CURRICLE AND CAPE-CART.
WHEN it is desired to drive a pair, but owing to the expense, lack of
carriage accommodation, or other reasons, the purchase of an extra
carriage is inconvenient, an ordinary dog-cart can be fitted with a pole
and adapted for a pair of ponies or horses at a very small cost. In such
a case however the pole of the dog-cart, having nothing to support it
with the ordinary double harness, would fall to the ground, and it would
therefore be necessary to adopt one of the two following methods of
draught:—
[Sidenote: Curricle.] 1. That known as Curricle, in which a bar passing
from one horse to the other over the pads supports the pole by means of
a strap or brace.
[Sidenote: Cape-cart.] 2. The system employed in what is generally known
as the Cape-cart, in which the supporting bar passes through a ring near
the end of the pole, and is held up by straps passing over the horses’
necks.
The first of these systems is the smarter in appearance, while the other
is more suitable for rough work. I will begin by discussing the
Curricle.
[Sidenote: Cost of curricle.] An ordinary dog-cart which has removable
shafts can be fitted with the requisite gear, including the curricle bar
and the pole chains, for about £10. The necessary alterations were made
to my own dog-cart by Messrs. Heath of Aldershot, who had originally
built it, but with no idea at the time it was made of having a pole
eventually fitted to it. I found that it worked admirably from the
first, and no subsequent alterations or repairs were necessary, there
being in fact nothing at all likely to get out of order.
[Sidenote: How to fit dog-cart with a pole.] To adapt the cart for pole
draught, a large square iron loop must be fixed under the front of the
cart, and a smaller one under the centre. The latter loop must be very
strong and firmly fixed, as it has to take the extreme end of the pole,
which at times puts on it a very great amount of strain.
An extra board will therefore probably have to be fitted right across
the bottom of the cart, the ordinary boarding of which the bottom of a
dog-cart is usually made being too thin and flimsy to resist the strain
which the pole loop will put on it. Should this loop tear out, or the
board to which it is fixed give way, a very serious accident may occur.
The pole must of course fit both loops accurately, and it must be
secured in them by a bolt passing through it and preventing it from
being drawn out.
[Illustration: FIG. 11.—POLE FITTED WITH SPRING FOR CURRICLE.]
Underneath the pole at the point where the supporting strap will come
there should be a strong spring (fig. 11), which will do away with much
of the jar on the pole itself, and also on the backs of the horses; and
if it is likely that a team of four will be driven, the pole should be
made with a hook at the end to take the swingle bars.
[Sidenote: Bars for attaching traces.] For the attachment of the traces
two bars must be provided for, and as the front of the cart will be too
narrow for these to be fixed to it direct, iron stays projecting about
six inches to either side can be screwed on underneath each end of the
front of the cart. The bars can then be fixed to these stays by bolts
passing through their centres. The bars will then revolve on their
centres and give the horses’ shoulders plenty of play, enabling them to
do their work with much comfort.
To the dog-cart itself no other alterations are necessary. The addition
of the pole does not affect the balance to any appreciable extent.
[Sidenote: Difference between curricle and ordinary double harness.]
With regard to the harness, the chief difference between curricle and
ordinary double harness is in the pads.
These must be strong and heavy, and fitted with special roller bolts, on
which the steel curricle bar rests (fig. 12). They require to be heavy
and strong, because at times the pole will put a considerable weight on
them, more particularly when going down hill.
[Illustration: FIG. 12.—CURRICLE BAR AND ROLLER BOLTS.]
On each side they have a leather loop like those on a tandem pad, and
through these the traces are passed. In the bolts on the top of the pads
is pivoted a small steel roller. The curricle bar rests on the rollers,
and by their action is enabled to work freely from side to side, or from
one horse towards the other, without any friction or noise. The rollers
can be raised or lowered about a couple of inches, so that should the
horses be of unequal height the bar can be levelled by raising or
dropping one end of it.
