begin to look! If no one has solved my mystery, I'll get a picture of them and post it.

Thanks!

[LostFarmer]

sounds like a spreader for draft horse lines. http://www.mydrafthorse.com/cfwebstore/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=295

Do they look like these on steroids? LF

[goodhors]

Sounds like half of a pair of Spreader rings, used to carry reins for a Draft pair. Some rings are plastic, others are metal.

http://www.stylefeeder.com/i/19cg2xxd/Draft-Horse-Harness-Line-Spreaders-6-Ring-Beta-Biothane

Both styles are shown on the second row.

http://www.bigblackhorse.com/HorseTackHarnessParts.shtml

[MisfitFarm]

That's what they are! Thank you so much! Of course I have no use for them, but oh well! :lol:

[kookicat]

How do they work? :)

[TikiSoo]

I had an old set of those made from yellowing celluloid. They may still be packed away in the attic (hope so!) unless I gave them to my exhusband. I always thought they were purely decorative, hanging over the rump from the breech when driving. But it makes sense they'd be used to thread reins through.

[LostFarmer]

About spreaders, Spreaders were a method of adjusting the width of your hitch to get draft horses to walk a furrow or track. For example on a sleigh the horses work best if the runners are following in the track of each horse. My big sleigh is a 54" track and some were as wide as 64 inches. In the fields you wanted the horse to track in the furrow so that they left the corn alone typically a 18" row spacing so a 36 inch spacing. Instead of adjusting the lines spreaders were used to run the lines through instead of the hame rings. By running the lines through them the horses walk a wider path.

[Drive NJ]

LF Thanks for the simple explanation
I've always known what the object IS
but never had the foggiest on how it was USED
very sensible

[kookicat]

Thank you. :)

[SmokenMirrors]

My work harness has the spreaders but we don't use them, for me, it is more for decoration than anything, besides, it came with the harness. So we left it on...but you never know when we will use them as we go to pretty much everything....

[LostFarmer]

I don't use them for some uses but then I will use them at other times. The name is the use it is to spread the horses out. This was not just a fashion statement all though spreaders are now though of as such. It was often used when the weather was hot to separate the horses in harness to allow better cooling. Also to get the horse to walk in the the wagon or sleigh track as mentioned above. Most pairs of today work in one spot and to a couple of vehicles. That was not true of the farm teams of years past. Horses were mixed and matched as the particular task required. Spreaders were a very quick and simply way of adjusting the working width of a pair. Here are a few pictures of spreaders in use.
http://i512.photobucket.com/albums/t323/lostfarmer1/Line%20Spreaders/IMG_0698_2.jpg
http://i512.photobucket.com/albums/t323/lostfarmer1/Line%20Spreaders/IMG_1937_1.jpg
http://i512.photobucket.com/albums/t323/lostfarmer1/Line%20Spreaders/IMG_1939_2.jpg
http://i512.photobucket.com/albums/t323/lostfarmer1/Line%20Spreaders/IMG_1955_9.jpg

[goodhors]

Gosh LF, you get a "twofer" on those sleigh outings! Cattle fed and making the new road in snow with those tires! Is the dark horse and the grey both Shires? Your newer Pair? Look nice, just don't like the snow in the face.

Do you change the spreader rings to get more distance, in how they hang off the hames? Higher or lower. Or get a longer set of rings, that just swing out further between horses, like shown in the catalog.

[LostFarmer]

Typically you have different length spreader ring sets that are used depending on the application. To be honest most the time I use a single ring with a strap and buckle. I simply move the buckle to lengthen or shorten the spread. Simple and easy. When we get dressed up to go to town we use the white ones.

This is a pair that my grandfather bred and I broke after his death. The grey mare is a good horse but the black gelding is one of if not the best horse I have ever worked with. He had only been hitched 3 times when we had a covey of partridges burst out from under the hay shed. He did the stiff legged hairy eyeball spook but never offered to bolt. From the first hitch he stepped in and pulled his share. I love that horse. But, I kept his sister out of the same mare. She is going getting better all the time. By spring she will be hard and at her fighting weight. I will be feeding 60 head of cattle about a mile from the house. The sleigh with the tire of education will have them lean and mean by spring. I am thinking of trying to get the greys and the paints to work 4 up as a feeding option. Should be fun. LF

[lisae]

You should make that last photo into your Christmas card, or framed. It's beautiful! My compliments to the photographer.

