Igor Nikolaev

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Good harness for the horse is no less important than the conditions of its keeping and the diet. It is the high-quality harness elements that protect the animal from injury and reduce the load during work.

However, the harness is different, so the question often arises before novice horse breeders - which one to choose? We will consider the varieties and composition of horse harness in this article.

Harness - basic elements

The most common horse harness consists of a harness and a yoke. Each detail should be suitable for the animal in build and size, individual for each horse.

Importance horse harness emphasizes the fact that for a long time no money was spared on her and was cherished like the apple of an eye. Most often it was made to order, carefully tailored to a specific animal. Currently, ready-made harnesses can be bought either on the market or in a specialized store.

The main components of the harness are: a collar, a bridle for a horse, an arch, an abdomen, reins and a harness; additional elements are added if necessary.

Ready-made store harness is cheaper than custom-made harness, but no one can guarantee that all elements of purchased harness will ideally fit the horse. In this regard, experienced horse breeders still recommend choosing each element separately, focusing on the parameters of a particular animal.

The clamp is the most important and obligatory harness element. It is through it that the tractive effort is transmitted to the cart or sled. The collar must be placed on the horse's neck in such a way that it does not hinder freedom of movement and does not interfere with free breathing. It should not be too long or too wide. V otherwise you can damage the horse's skin or cause other damage to it that reduces traction. To fasten this element correctly and securely, the harness must be strong and sturdy.

The purpose of the harness is to hold the clamp in place, especially at those moments when the animal goes downhill or slows down after settling down. It is adjusted in such a way that a human palm can be squeezed between the ischial tubercles of the animal and the rim strap.

Consists of a harness from several belts. The harness is made of durable and high-quality leather, which gives it the necessary characteristics. The dimensions of this element must be determined accurately, based on the parameters of a particular animal. An incorrect harness can cause abrasions and other damage to the horse's skin.

Also, the reliability and service life of all harness elements strongly depends on the quality of the girth. It is made exclusively from good leather, since this material does not irritate the animal and fits snugly against its body.

The most difficult part horse harness experts consider the bridle.

It includes: reins, a bit and a halter that wraps around the horse's head. The most practical is the so-called marching bridle, which makes it possible to lead a horse with the help of duplicate reins, and allows you to water it without unharnessing.

Also necessarily in the composition of any harness there are reins, which are both leather and textile.

The saddle part of the harness is designed to secure and support the entire harness with the help of a saddle. The saddle is also involved in the transmission of traction and in the distribution of it over the horse's back. Distinguish between a recumbent and a hunchbacked nurse. On the back, the saddle is held with the help of a girth.

The chalice is passed through a saddle (hence the name), and then attached to the right and left shafts at the two ends. It is also responsible for supporting the weight of the archwire, shaft and yoke, and for transmitting traction to the saddle.

The abdomen, like the sweet monkey, is a leather belt. Both of these belts are interconnected by means of a ring and are attached to the shafts by means of loops. The abdomen also fixes the position of the harness on the animal. It is passed under a girth and is attached at two ends to both shafts. It is important to remember that the height of the shafts above the ground should be optimal - not too high, but not too low.

An important element of a horse harness is an arch. With its help, the clamp is attached to the shafts with a tug. Also, the arc acts as a shock absorber in the event of sudden jerks or strong jolts, so it must be not only strong, but also elastic.

Shafts must be of equal length.

They are usually made from durable wood.

It is important that the harness is High Quality and fit the horse as much as possible in its size. In addition, it should be lightweight and easy to repair.

The harness is different. According to its purpose, it is divided into:

• agricultural;
• transport;
• exit.

Agricultural, in turn, is divided into single and parokonny.

Transport is intended for transportation large weights, therefore, usually involves harnessing several horses (two, four, six, and so on).

Outbound harness belongs to the front harness, so the number of animals in it may vary.

All types of harness are also divided into one-horse, two-horse and multi-horse harness.

