Horse Logging
Tip 12/19/99
How does a market tug differ
from a regular tug?
Technically speaking the tug
is the part that goes from the belly band
billet up to a ring where the rear side strap from the spider
ring on
the top of the hips comes to and then where the front side strap
to the
hame comes back to. The word "tug" is improperly used
at times for what
is properly called the trace. What a market tug does is eliminate
the
back band. It goes just a short ways up to the side straps. You
can if
you want to put the back band on and just bring the strap from
it down
to the ring of the market tug. Without graphics I can't draw it
for you.
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What does it look like?
The side straps from the hame
and the spider ring come back on the side
to a ring in the market tug so it looks a little like a "Y".
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>From the hame to the butt hook, is it longer or shorter than
a regular
tug?
Well, it's better to refer
to it as a trace. From the hame to the "D"
that the butt hook goes into is about 6 feet 2 inches. The ideal
length
would be long enough so that the "D" comes to the point
of the hock when
they are standing still. A farm trace is longer, but I don't
happen to
know just how much off hand. Probably they are about seven and
a half
feet long to where the heel chain fastens to the end.
So, yes, they are shorter.
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On the butt hook itself, does the hook swivel, or is it fixed
solid with
hook up?
The butt hook has an eye in
it that slides over the "D" so that it can
move up and down and swing sideways but it doesn't have a swivel
in it.
You can put the hook either up or down. I prefer to have mine
up, but it
works well either way.
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You mentioned "cooler without the backband". Does that
mean that on a
logging harness, there is no bellyband, billets, or backband at
all?
What we're talking about is
a market tug--butt hook harness used for
logging. There is more than one type of harness that can be used
for
logging and so, I guess, could be called a logging harness. But,
no, it
has a belly band and billets that attach to the traces; but you
can
eliminate the back band. By doing that the harness is all open
on the
top and is cooler as well as lighter weight to throw on and off
each
day. Horses tend to sweat under the back band. If you're just
ground
skidding and not doing much tongue work, you don't need the back
band to
carry the tongue weight. I do a little manure spreading and pull
a
utility trailer to get firewood at times; but for no more than
I do, I
get by without a back band. If a person were doing a lot of tongue
work,
I would recommend a "D" ring harness with the sidebackers.
It puts most
of the tongue weight on the back band and not on the top of the
neck. A
"D" ring harness with a back band is especially good
with mules and some
horses that have narrow necks at the top where the tongue weight
becomes
more concentrated than on fatter, wider at the top necked horses.
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Please be patient with my ignorance, I've never seen a harness
like
this. All the rest was familiar and helpful. Looking forward
to your
answer. Chuck
Everybody starts out knowing
nothing. If you don't ask questions, you
might learn some by trial and error; but it's the slow hard way
and
you'll never figure out what centuries of people fooling around
ahead of
you figured out. So as best as you can, you want to ask questions
and
try to tie into what everybody who's gone before you knew. Glenn