[LostFarmer]

If you want winter pictures how about this one?
http://i512.photobucket.com/albums/t323/lostfarmer1/Winter%20Feeding/Feeding1_1.jpg

http://i512.photobucket.com/albums/t323/lostfarmer1/Winter%20Feeding/feeding7_7.jpg

Or maybe this one:
http://i512.photobucket.com/albums/t323/lostfarmer1/Winter%20Feeding/feeding2_2.jpg

Or maybe...
http://i512.photobucket.com/albums/t323/lostfarmer1/Winter%20Feeding/Rose%20and%20Ladybug/RoseLadybug2.jpg
http://i512.photobucket.com/albums/t323/lostfarmer1/Winter%20Feeding/Rose%20and%20Ladybug/RoseLadybug.jpg

or possibly?
http://i512.photobucket.com/albums/t323/lostfarmer1/Winter%20Feeding/Liz%20and%20Ladybug/LizLB3_4.jpg
http://i512.photobucket.com/albums/t323/lostfarmer1/Winter%20Feeding/Liz%20and%20Ladybug/LizLB1_1.jpg

I need some longer legged horses!

Notice the spreaders on several of the photos. LF

ETA: The shire with the wide bally and the black nose splotch is the sister to the black horse teamed with the grey in the earlier photos. LF

[LostFarmer]

Okay this is the last. http://i512.photobucket.com/albums/t323/lostfarmer1/Sleigh%20Party/SnowPics.jpg

Anyone have a house in Florida they want to trade me for from November to May? LF

[Thomas_1]

LF, Those photos and others comments about how pretty and picture postcard they are, put me in mind of my wife. First day it snows she looks out the windows at the Cheviots and says "That's really pretty". After a couple of weeks she says "Does it come in any colour other than white?" then after weeks of it "White doesn't suit me!" Our snow tends to be just for a month or two though.

LF obviously still drives his horses in worse weather than I do! But then I'm not using mine to work - just for sport, leisure and pleasure! I do well remember as a youngster though having to go out on a dales pony up on to the moor tops in awful snow to find buried sheep and cattle and bring down to the lower land. YUCK! Put me off for life!!!!! Now it's all quad bikes and tractors and they're brought down earlier and then in to sheds to lamb and calf. I've a strong sense that when there's cattle to be fed in a blizzard that LF's not thinking about Christmas cards and how beautiful it is ;) I'm thinking it's more going to be "I hope they're still alive if and when I get there and the water isn't all frozen solid and I can move my hands to do work"

Anyway LF I can't offer you Florida but how's about the UK? What about summer in the Scottish/English borders?

I'm sure you've heard of "England's green and pleasant land" and the "Emerald Isle" (Ireland).

Beautiful verdant countryside with more colours or green than most can ever imagine. When I've been to the likes of California and Oregon in the summer what strikes me most is the lack of green. I can honestly say that here is beautiful. MUCH more beautiful.

I personally love places where there's genuine "seasons" and with climatic changes throughout the year - but as we saw from LF's photos and from these, there's disadvantages. We do tend to get a little rain to keep our countryside so green and pleasant :winkgrin:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a205/classic_carriages/driving/pissingrain.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a205/classic_carriages/driving/pissingitdown.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a205/classic_carriages/Summer2008.jpg

Anyway to bring the topic back to how it started:

LF, do you always drive pairs with spreaders? If so, why?

[LostFarmer]

Most the time I use spreaders on the sleighs and not on the wagons. If I am going to town with the wagon I will sometimes put the spreaders on. On the sleighs I want the horses out walking on the runner track breaking trail. On the mower I use spreaders to get them wide to aid in cooling. Off a pole I normally do not use spreaders as I want the horses tight together. LF

[Nojacketrequired]

LF...what kind of cart is that in your paint photo?

Thanks, NJR