I need plans for horse drawn vehicles

[Matt]

Horses can't draw.

[Jimmy]

How many miles do you get to a bale of hay and a bag of oats?

[RicodJour]

A Google search for horse buggy plans turned up lots of hits, including these:

It'd also be pretty easy to just start building one from scratch with some used mountain bike wheelsets - assuming you're not planning on carrying more than a couple or three hundred pounds.

R

[maradcliff]

I need plans for horse drawn vehicles.

I am serious about this. With gas being in the $2.50 to $3.00 a gallon range, and likely to get much higher, I am looking for ways to avoid having to buy the stuff. I have already done all the usual things, such as tune up the car, properly inflate tires, use the car (which gets better milage), than the pickup truck, whenever possible, and avoid unnecessary trips to the store, etc.

All of this helps, but I want to cut back even more. Not only is my wallet suffering, but I am real tired of supporting these corrupt oil companies who are raping us financially. If oil is in low supply, why not limit us, rather then continually raising the price. I already know that limiting gas would not affect most average drivers, but would only affect those who waste gas with "performance" cars, large gas guzzling boats, and other unnecessary machinery.

Anyhow, my point in this message is not to discuss oil prices, but rather to find alternatives to using it. I already own horses, which until now were pets and for recreational riding. But in the past, before motorized vehicles, people relied on their horses for transportation. I think this is going to become a reality again for many of us. While I realize I will have to continue to pay these crooks for their oil if I need to travel distances, I know that half of my gasoline usage is for short trips to town. This is where a horse drawn vehicle would help. Whether it's a trip to the grocery store, or any other short trip to town, I can use the horse. I live in a rural area, and am about 5 miles from town. This is an ideal distance for a horse drawn vehicle, and a total 10 mile per day trip is not too much for the horse, and seems like it would be enjoyable too.

Therefore, I am looking for plans to build a horse drawn vehicle out of wood and the axel and wheels/tires from one of the old farm implements I got laying around. Does anyone know where to get some plans?

This message may not be exactly on topic to some of the newsgroups I am posting to, but is related.

Thanks

Mark

[tbasc]

Adjusted for inflation, gasoline now costs less than it did 20 years ago. NPR, as I remember it, said three days ago that the cost of a barrel of oil in 1970 adjusted for inflation would be $90.00 today. I ran my own test, remembering gasoline as $0.35 per gallon in 1958. Adjusted for inflation, it would be slightly less than $3.00 per gallon today. TB

[Jimmy]

Doesn't matter. All that matters is how long did you have to work in 1970 to buy a gallon of gas and how long do you have to work now.

[Peter D. Hipson]

You do realize that horse will cost more per mile than any car you own, right? (feed, cleaning, vet, and maintenance...)

Get a bicycle! They are the most efficient form of transportation, do not polute, are fast (once you are in shape, a bicycle can be almost as fast as a car), low cost, low maintanance, etc. I probably bicycle twice as many miles every week than I drive.

[Matt]

Hmmmm.

Yes, I stand corrected.

But there is still the issue of the horse needing to understand some fairly complex engineering principles. For example, to the horse, square wheels would probably seem a very good idea. Also, the plans the horse draws will probably call for humans to pull it, and horse to ride in it.

I'm sorry, but I must insist that the OP would be better off getting his vehicle specifications drawn up by a human. Horse drawn vehicles are simply too impracticle to be feasible.

[Matt]

impracticle?

Holy hell.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

The Amish still use carriages. You may be able to find information in an Amish area and even buy some of the parts you need.

[Shiver]

First I would make sure that you can legally drive that horse into that town and park it at the store.

Here in Canada there is a guy in the Maritimes fighting a community that doesn't want him coming into town on horseback and riding the horse through the drive through of the local Tim Hortons.

Instead of getting a camera crew out and taping him buying his double double and having the corporation turning it into a commercial the local manager has pressed charges against the individual because of the horse patties that get left behind.

I believe the horse owner has been to court once and is fighting for his right to ride the horse into town.

Out here in Alberta if my feeble mind is correct we had a similar situation some years ago of someone who wanted to ride his horse into the closest town and would tie it up to a parking meter while he went into a pub for a beer.