For agricultural work, one-horse harness is most often used. When harnessed in pairs, horses can stand next to each other, or they can be behind each other. Let's consider these varieties in more detail.

Horse bridle structure

One-horse

One-horse harness can be arc and arcless. As the name implies, one harness horse is harnessed with its help. The arc consists of: an arc, a clamp, a tug, a suponi, a shafts, a nurse, a merry-go-round, a harness, a bridle and a reins.

When using the arcless version, the function of the clamp is performed by the harness, taking on the main weight of the carriage. It also includes: belt throats, shafts, bridle, reins and so on. Another name for such a harness is shallow-post-edging. Often in this version, shorter shafts are used, which are attached not to a clamp (which is not there), but to a saddle lying on the animal's back.

Drawbar harness

This option is equally well suited for harnessing one or two horses. The main part of this option is a drawbar rigidly attached to the shafts.

However, especially if this harness is used when pulling two-wheeled equipment, horses are often injured due to the drawbar pressing too hard on the yoke. To avoid this and increase the horse's performance, experts advise putting on a saddle and tightening the lines with a weekly.

This type of harness is very simple, but extremely inconvenient. This is due to the fact that it is difficult to hold the carriage during forward motion. This type provides for the transfer of tractive effort from the clamp directly through the post, without the shafts.

Due to their absence, when braking, the carriage often runs into a horse, so it must have its own brake.

Wheelbarrow type of harness

Provides for harnessing four horses at once, standing next to each other. Nowadays, it is rare, most often - in staged shows. This harness belongs to the post-edging-drawbar. With the help of the central drawbar, the central pair of animals is harnessed, and the lateral ones (right and left) are harnessed to the wagons.

Combined harness

This variety is typical for European countries, and provides for a large number of horses at once (usually - from six to eight). The structure of such a team includes both a drawbar with strings and shafts.

When using this option, the selection of horses in terms of height and strength indicators comes to the fore. So, the rootstocks must be tall and strong so that they have enough strength to hold the cart.

Tie horses (paired or tripled with indigenous ones) are harnessed with strings and are responsible for turning the entire carriage. Horses, called outriggers, are placed in front of the root horses. They are also harnessed by means of strings. Their main task is to set the general direction.

§ 56. Working cattle: harness and horse harness. § 57. Yoke. § 58. Drags, sleighs, skis. § 59. Wheeled carts, plague. § 60. Lubrication of carts. Section 61. Water transport. § 62. Barge haulers. Section 63. Carrying goods. § 64. Literature.

§ 56. Horses have long been the working cattle of the Eastern Slavs. Vladimir Monomakh at the Congress of Princes in 1103 paints the following picture of Russian agriculture of that time: in the spring the peasant begins to plow on a horse, and the Polovtsian (Kumanin) wounds him with an arrow and steals his horse (The Tale of Bygone Years. 1103). The legend, cited in the "Primary Chronicle" under 912, tells of the death of Prince Oleg because of his beloved horse, and the prince arrives to the place of his death on horseback. The story of Prince Svyatoslav dates back to 964, who during military campaigns slept without a tent, with a saddle under his head, and ate thinly sliced ​​horse meat.

Later, in the Ukraine and Belarus, working horses were driven out by oxen, though not everywhere, but mainly in the steppes. In forests, on narrow forest paths, ox-riding is difficult. In recent decades, oxen in Ukraine and Belarus have again been replaced by horses, and for purely economic reasons: a bad horse is much cheaper than a pair of oxen. Sometimes cows are also used as draft animals.

As for the Russians, horses have always been and still remain as draft animals.

Belarusians often use horse harness to harness oxen. The Belarusians of the Chernigov province. in 1844 there was still no wooden yoke, they put on a horse yoke on the oxen, while cutting the podkhomutnik, and used the arc (Esimontovsky). In 1895, the Belarusians of the Vitebsk province. the ox harness differed from the horse harness only in that the collar was longer, and the collar was split in two at the bottom: the collar was not put on the oxen over the head, as on horses, but placed on the neck (Nikiforovsky). At the same time, the Belarusians also know the yoke, and it is this that is the oldest of all types of harness known to the Eastern Slavs.

