|Best trace attachment.| The best system of draught for a dog-cart is that in which the traces are attached to a swingle-tree, from the centre of which two chains pass down to loops fixed to the axle close to the inside of the wheels.
|Swingle-tree.| The swingle-tree is held up by two straps which pass through metal loops in the front part of the cart. These straps should be pretty strong; were they to break, the bar would fall on the horse’s hocks and cause an accident.
|Chains on swingle-tree not to be too long.| Be careful that the chains are not too long, and that the pull is really on them, and not as is frequently the case entirely on the straps. In the latter case of course the swingle-tree ceases to be of any use.
|Advantages of swingle-tree attachment.| The swingle-tree attachment enables the horse to pull directly from the axle-tree by means of the chains, and in this way the best line of draught is obtained; moreover a certain amount of play is given to the horses’ shoulders and the chance of their galling is less than with the ordinary method.
CHAPTER III
DRIVING—DOUBLE HARNESS.
FIG. 7.—DOUBLE HARNESS ON HORSE.
To drive a pair well, that is, to be able to put-to and drive any two horses, is not such an easy thing as at first sight it may appear to the uninitiated. To drive a pair of good goers thoroughly accustomed to their work, and harnessed up in the right manner, is such a very simple matter that the merest tyro ought to be able to compete with it, with fair success. But when he has two entirely different and unknown animals to take in hand, it is quite another question.
|Belly-bands.| Double harness is fitted exactly the same way as single, except that the belly-bands should be slightly looser, so as to admit two or three fingers between them and the girths.