Team Line Trick

Yesterday I was calling around to different harness shops looking for pricing on Bells.  For this Christmas season I was hoping to add some sleigh bells to the wagon/horses to really complete the Christmas theme.

I got referred to the Samson Harness Shop in MN.  I called and they were so pleasant!  I ended up talking with someone for hours (Bernie Samson maybe?).  We talked about all kinds of different things.

One thing we discussed was using team lines.  He asked me if I had any issues with lines getting hung up.  I mentioned how I had the team line buckle pull through my spreader once.  He asked if I also had times when the cross checks would get hung up under the team pole.  My answer was a “Yes”.  That seems to happen every now and then; never from actually working, but by standing still and them moving their heads around.

Bernie then laid out to me an old trick from the early 1900s.  He described using 2 sets of spreader rings to solve the cross check problem, and using 3 extra rings on the cross check line to prevent the buckle from pulling through.

For the 3 ring thing,  you just get 3 sizes of rings (6 total – 2 per size).  They should be sequenced such that the smallest ring will not pull through the middle one, and the middle one will not pull through the biggest.  The biggest needs to be big enough that it won’t pull through the spreader ring.  You put these on each cross check, in sequential order, before you run it through the first spreader.  These rings will then prevent the buckle from pulling through.



Drawing of team line setup using 2 sets of spreders



For the last part, I was having a hard time understanding verbally what he was describing, so I had him send me a fax with a drawing.  I found this very interesting.  I’ve never heard of this, but it looks pretty good.  The extra set of spreaders will keep enough line on the tension that you don’t get that droop in the middle of the cross that can get hung up.  I like it, and I think I’m going to have to get some spreaders to try it out.

This kind of rig seems ideal for a guy like me;  someone who works the horses alone most times.  when this kind of thing happens for me, I usually have to hope the horses stay still, and walk around myself to un-tangle it.  This means that there is a time when my hands are not on the lines.  If running an extra set of spreaders can fix this, then I’m all for it.