62. Belarusian yoke for a bull and a horse. Minsk province, Slutsk district

Usually, when harnessing oxen, the Eastern Slavs use a drawbar with a yoke, and horses use two shafts (Ukrainian goloblya) with a collar and an arc. We have already talked about an exception to this rule among Belarusians who prefer a clamp. On the other hand, the Belarusians also know examples when a yoke is put on a horse; this happens in those relatively rare cases when a horse and an ox find themselves in the same working team. For this there is a special yoke, shown in Fig. 62, the horse is yoked over the yoke.

The second, more consistent exception to this aforementioned rule, we find among the Ukrainians in the southwestern part of Ukraine. According to F. Volkov, the Dnieper is here an ethnographic border, to the west of which both oxen and horses are always harnessed with a drawbar, but without an arc and a collar. Shafts in Western Ukraine are found mainly in sleds harnessed by one horse, and especially in the plow, as well as in the so-called bovkun harness, i.e. when only one ox or one cow is harnessed. This statement by F. Volkov is clarified by the report that in the entire northern part of Volyn, for example, in the Kovel and even Rivne districts, a horse is always harnessed with a collar and an arc (OR RGO, 1, 309, 323, etc.).

The Russians do not know the drawbar team at all. If they need to harness two or three horses, they harness the stronger horse (rootstock) into shafts with an arc, and the rest (tie-down) harness without an arc; rope or belt strings are tied to the tugs.

However, in winter time driving with such a team in deep snow on country roads is impossible, since these roads are very narrow and are intended for only one horse. In such cases, they usually ride in a team of goose, single file. This name indicates the similarity with the flight of wild geese, always flying in a row, one after another. With this method, the rootstock is harnessed, as always, into shafts with an arc; in front of him, with the help of long rope strings, tied to tugs, they harness the second horse, and in front of it - the third. Fearing to get bogged down in the snow, the first horse does not turn off the path, and the whole team runs along the road in unison. The coachman rules it with long reins and an even longer whip. However, among the Russians, only very well-to-do people ride two or three horses.

As for the horse harness, only an elegant harness is made by special saddlers. The peasants make the working harness themselves. The material for this is mainly hemp ropes and ropes made of linden bark and linden bark. Shley and tugs are made from hemp or linden bark. The Belarusians make them with the same tool (the so-called flyers) with which they weave belts. The Belarusians of the Chernigov province. and the Russian population of the regions bordering the Urals (Ufa province and adjacent regions) often lacks a belt at all. The podkhomutnik (khomutin, kichka) is made of straw and canvas, less often covered with leather. Tugs are made most often from hemp rope, less often from rawhide belts. The saddle is made from felt, less often from straw, sheathed with canvas or leather, and sometimes it is woven from hemp rope; frame (Russian filly, Ukrainian shoe) - wooden or iron, with a fastener. The bridle (reverse, halter) and the halter (Ukrainian lanyard), as well as the reins, the reins, and the supon, are also often made from hemp. Russians value a good harness very much and at the first opportunity they buy an elegant harness decorated with tin plaques and bells. Most of all, they flaunt the arc: it is made high, painted and covered with carvings. However, for everyday work, a low, unadorned arc is used.

There is a widespread superstitious belief among Russians that if a horse unloads on the move, it means that marital fidelity has been violated.
In fig. 64 depicts a device (gibalo, bgalo), with the help of which the arcs are bent; they are made from silvery willow and elm; on this see below, § 58.

§ 57. At present, the Eastern Slavs use two types of ox yoke. One type is common among Belarusians (see Fig. 61 and 62). This yoke is the same as the Bulgarian and Serbian yoke. It is characterized by the absence of a lower horizontal cross-bar running under the ox's neck (Ukrainian pidgirlya, in Fig. 63 denoted by the letter b), and the presence of the so-called kulbaki - a thin vertical rod with a bent lower end that covers the bull's neck from one side and from below. In fig. 61 and 62 this kulbaka is designated by the letter d.

