| Weight distribution and balance are very important aspects of any two wheeled cart. Also, the higher above the axle you seat the driver the more critical balance becomes. As in most things out of doors, terrain dictates what is prudent and proper especially for the animal. Going up-hill changes balance. Going downhill changes balance. Taking a passenger changes balance. Getting serious about getting back to our girlish or boyish figures changes balance. Saying to heck with the girlish and boyish figures changes balance. Why in the world given all these variables would you NOT want a cart with adjustable balance for your animal's sake if for no other reason? Carts with easily adjustable balance points can go down or up, long and fairly significant grades without exerting either lift or downward pressure on the animal by simply and quickly by adjusting the driver's position in relation to the axle. When level terrain is achieved again, the driver can return the seat to its "normal" balance position. All of this should be done for the animals benefit, to make it more comfortable and remove to the greatest degree possible, unnecessary physical pressures exerted through the cart via terrain or load. I think that animal comfort needs, specific to balance, to be a critical and integral part of any cart design and all of our products have, through-out our history, reflected this VERY important aspect and thinking. Rules of thumb regarding prudent weights to be pulled by mini's are important. Yet as all mini's are individuals I have, over the years seen, numerous horses that did not fit the rule. Yup, again with the variables.....<G>. The mini described in a previous post was one of those mini's. He was very small and not much to look at just standing there, YET harness him to a cart and he became a wholly different animal. Able to pull a not small lady and a 150 lb. cart through, over and around just about anything. And not "just" able, but with zeal, power and drive that many B's don't show. I saw a Passo a number of years ago that struck me the same way. A small kinda crappy looking horse that once put under saddle with a portly rider was wholly transformed into an INCREADABLE horse of flawless movement, power and presence VERY worthy of his awards and national standing. It all depends on an honest appraisal of the horses ability in relation to the variables. And yes the particular cart you choose will either needlessly aggravate your particular set of variables or minimize the effects of your particular set of variables. Can the mini pull many times the weight specific to the common rule of thumb? You better believe it! Is it proper for your mini to do so? Only with an open-minded, honest and analytical assessment of your given set of variables can you decide properly. I don't focus at all these days on trying to get my carts in the show-ring as I have run into all manner of efforts to keep us out. Rather I focus on building "bomb-proof" rigs (relative to their category) that will handle anything you can think to throw at them without breaking, ESPECIALLY from an engineering and fabrication stand-point. AND to do so with safety and the highest degree of comfort for both the driver AND the horse. There are two sayings that I try to keep first and foremost when I'm Building. Our rigs will take you to the ugliest places you could think of to take a cart and more importantly, BRING YOU BACK! AND The only limitations with regards to our rigs is your guts and how much horse you have! It has stood us well over the years to pay attention to these and other Principals. And as with anything of unsurpassed quality and NOT built by foreign labor to a lesser standard,........ It don't come cheap. Humbly submitted, Bb. Graham Carriage Works www.pacifier.com/~carriage |
| Weight Distribution and Balance |
| Humbly submitted, Bb. Graham Carriage Works www.pacifier.com/~carriage |
| 12/20/2009 |