Carriage Driving Technical Information what is that for ? - how do I ?

Starting off 2 wheeler or 4 wheeler

Two wheelers are generally recommended for the beginner or a green horse, they follow a horse both forward and in backing up and don't have the jack-knifing problems of a 4 wheeler.

Unfortunately a two wheeled carriage needs to be correctly sized and well balanced otherwise you will cause your horse discomfort or harm, purchasing a quality well made gig can be an expensive option if you are wishing to move later on to a four wheel carriage . 

Shafts should float in tug-loops as horse travels a flat surface.

Weight on horse should be minimal, not more than 10 pounds. Harness saddle for 2-wheeler should wide, 4", have a firm tree to hold any shaft weight off the spine, occasional period when shafts don't float, like up or down hill, braking, passenger shifting. Wide saddle wide, to distribute any shaft weight across a larger body surface, not cut into the animal.

Four wheeled carriages will provide a smoother ride, are more stable on 4-wheels. No action from shafts on trotting horse, moving to affect the ride. 4-wheels will turn extremely short, especially the new marathon vehicles with the short shafts. Can often turn shorter than a 2-wheeler for Hazards. With little  shaft weight on horse, the often heavier 4-wheeler is easier on the equine pulling, than the 2-wheelers. 4-wheelers are narrower, fit in smaller spaces. They do need better driver and horse skills because they are slightly more complicated to manage. Not hard to drive, just different.

Carriage driving harness  sliding Backband saddle Description

On a standard fixed backband single horse harness saddle  typically the tugs are hung from a single strap that passes over or inside the saddle this strap is mechanical fixed by screws or bolts etc or may consist of two individual fixed straps. The shaft loop straps  can swing forwards and backwards along the horse's sides but cannot move up and down to allow for the way one shaft raises if you drive along the side of a hill. In the U.K. and other more traditional driving countries that kind of saddle is frowned upon for two-wheeled vehicles.

Instead they will often use what's called a sliding backband or "gig saddle" which is very wide and heavily padded in order to distribute the weight of a heavy gig cart across the horse's back. Gig saddles also have one other standard feature: a sliding backband.

A sliding backband is just what it sounds like- the tugs are hung from one continuous strap that slides through a channel in the saddle, allowing the tugs to roll slightly around the barrel of the horse in order to keep the pressure even on uneven ground. This design allows the false belly band or overgirth to remain snug at all times but prevents that situation where one tug is pulling down hard on the saddle and the other one is up in the air pulling on the false belly band overgirth.

With a properly padded and treed saddle that's bad enough as it puts a lot of pressure on one side of the spine...with a typical mini saddle which is basically a flat leather pad you're going to get the saddle rolling around the barrel unless you cinch it so tight the horse can't breathe! But with a Sliding Backband saddle the tugs will simply shift to follow the pull of the shafts, leaving the saddle itself untouched and the horse merrily driving along without interference from the cart. Pictures and explanation sent in to us by Steve Merryman Thanks!

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