Chat
06-29-2016, 09:18 PM
So, as someone who has not driven as much as you, I'm curious why having the doubletree break would be that big a deal as long as your yoke could not come loose from the pole? The doubletree is only there to pull, not to stop or steer, so if your doubletree broke, wouldn't it be better for your pole to stay hooked to the yoke so that you can stop the horses and unhitch? The wagon isn't going to run into them without a doubletree, but if for whatever reason your pole came loose from the yoke while the traces were still hitched (it shouldn't but sometimes things that "shouldn't" happen still do), you'd be in a real fix. I can't see any downside to having the yoke chained to the tongue.
As Steve Bowers puts it:
The way some teamsters dismiss this important safety precaution, you'd think that having a slip-off neck yoke was some sort of safety device. Slip-off neck yokes are definitely a safety liability! The only reason neck yokes were made to easily slip on and off was for the convenience of the farmer who would use only one neck yoke for his several vehicles and implements.
Even if you are properly hitched, simply having a trace come unfastened from a singletree can allow the horses to get far enough forward on the tongue to have the tongue drop out of the neck yoke... Having all the pulling ability, but none of the stopping or steering ability (when the tongue drops) is a very bad thing.
I never thought about what might happen if a doubletree broke, but now that I do, having properly adjusted stay chains in place as a safety device would ensure that each of your singletrees would still be individually hitched to the wagon if the doubletree snapped. In this way, they'd act like the safety chains on a trailer. That's kinda cool! They are also one more way to keep the horses from being able to get too far forward on the tongue. When it comes to horses, I like having redundant safety features in place. Horses are very big and fast and powerful. I have to say, goats are an awful lot easier!
As Steve Bowers puts it:
The way some teamsters dismiss this important safety precaution, you'd think that having a slip-off neck yoke was some sort of safety device. Slip-off neck yokes are definitely a safety liability! The only reason neck yokes were made to easily slip on and off was for the convenience of the farmer who would use only one neck yoke for his several vehicles and implements.
Even if you are properly hitched, simply having a trace come unfastened from a singletree can allow the horses to get far enough forward on the tongue to have the tongue drop out of the neck yoke... Having all the pulling ability, but none of the stopping or steering ability (when the tongue drops) is a very bad thing.
I never thought about what might happen if a doubletree broke, but now that I do, having properly adjusted stay chains in place as a safety device would ensure that each of your singletrees would still be individually hitched to the wagon if the doubletree snapped. In this way, they'd act like the safety chains on a trailer. That's kinda cool! They are also one more way to keep the horses from being able to get too far forward on the tongue. When it comes to horses, I like having redundant safety features in place. Horses are very big and fast and powerful. I have to say, goats are an awful lot easier!