Another type is the Ukrainian yoke (Fig. 63), which is no different from the yoke common among many Turkic peoples, for example, among the Karachais North Caucasus... This type is characterized by the presence of a lower horizontal bar (b) and four vertical crutches (c, d), going from the upper horizontal bar to the lower one. Of these four vertical crutches, both internal (d - ukr. Snozi, snizki, smik) are fixed motionless, and the external (c - ukr. And Belarusian splinters, ukr. Zanizki) easily move up.

The Ukrainian type of yoke, undoubtedly, developed from an older one, which was never recorded among the Eastern Slavs, however, along with the described Ukrainian yoke, it is found today among the Turkic peoples, especially among the Karachais. The Karachay yoke is distinguished by the absence of a lower horizontal crossbar (in Fig. 636), moreover, it has all four vertical crutches. The missing lower crossbar (Ukrainian pidgirlya) is replaced by a belt covering the neck of an ox or donkey from below. The ends of this strap are tied to the middle and top of the outer vertical crutches.

Rice. 63, depicting the Ukrainian yoke, taken from the article by F. Volkov, fig. 61 and 62 with the image of the Belarusian yoke - from the article by A. Serzhputovsky. The Belarusian yoke (Fig. 61) is used when harnessing only one ox or one cow between two shafts, and the Belarusian yoke of a different type (Fig. 62) - for simultaneous drawbar harnessing of an ox (left) and a horse (right). Horses wear a wooden frame over the yoke. The ring (e), which secures the drawbar, is placed in these cases not in the middle of the yoke, but closer to the ox, because the ox is stronger than the horse.

Below we give the terminology of the parts of the yoke, keeping the same designations as given in Fig. 61-63.

In some areas, the yoke is called not only the entire device as a whole, but also upper part(a, the Ukrainians of Galicia and Kiev). More often, however, it is called a bowl, a bowl, a shoulder. Lower horizontal bar(b) called pidgirlya, pidgirlitsya, pidshiyok. We have already given the names of crutches (c, d). The ring (e, f), which serves to connect the yoke with the drawbar (Ukrainian vі'ya, vіyce), Ukrainians call heel, kolachik, obluk, livestock, roscrut, Belarusians - kalach. This ring is tied to the yoke with a rope or a belt, which is called a pribiy (e), and attached to the drawbar using a stick (pritik, pritikach).

§ 58. The oldest of the carriages existing at the present time among the Eastern Slavs, undoubtedly, should be considered a sleigh. In the swampy places of the North, until recently, they were used not only in winter, but also in summer. An ancient custom required that the deceased be carried to the cemetery on a sleigh even in summer; in some places this order has been preserved to this day.

The most ancient type of sled has also survived, the so-called drag, drag, drag, bow. In Siberia, to transport hay, two thin birches are cut down, a horse is harnessed into their trunks, as in shafts, and hay is placed on the branches. This device is called a drag. Usually, however, drags, or drags, are two long poles with ends sharply bent upward; these poles are connected in two places by crossbeams. The straight ends of the poles serve as shafts, and the bent ends, facing upward, drag along the ground. Sheaves, hay, sacks of grain, etc., are put on such a drag - naturally, in small quantities, so that a weak horse has iodine strength to carry them away. Sometimes a body woven from branches is attached to the middle of the poles.

The simplest type of sled proper is called by the Great Russians drovni. There is not a single metal part in them, not even a single nail (see Fig. 65). The logs are placed on two 240 cm long runners bent in front.They run parallel to each other at a distance of 55 cm.Each runner has 4-6 vertical struts (spears, a single kopyl, Ukrainian hoarding), with a height of about 30 see Fig. 65 of these kopyls 4 pairs. The spears are firmly connected in pairs by branches of elm, bird cherry, birch, hazel, etc. (the so-called ligature). Straight tetrahedral beams are planted on the upper ends of the kopyls. In fig. 65 shows one such bar. The upper ends of the curved runners (the so-called head) are also firmly connected by a wooden frame extending from the front pair of kopyls (sevrus chapovitsa, chill; Ukrainian banner).

Shafts are attached to the first or second pair of copils on both sides. They are fastened with a ring of hemp ropes (Russian wrapping, Ukrainian wrapping): it is folded in half, twisted several times in the middle and covered with it the hoop; the loops at the ends are also folded together, and the ends of the shafts are passed through them, on which a special notch is made. Passing the shafts through the loop, they hold it with the front end back, when the loop is in place, the front end of the shafts is raised and thrown forward; this tightens the ring around the hoop.

Sleds of this design are mainly used for the carriage of goods. To ride on them they put different kind body. The simplest type of such a body is shown in Fig. 66. It is made of several bent wooden poles, forming a frame and covered with linden bark. Under the body, a triangle made of four-sided bars is reinforced (sevrus chair, mallards, bends, diverts; ukr. Bilo, krilo), the purpose of which is to prevent the sleigh from overturning. A sleigh equipped with such a device, in most cases, has a special name: sevrus. rosters, dissolutions, pozhevni, and with an improved body - kosheva, lash, stove bench, half-sleighs, wagon. In fig. 67 depicts an old sleigh from Glukhov, Chernigov province, which has a very complex body, similar to a carriage; they resemble the old Russian rattletrap, or kaptana, which also had doors, and often mica windows.

There is a device on which the sled runners are bent; this device is used by the northern Russians of the Yenisei province. It is called balo (Ukr. Bgalnya) and resembles a device on which arcs are bent (Fig. 64), but the balo also has a manual collar for twisting a rope tied to the free end of the runner. Before bending the runners, cooked oak, birch or other branches are steamed either in special rooms, or in ovens, in baths, and sometimes put in fresh horse manure. In the latter case, the runners are laid in rows at a distance of 15 cm from each other. The first row is laid in length, the next across it, etc., up to 10 rows of 25-30 runners in each. In the intervals between each two rows, a layer of fresh horse manure with a thickness of about 20 cm is laid and poured with water (a bucket of water for each runner). Planks are laid on top, and on them is a layer of earth 10 cm thick. The runners lie there for about a month, after which they are bent while still hot.

The bent runners are dried. In order for them not to unbend, the ends are tied with a rope, connected with a board nailed to them (Ukrainian narvina), etc. In some places there are still runners made of uprooted trees, that is, bent by nature (digging, kopanets). Such runners are stronger and heavier than bent runners. However, trees of this shape are more effectively used in the construction of punt boats - they connect the bottom of the boat with the sides.

As for skis, only hunters use them - in the North and especially in Siberia. Skis are usually made from pine wood. In the middle of the skis, straps (yuks) are attached, into which the leg is inserted. The length of the skis is usually 140-165 cm, the width is 20 cm. The front and sometimes the rear ends are bent upwards. The bottom is usually lined with a skin from a reindeer or horse's legs (kamasy, ceilings, filing) or birch bark, so that the skis do not slide to the sides, do not creak, do not freeze to the snow and do not stick to it. At the rear end of the ski, the hide is piled in the opposite direction to slow down on steep slopes. Skis without Kamas are called kalgi. A skier's stick, equipped with a hook that cleans snow from skis, is called a bunk, a cook.

§ 59. In 1869 the ethnographer K. Shabunin wrote that in the Pinezhsky district of the Arkhangelsk province. there are no wheeled carts: in the summer they carried firewood, hay, grain, etc. on a sleigh (OR RGO, I, 11). In the coastal areas of the Vyatka province. wheels were introduced into use by the zemstvo administration only after 1869 (Kuroptev. Slobodsky district, pp. 158 and 161). There are many such reports about the Russian North. It is quite obvious that wheeled transport came into use recently, at least much later than sleds.

In Siberia, to this day, there are many places where North Russians use wheels that are not bent from a single piece of wood, but made up of four jambs (roots), that is, from twisted pieces of birch. Such wheels are much stronger than bent wheels, but they are much more difficult to manufacture. Now the wheels, actually the rims (Ukr. Abid), are usually bent with the help of a special device, which differs from the device on which the arcs and runners are bent, only in that the balo (southern circle, frets; Ukrainian baba, stump) has full circle shape.

The prototype of wheeled carts can be considered rolls, that is, those logs that were placed under heavy objects during their transportation. The North Russians have a special device (the so-called rollers) for transporting logs: two small wheels without spokes, mounted on a thick axle, to the ends of which shafts are attached. This device is often replaced by the two front wheels of a conventional cart. In some places, the Russians call the entire cart as rollers, while the Belarusians call only the wheels.

Only the main parts of the carriage are called the same by all Eastern Slavs. These are common names - colo, wheel, axle, Ukrainian. hang; rim, Ukrainian obid. The smaller parts of the carriage are called differently by individual East Slavic peoples; the origin of a significant portion of these names is quite clear. Of the parts of the wheel, one should name the hub (Russian hub, mortar; Ukrainian deck, well), spokes (Russian finger, spoke; Ukrainian spoke), tires (name recently borrowed from German), hub (Russian. sleeve, sleeve; Ukrainian mother, middle).

The parts of the carriage are as follows: a carriage - a bar that connects the front and rear axles of the carriage (Russian carriage, ditch, dissolution, bed; middle bar - a fox, podlisok, podlizok; Ukr. pidgeister, Belarusian trainea).

On the axis there is a pillow (Ukrainian nozzle, Belarusian uzgalaven); check (ukr. zagvizdok).

A wooden or iron vertical rod passing through the front axle and through a pillow fixed on it - a kingpin (Russian kingpin, bolt, core, trigger, butt or pin - the last from the German Steuer; Ukrainian swiren, swiren).

Exists different types wheeled carts. They differ from each other mainly in the body structure and in their purpose. Oldest type- two-wheeled carriage; it is still known to all Russians under the name oder, odrets (odrovaya cart, ondrets), and at the southern Russian Tula lips. is called vorodun. Sometimes two shafts of such a cart form one whole with the beams on which the body is installed. Bida (Ukrainian) also has two wheels, but this is clearly the result of cultural influences.

The Ukrainians distinguish between carts in which oxen are harnessed (ox viz, among the Chumaks - mazha), and those in which horses are harnessed (horse viz). The latter are lighter, and instead of an ox drawbar they often have two shafts. New borrowings from the West became widespread among the Ukrainians: German vans, known in Novorossia as milkmen (from the Molochnaya River in the Berdyansk district, where they are made by German colonists - Mennonites); trucks (ukr. khura) and so-called furmans (ukr. firmanka). The so-called bendyugs are common among both Ukrainians and Belarusians. Ukrainian letter or letter viz is designed specifically for the transportation of sheaves, just like the Great Russian sheaf or bread cart. Among the Russian population of the eastern regions, a wicker carriage designed for driving is very common. It is called tarantas, karanas; thanks to its long flexible drags that replace the springs, it is also known as the long-haired, long-haired.

As for the body, its oldest type can be seen in Fig. 68, which depicts a cart from the Slutsk district of Minsk province, known as narad (this name is associated with the German Rad - "wheel"). At the four corners of this cart there are four vertical pegs (Belarusian handle, Ukrainian ruchitsa) hammered into the axial cushions. Above these pegs are arches made of branches, the ends of which are attached to the side beams of the cart. This is the basis of the body. Planks of the appropriate length are passed through the bows on the sides of the carriage, and the bottom is covered with lime bark or also boards - and the body is ready. When they carry manure, they usually just take out the side boards into the field and dump the manure on the side, sometimes they turn the cart on its side.

It happens that the same four columns at the four corners of the carriage serve as the basis for a body arranged differently. The walls of this body are very similar to a staircase, so Ukrainians and Belarusians call it drabina, drabki, half-slave. In fig. 69 - a photograph of a Belarusian drabina from the Slutsk district of Minsk province. In this photo, among other things, the lushnya (archer, lushnya) is clearly visible - an arcuate support, the lower end of which is attached to the end of the rear axle, and the front end to the upper beam of the body. It secures both the wheel and the body at the same time.

For Russians, the same body is often made of wooden arches, the tops of which are fixed on the road. Two poles (overlap) are placed at the ends of these arcs, and the arcs themselves are covered with thin boards or linden bark, and sometimes braided with branches. Carts with such bodies are known among the Russians under the name dissolution, erandak, lash. Sometimes a round or oblong body (Russian box, boxes), woven from branches, is placed directly on the road. The Belarusians make it rectangular and from linden bast (Belarusian kosh, half-cat).

With a heavy cart, into which oxen are harnessed (the so-called mazha), the idea of ​​a kind of Ukrainian industry of chumaks (salt carriers), which has now disappeared, is associated. Chumaks - carters who went to the Sea of ​​Azov for salt and to the Don for fish; at the same time they traded in fish and salt. Quite often the Chumak owned a dozen or more very strong carts, which were harnessed by a pair of strong gray oxen. The Chumaks never traveled alone, but gathered as a whole group (roll) and chose the chief from their midst (otaman). On the way, they grazed the oxen and cooked their own lunches and dinners from the products taken with them from the house. The otaman was always carried on a cart as a living clock of a rooster, in Ukraine there were whole villages in which only Chumaks lived. In 1892, with the construction of the railroad, this industry was sharply reduced and soon disappeared altogether.

§ 60. Some peoples neighboring with the Russians use oil to lubricate the axles. The Chuvash, before setting off on a wagon, picks up oil in his mouth, chews it, puts it on his palm and lubricates the axles with it. The Eastern Slavs, however, use exclusively tar when lubricating the axles, which is also used in tanning leather (§84).

The best, so-called commercial tar, is burned out of birch bark. Such tar is not used as a lubricant, but only to soften leather. In the same way, tar from pine, and especially from pine roots, is now used to lubricate the axles. Wheel tar is burned from a mixture of both types of wood.

An improved method of tar smoking, namely in iron boilers, was introduced in Russia only in 1730. Before that, the so-called burning in pits was widespread - a method that is still found today. Ukrainians call tar "maidan" - a word borrowed from the Turkish language. In some dry place, dig a conical hole in the ground, with the base of the cone up. The walls of the pit are tamped, and a large vessel made of iron or clay is placed on the bottom and covered with an iron grate or something similar on top. Often, instead of a vessel, a lift is made, i.e. a small pit lined with clay or brick, into which tar should drain. From this lower (second) pit or from a vessel at the bottom of the pit, a pipe is drawn for the drainage of tar.

The large upper pit is filled with birch bark and resinous wood, especially pine roots (the so-called resin). Moss is placed on top, and earth and grass are placed on it. The fuel put in the pit is ignited through the holes left on the side of the pit or on top. When the fuel ignites, they are covered with earth. Tar flows into the lower pit. Later, hot stones are thrown into the pit to remove moisture.

Tar smoking is even more common in large earthen vessels, the so-called pots. Several such huge pots are placed at the bottom of the oblong pit. They are closed with special lids, also made of clay, with funnel-shaped holes in the center. On the lid is placed upside down exactly the same large box, stuffed with birch bark and pine firewood. All this is covered with earth, so that only 0.6 of the upper pod is visible. Firewood is being burned over it. In the hot pots, birch bark and pine smolder and emit resin, which flows down into the lower pits.

§ 61. The most ancient means of transportation on water, preserved by the Eastern Slavs to this day, should be considered a raft, a ferry and the so-called lump. They are united by the fact that they are all a combination of two or more floating objects.