[Sidenote: Curricle bar.] The bar should be made of steel, and must be
long enough to give at least six inches play to the outside of each pad
when the horses are standing square in their places. It has a small
screw at each end, on which are screwed flat circular nuts to prevent
the bar dropping out of the bolts and off the rollers. These are put on
immediately the bar has been passed through the bolts, and are
themselves secured and prevented from coming unscrewed by V-shaped steel
ties, which pass through slits at the extreme ends of the bar. In the
centre of the bar is a long-shaped loop or slit, through which the brace
or supporting strap is passed (fig. 12).
[Sidenote: Supporting strap or brace.] This brace should be a strong
leather strap about three inches wide. It passes under the spring below
the pole, through the slit in the bar, and is fastened by a large double
buckle.
The traces are the same as for single harness.
[Sidenote: How to prevent pole tipping up.] To prevent the pole from
tipping up when the weight is on the back of the cart, a light strap,
with a double buckle at each end of it, can be fastened to the end of
the girth-strap of one of the pads under the horse, passed over the
pole, and again buckled at the other end to the other horse’s
girth-strap. This is an effectual remedy for the tilting up of the pole,
even when a heavy man mounts suddenly on to the back seat. In all other
respects the harness is the same as ordinary double harness.
If the cart is fitted with a swingle bar for single harness, the steel
chains which connect the bar to the axle can perfectly well be used as
pole chains, in which case it would be unnecessary to purchase new ones.
Ponies of fourteen hands or upwards, which would look too small for a
full-sized dog-cart in single harness, and would be unable owing to its
weight to draw it, look extremely well and make little of the weight
when driven as a pair, and can thus be utilized in curricle when perhaps
their services in harness would otherwise be lost.
A team of horses, or better still of ponies, can also be driven in the
poled dog-cart, provided that the pole has the hook referred to before
at the end of it.
Four horses look altogether too big, and the team is too long for the
short cart behind it; but a team of ponies, although they also look
rather too long, are very much better; and the slight disadvantage of
appearance is well counterbalanced by the pleasure of driving them, and
by the ease with which long distances can be covered without distress.
Given a good, comfortable, roomy dog-cart and four fairly-trained ponies
which are really fit, and no more enjoyable way of travelling about a
country can be found for two, three, or even four people. The weight to
be drawn is so small compared to the horse-power employed, that all
hills can be surmounted at a rapid pace, and long distances can be
covered in a single day, without placing any undue strain on the cattle.
The bars, though considerably lighter, are exactly like the bars of a
coach, while the leaders’ harness, it is hardly necessary to remark, is
precisely the same.
[Sidenote: Cape-cart.] In the Cape-cart, about eighteen inches from the
end of the pole, comes a supporting bar or yoke, sometimes called a
bugle, the use of which is to prevent the pole from falling to the
ground. This bar, usually made of lance wood, about an inch in diameter,
and five feet long, can be attached to the pole in several ways, but it
is best so to arrange it that it can slide up and down the pole as well
as from side to side. Perhaps the best and simplest attachment is
obtained by passing a short strap with brass rings at each end of it
round the pole, and then putting the yoke through the rings. The middle
of the yoke ought to be covered with leather, to prevent it being chafed
by the pole.
Though collars can be used, breast harness is nearly always employed,
and is much to be preferred on account of the breeching being much more
effective than with collars; without a breeching the horses are apt to
come back on to the splinter bar.
Neither cruppers nor pads are essential.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.—CAPE-CART HARNESS.]
The breast harness is held up by straps which pass through the same pads
as the yoke straps.
These latter are fixed near the middle of the yoke, and pass through
pads on the horses’ withers to short buckling pieces attached near the
outer ends of the bar.
[Sidenote: Makers of Cape harness.] Messrs. Atkinson and Philipson of
Newcastle-on-Tyne make a speciality of this kind of harness.
A dog-cart can be adapted for the Cape-cart draught in exactly the same
manner as previously described for curricle; the pole, however, should
be rather longer.
Advocates of the Cape-cart claim the following advantages for it over
the Curricle: that specially constructed heavy pads are not required,
and that should one horse fall, there is very slight chance of his
bringing down the other with him.
These two styles of draught are much used abroad, the latter in India,
where it is known as “Tonga,” the former in South Africa, whence it
derives its name. As far as utility goes there appears to be little
between them.
[Illustration: FIG. 14.—SPRINGING A HILL.]
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