Filed under: September 2018 | Tags: draft horse equipment, horse drawn, Power cart, powercart, safety on the farm, steel tongue
September 23, 2018
A week ago, I broke the old wooden tongue on my powercart. I use this cart to power equipment, while being pulled by my horses. When the tongue snapped, I was only backing it into position. I was in no danger. I unhooked the horses and quit for that day. Upon inspection of my set-up, I realized that I could have been in a bad accident, had the tongue broke while I was working the horses.
I completely revamped my tongue and hitch point. I also looked at what was available to us draft horse guys and changed the way I switch from a two horse hitch to a three horse hitch. The “Z” laying on the ground gets inserted where the tongue is currently. The tongue then gets moved to the “Z” piece. The “Z” is the right spacing to move the horses over and align with a three horse evener.
I also chose to use steel instead of wood for the tongue. There are many times when I am pulling very heavy loads with the power cart, like when picking corn with a wagon behind the picker. I sure don’t want the tongue to break causing me to lose both steering and brakes. The tongue does both jobs on a wagon or in this case powercart. You see, knowing where you are going and knowing you can stop is important in driving and in life! I feel much better now.
Hopefully, this is a better view. The lower hitch pin in the picture is where the eveners hook to the cart.
Here is a picture with the powercart hooked to a brush hog, for folks who have not seen one of these carts power tractor equipment. The horses supply the traction power. The powercart supplies the PTO, three-point hitch and hydraulics when needed.
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