GOOD LUCK.... I think it would be interesting if someone took their car or van and hitched it up to a team of horses and went for a ride into town on the freeways.... just like people had to do in the depression.

Perhaps you might consider just gutting an old hulk of everything that's not necessary......That would make more of an impression than a cute looking or quaint horse drawn vehicle.

How about an old 1960 Volkswagen beetle. or Chevy Bel Air.

[James C. Reeves]

You've never watched Mr. Ed, have you?

[Edwin Pawlowski]

When I started driving in 1963 gas was about 25¢ and minimum wage was about !.37 per hour. An hour at minimum wage bought 5.48 gallons Good wages in a factory were about $4. skilled or management was about $5. Wages are maybe 6X that time, if that is true, gas should be $1.50. Minimum wage today buys 3 gallons.

[Colbyt]

Assuming for a moment that you are serious, please consider all the excellent posts to date. I will repeat only one of them. Gas is a lot cheaper than feeding a horse.

Now on to reality 101. Horses that are saddle broken are generally not harness broken or trained. They frequently do not have the physical stature to pull. There are riding horses, work horses and carriage horses. The latter two are somewhat interchangeable.

The carriage will be the least of your expenses in money or time. The harnesses will be expensive and must be maintained with frequent care and oiling. Rivets and tears must be replaced and you will need a nice dry place to store all this stuff. The time required to harness your horse(s) will add 1-1/12 hours to each trip you take and if you are a responsible owner another hour per trip to care for your horse.

Colbyt

[Jeff Wisnia]

I recall reading more than once that when the automobile started making inroads it was heralded in big cities as a polution reducer.

That was because of the cost of the armies of guys with shovels and wheeled barrels who had to clean the horse shit off the streets every day.

Jeff

[Jeff Wisnia]

Have you contacted any Amish? I believe they use some excellent fiberglass bodied buggies these days.

Or, try this site:

HTH,

Jeff

[jtnospam]

Some posters here have some good ideas, particularly the leads to the Amish. But consider that many materials available today were not accessable to the 1800's and before: Aluminum, fiberglass, air/oil shocks and struts, plastic composites and pneumatic tires, to name a few. Another source for plans might be old patent documents from the

1800's. The US patent office is pretty lame about getting these older documents online, but the UK and European Patent offices are rich sources of ideas for you.(you can find them on Google, and the USPTO.gov has links to them) If you decide to go ahead with your project, would you do us the favor of sharing your research? You could build a good website that many will find interesting and useful. Best wishes with your project.-Jitney P.S. Where are you geographically? P.P.S. to our friend in Canada: Out here in Alberta if my feeble mind is correct we had a similar situation some years ago of someone who wanted to ride his horse into the closest town and would tie it up to a parking meter while he went into a pub for a beer.(snip) Could they get him for drunk horseriding?-J.

[chemqueries]

That's exactly what I was going to suggest. I don't know where you live, but if you're anywhere near an Amish community, I'll bet you could find what you're looking for. There are large Amish communities in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania; Geauga County, Ohio; and Holmes County, Ohio. There are many others as well, but those are the ones I'm familiar with. About two months ago, I visited the Amish community in Geauga County, Ohio, in Middlefield and surrounding towns. I saw several horse-drawn buggies up close, and they are much smaller than I realized. I do have to warn you that there have been several highly publicized, serious accidents between gasoline-powered cars and horse-drawn buggies. Of course, the passengers in the buggies are the ones most seriously hurt or killed. These accidents occurred in the Amish towns, where the buggies are a familiar sight, and other residents know they should slow down when they approach a buggy. If you do decide to go ahead with your plans, I do hope everyone in your town knows enough to drive very carefully when approaching your vehicle.

[jtnospam]

When I was studying history in college, I remember reading old frontier-day diaries, and more than one story about dependable horses that knew the way home in the dark for their drunken riders. There was even one about a stolen horse that took his inebriated rider back to the horse's original owner...-Jitney

[Elmo]

Edwin Pawlowski said (on or about) 08/14/2005 18:37:

Where were you that minimum was that low? I started working a mere 4 years later (1967) in New York (State not city) and was paid $1.15 (which was less than minimum by $0.10 because I was under 18).