vendredi 9 janvier 2009
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Vocabulary
The expression «Down the road» began to be used about the middle of the 19th century when driving a coach and four was becoming increasingly popular among wealthy young men. Some of the older men thought that the style of turnout seen at meets of the Coaching Club was not in keeping with the true coaching tradition. They believed that driving a coach over any kinds of road for long distances with different team of horses like the old public stage coaches was the true coaching tradition , or , as they piut it, truly "down the road" . These were enthusiasts who strated «road coaching» during the 1860’s
Tom Ryder
« DOWN THE ROAD »
L’ expression “Down the road” fut employée à partir du milieu du XIXème siècle lorsque mener un coach attelé à quatre chevaux était devenu un sport très prisé des jeunes gens nantis de la bonne société.
Cependant, parmi les anciens pratiquants du coaching, certains estimaient que le style des équipages se présentant aux réunions du Coaching Club, ne respectaient pas l’esprit de la vraie tradition du coaching.
Ils estimaient que, mener un coach sur toutes sortes de routes, et sur de longues distances, en utilisant des attelages e chevaux différents, comme cela se faisait au temps des anciens Stages coachs publics, représentait la vraie tradition du coaching et comme ils le disaient, vraiment down the road.
Ce furent ces mêmes passionnés qui mirent sur pied le Road coaching, dans les années 1860.
Tom Ryder
NB : Déjà en 1837, l’expression "Down the road" était employée comme titre d’un ouvrage de Birch Reynardson. Arba
Today, there are four types of canine cart harnesses used in North America and in Australia. They are the breast harness, siwash (sled racing harness), dorsal hitch harness, and rigid collar and hames.
The breast harness is easy to make and to fit. It is the similar to the horse breast harness.
The Rigid Collar and Hames allows for more efficient pulling from the shoulder area than the breast harness. The "rigid collar and hames" is the hardest draft harness to fit to a dog. Today, this harness type is not commonly used with draft dogs. In past centuries, the breast harness and rigid collar were used extensively with dog sleds and dog carts.
Rigid Collar and Hames, Quebec circa 1930s
Fig. 2
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Sled Harness from Alaska
Fig. 3
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Rigid Collar and Hames from South Eastern Canada
Fig. 4
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The Siwash harness (dog sled racing harness) was invented in the early 20th century when dog sled racing became popular. It is a light weight replacement for the "rigid collar and hames" that was used previously with freight dog sleds. It was developed to efficiently pull the sled from a point a few inches above the ground. The Siwash allows the dog to pull with more of the shoulder area than the breast harness but not as efficiently as with the "rigid collar and hames." Dog sleds do not have a shafts or a pole to help the dogs to steer the sled. The Siwash harness is designed to slide around the dogs back. This harness movement is useful when the dog team pulls the gangline at an angle sled while navigating turns.
Some people have tried to adapt the Siwash harness for dog carting. The problem is that the siwash harness was not originally designed to hitch shafts to it. Plus, with dog carts, the pull points on a cart are higher off the ground than on a dog sled. The dog cart version of the Siwash harness is still evolving.
The Dorsal Hitch Harness is a modern adaptation of the Roman chariot harness. During the Hellenistic and Roman period, the Roman chariot harness was used on cart dogs. The dorsal hitch harness has a padded saddle tree inside the cart saddle. This saddle design protects the dog’s backbone. The Dorsal Hitch Harness is used with sulkies that have a single shaft that arches over the dog’s back. This sulky style was nicknamed the "chariots of the dogs" because the technology dates back to the invention of the chariot.
Dorsal Hitch Harness and Sulky
Fig. 6
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The saddle tree inside the Dorsal Hitch Harness
Fig. 7
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The saddle tree inside the Dorsal Hitch Harness
Fig. 8
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