Not all over Europe, but in many countries. It also was used in the USA. When I met Elmar Lapp, one of the founders of Horse Progress Days, at his farm in Kinzers, PA, he drove a six-up with one line. It's called a jerk-line and as the name suggests, the driver jerks the line and the length of the jerk/pull tells the horse where to go. In Bavaria, where I grew up and lived for 44 years, the line was split above the back, with one side being slightly longer than the other. In addition to that voice commands are used.


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

I don't know much about jerk line driving but I seem to recall that the horses heads are connected by a jockey stick in some situations. The line is usually connected to the outside bit ring on the lead animal. A steady pull will cause the team to swing to the left while a series of short quick jerks will cause the lead horse to throw his head up and to the right, away from the jerking, which will in turn push he team mate over causing the team to swing to the right. I've seen this setup in old pictures of Conestoga wagons where the driver rode the wheel horse and drove a six or eight up with a single jerk line.


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

Yes, Jerry, that's exactly the way I saw Elmar Lapp doing it, driving the six-up from the near wheel horse. Those horses were extremely attentive to the driver's commands


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

that is the way the 20 team borax drivers did it. with a chain running from the lead team to the wheeler team the 18 teams in the middle were hooked by the double trees only so they could jump the chain to keep from pulling the wagon into the rocks or over the bank on the turns. they said it was different when you couldn't see the lead team. I saw a video of some people training 20 mule teams with a jerk-line to get the mules to jump over the chain they rubbed the line on the mules ears they jumped back on there own. I love the internet for the info that is out there that I can access if I can stumble on to it once I bookmark it then I have it until the computer crashes again, sometimes I never find it again.


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

I use 1 line a lot of the time. a like it in the woods and plowing with a walking plow.


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum