noise."Worldbuilding X: Harnesses, pt. 4 · 12:26am May 31st, 2018
Worldbuilding: Harnesses, pt 4
Alright, we covered a lot in the last three blogs, and y'all are probably a bit confused. I know I am!
I hope that overall, this has been a useful look into how harnesses work, and more importantly how to put them into a story. To that end, I'm going to give a brief summary of the most important points.
There are tons of regional variations in what things are called. That's something that you're going to find if you do further research, and the best I can say is when you understand what things are used for, it's pretty easy to get around all the name variations. For the purposes of writing a story, it would probably be best to stick to calling each item only one thing (for example, always call it a singletree, not sometimes a singletree and sometimes a whiffletree and sometimes a snaffletree).
The front part of the harness pulls the load (the pony pushes against it).
The middle part supports shaft load.
The hind part is used for braking.
There are multiple kinds of harnesses and variants. Many of them have regional names which might not be appropriate for ponies (or might, depending on your particular headcanon); names like the Scandinavian D-Ring or the Yankee Breeching Harness. The three types I generally mention in my stories are breastcollar harnesses, D-ring harnesses, and side-backer harnesses.
Likewise, there are many ways to arrange some of the straps on the harness; this is far beyond the scope of this series. Just remember that the harness has to be able to serve the purposes listed above, as required for the particular application.
Trailers that would stop on their own don't require braking, and can have slack lines (ropes, chains, etc.) This would include stone-boats, sledges, and most farm implements. In most cases, they are designed to be pulled by one or more ponies, as required.
Trailers that only have a single axle must by default be supported by the pony, and this type of wagon is the only one that requires the full harness in all cases (that I'm aware of, anyway). These are typically small, light-capacity wagons. Every one I've ever seen IRL or in pictures can only be towed by one pony.
Trailers with more than one axle are only braked by ponies nearest the front axle (in general). They're heavier and bulker, but can carry substantially more load. They are generally designed to be pulled by two or more ponies; an exception to this is lightweight passenger carriages.
Ponies are hitched to wagons through a single center pole or a pair of shafts for steering and braking. They are attached to singletrees and doubletrees and eveners for pulling.
There is no hitch arrangement that I am aware of that does not use a singletree or some sort at the wagon end. On single-axle wagons, it's generally built in; in other wagons, it may or may not be (depending on how the wagon's meant to be used).
Most arrangements have one singletree per horse, but not always. Some arrangements with loose lines might have all the tugs going back along the row the only a singletree at the load end.
Ponies are generally in teams that work together. Normal arrangement is pairs (left and right). I'm not sure how it was done with three or four abreast.
The team closest to the wheels is the wheel team, the middle team is the swing team, and the front team is the lead team. I think that if there are more than three rows of ponies, all the middle teams would be swing teams, but I'm not sure on that. Sails on sailing ships often had more specific names (where on the mast they were, and which mast they were on); if this is the case, it would be possible for a 5x2 arrangement to be named thus: lead team, lead swing team, swing team, wheel swing team, wheel team. No idea if that's historically accurate.
In teams, different ponies have different tasks. The wheel team does all the braking, so they need to be the strongest in that regard. The lead team has to go the farthest on corners, so they should be the fastest. Odds are that any farmpony in Ponyville would know where their best position was on the wagon.
In terms of the load that can be carried:
For trailers that would stop on their own, the only weight limit is how much weight the pony can pull.
For trailers with a single axle, the weight limit of the trailer is the least of what the pony can stop, what the pony can support on her back (the tongue weight of the trailer), or what the pony can pull. If the trailer has brakes and some means of operating them, what the pony can stop can be ignored (most of this type of wagon don't have brakes, though). While I don't have exact numbers, a reasonable weight that a pony can support on her back is 20-25% of her body weight, and tongue weight of a single-axle trailer should probably be about 10% of the total weight.
For trailers with tandem axles, the weight limit is the least of what the ponies can pull, or what the wheel team alone can stop. If the trailer has brakes, the braking limit of ponies can be ignored.
If this is a topic that really interests you, let me first say that I'm not an expert. I've scraped the surface as needed for stories, and that's about it. If you gave me a harness and a horse and a wagon I could muddle through it, maybe, but I doubt either the horse or I would be happy with the eventual outcome.
For those of us who like books, Driving Horses by Steve Bowers and Marlen Steward is an invaluable resource, and best of all it's available on Amazon
For those of us who prefer videos, here's a couple to scratch the surface:
Nothing, of course, beats seeing it firsthand. If you get the chance, get to a draft horse show and absorb knowledge like a sponge. Even better, if you get the opportunity to watch the Amish work, do—they probably know more about using working draft horses than just about anyone else.
--admiral biscuit
Course, when your towing cart is power assisted, sort of like a magically enable assisted pallet truck, thats a whole Nostromo other.
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When your cart is power assisted, that's when the brakes really matter.
I assume sleighs require a breeching strap on the harness since sleighs are just carriages with runners. For sledges on snow, if the snow is slippery you run the risk of the sledge sliding into the back of the horse when you stop so what would you do?
Wiki stuff on harnesses.
Wiki Whippletree
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Generally, yes. As far as I know, the rule is if it stops when not actively being pulled, you don't need breeching; otherwise, you do. So plows, stone-boats (like sleighs, but for mud), houses, etc., don't require breeching, sleighs, wagons, and the like do.
After all of this, I'm glad you were able to find artwork with, if not completely accurate at least more accurate harnessing! I don't really know why I'm so pleased by it, but I especially like the header on this last one.
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It's actually really hard to find. Most artists don't know how it's supposed to look--the only one who puts a lot of effort in to it is Baron Engle (as far as I know, anyway). There's some fetishy stuff with tack, but that's mostly saddles and bridles, which isn't really what I was going for here.
Which is too bad. Maybe I could commission a piece some day.
I really like it, too. And it neatly answers a question I proposed in an earlier blog post about whether Princess Celestia ever towed a cart.
I really love your blogposts
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Thank you!
How do you think the whole harness structure would change for the flying chariots we've seen a few times? I guess it would depend on whether the chariot floats by itself or is entirely powered by, well I guess you'd call then the chauffeurs? If it's the former then it might not be all that different from a ground vehicle but if they have to life it would be next to impossible to work with just Pegasus at the front, you'd either need front and back, on the side or probably more reasonable attached to the roof.
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I have no idea. If the trailer was neutrally buoyant, it would presumably work more or less the same. Braking may or may not be needed.
If the trailer can't float on its own, there's no historical way to build a harness that would work. Any kind of historical harness would ultimately result in the pegasus vertical, with their nose to the sky and their tail to Earth.
Here's how it's done with nets (about the closest I can come to a load that isn't necessarily always supported on the ground).
It's also worth noting that this is apparently an exception to my 'all single-axle wagons require full harnesses.' There clearly isn't any breeching on those horses. I'm not sure how they keep from getting overrun by the carts. There might be some sort of brake arrangement on the carts, or it might be something about how the support for the panniers is hooked up.