Training is going good on the quarter horse team. I have noticed that they don't pull anything like the Belgian, however, I'm probably expecting a lot out of them in a pretty short period of time. Have been doing a lot of harrowing with them with a 5 foot harrow and pulling around an old tractor tire.

The tire really added some weight and the little blue mare didn't like it so we had a little bucking and kicking but after about 10 minutes she settled in to it. We'd walk awhile, take breaks and so on…

I do have a question about the three horse evener. I went and bought a new evener just to be on the safe side but I'm not sure that I have the setup correct so I put a picture of it in there to get your opinion. Thanks again for all of the wonderful advice. I really enjoy this group.

I don't think that you should expect a quarter horse mare hold her own against a much heavier Belgian in any constellation, double or triple . That's when the evener needs to be adjusted.

I'd recommend moving your hitch bar all the way to the last hole on your forecart, to the left as you have them arranged here.

Great to see your progress, Ryan. Good job!

Your 3 up evener is serviceable as pictured. If you want to center your horses and eliminate side draft when pulling something you will find that the channel steel on either side of your forecart is drilled to accept the pole. You can move the pole either left or right and center the hitch point for the evener.

I used my field evener like that for a while then moved the pole as mentioned. Worked much better.
Most times weight moves weight. Even a tough QH won't match that Belgian. You can help with adjustable evener but still giving up 900# is huge.
Bet that Belgian is a good anchor.

If you move the pole it works. Tried just the holes on a 3 horse evener; it will bang against 1 horse, even if it's hooked the other way on the draw bar.

I'd move the tongue over and leave the triple tree in the center.
Looking good though, keep it up . Good horse men and women weren't born that way,it took year's and year's of experience, some good and some not so good.

Driving the small horses to the bit and straightening out the eveners by so doing would be my approach. Its in the hands on the lines and a little encouragement.

In any case, they will soon be ready to work together without the big horse, now that they're getting the idea.

You haven't asked and it probably hasn't been an issue yet, given what your horses are currently doing for work but you'll want to hike up your QHs' saggy pants. For maximum effectiveness, a Western box britchen should ride about one handswidth below the point of the rump. The lower it gets, the harder it is for the horse to hold back a load and the more likely it is to chafe.

Hats off to your progress! I just started working my horses in a three abreast this winter on the bobsled. I took the idea from another post on this forum to use two poles. It works great. I am going to put two poles on my pioneer forecart this spring to drag some dirt. It may not be necessary, but I like things even.

If you choose to move your pole, you might consider putting the Belgian on the single side of the evener and move where the Belgian's single tree hooks to the evener in one hole. That way you would have your strongest horse single and pulling at a slight mechanical disadvantage, giving the QH team a slight advantage. It won't overcome the weight difference as mentioned, but might help a bit.

Here is a pic of my pioneer triple tree and two poles on the bobsled...

Good luck,
Jay

Can you set it up so the team is over the pole with the single horse on the left?If you plowed with your eveners like this you will play your furrow horse out.

Ryan Crist
Thanks for your posts and pictures.
Enjoyed following the discussions.
Good luck with your team.

Inverary, that's one question I definitely have is whether or not the double tree goes over the tongue. The guy that I purchased the evener from says that it won't work that way but I'll admit I am a little confused about it.

Inverary, my single is on the left in the picture with two poles. All you have to do is flip the evener. From what I can see, Ryan could do it as well, but in his current set up he would have to swing his hitch point to the right of the tongue.

I am not sure what you mean by playing the furrow horse out though. The length of the beam between the draw pin and hitch points for the single and team provides more leverage for the single and therefore "evens out the load" whatever side the horses are on.

If everything is perfect its supposed to equalize but your still two against one and its walking in the furrow just try it. just my opinion Thanks

Not sure about the debate of the furrow horse. On a 3 horse evener the pin should be at the center of the middle horses butt. You can give a horse more leverage by trading holes off the single tree hook up. Never seen it done but an inch would help it a lot. The old broncos pulled the same as the 1600 pound horses, 20 miles a day. 6 days a week and Sunday when needed.