Now the rafts serve only for rafting timber, but before they were undoubtedly also a means of transportation on water. The rafts are made in the following way: having lowered the logs into the water, they are tied to each other with branches, mainly birch. A ring (clamp) is made of the branches of such a size that it freely covers two adjacent logs: it is put on the ends of these logs (see Fig. 70). Then, across these logs, a long birch or pine pole is placed (Belarusian iron, sevrus romshina); the clamp is folded over this rail. A wedge is driven into the resulting loop of the clamp under the pole (see Fig. 70, right), thus tightly tying a pair of logs. The next pair of logs is tied to the same pole in the same way. Another such pole is placed on opposite ends of the logs and tied in the same way. 25-50 logs connected to each other form a link (the so-called cheleon) of a single-row raft (Belarusian tarok) and from such links then large rafts are made (sevrus. Porom, Belarusian grabenka).

At the ends of a large raft there are paddles (paddles) that act as a rudder. They are shown in fig. 71. To make such a rule, two long logs are placed across the raft and tied with branches. A cross-bar (dog) is tied to the ends of these logs and oars are inserted into the recesses made on it. A hut for raftsmen is also installed on the raft. Ground is poured around the hut, on which a fire is made for cooking.

To moor the raft, use a special stake (funny, fig. 72). It is stuck into the shore, but often the raft drags along with it both the joke and the worker who operated it. At the same time, the joke plows the ground like a plow.

The rafts for the delivery of wood timber are called a stronghold, a stump, and those made up of several links are called a felt. Such rafts are enclosed on all sides by a kind of cage made of long poles. The place where the rafts are tied is called the raft yard by the Russians and the room by the Belarusians.

Komyaga (Fig. 73) is a small raft made of two hollowed-out tree trunks. Each of these trunks is a rough-cut trough, the kind used to feed livestock. Among Belarusians, such a trough is also called a kamyaga. Obviously, this meaning of the word is original (EѴѴ, I, 553). Among Russians, the komyaga is known under various other names: decks, i.e., in fact, a roughly processed trough for feeding livestock (under this name is known the exhibit from Yaroslavl shown in Fig. 73, which

located in the Russian Museum in Leningrad), troughs, bats, beads (cf. Old Scandal. Bussa). The Belarusian komyagu, the North Russian Olonets scoldings and the Vologda chupas are made differently: a log is nailed to a trough made of aspen logs on each side.

A rower in a lump with one foot stands in one trough, and with the other - in the second and moves forward, pushing off the bottom, that is, resting his pole against the bottom of a lake or pond. In a lump, consisting of one trough, they kneel. The same structure, consisting of two large boats with a canopy, is now known by its old name for the time being. It is mainly intended for the passage of carts across big rivers, where there are no bridges.

Boats are very diverse, but the name suggests that their types are even more diverse. Most often there are boats made of a solid trunk, mainly of aspen (see Fig. 74, which depicts a Belarusian boat from the Igumen district of Minsk province). Ukrainians and North Russians steam aspen boats over the fire: the boat is installed on poles at a height of one meter, they light a fire under it and pour water over it continuously. Curved spacers (sevrus elastic, Ukrainian tsurki) are inserted into the trough steamed in this way, the length of which is gradually increased. Boards (heels, stripes) are stuffed along the sides, increasing the depth of the boat. Such a boat is called an oak (old-fashioned seagull, sevrus. Heel, and without side boards, shavings). The same boats, but simply hollowed out, which do not steam out and do not expand over the fire, have different names (sevrus. Baht, Belarusian, dўblenka, ukr. Douchebka). Boats made from one trunk and having a keel are called a skiff. The general name for small vessels is canoe (Ukrainian choven), boat.

Larger ships most often bear names borrowed from foreign languages ​​(Ukrainian galyara; Belarusian gilyara, berlin, laiba; Russian carbaz, boat, barge, longboat, etc.). It is a widespread custom to name ships by the rivers on which they sail or on which they were built. Such are the goslings, white lakes, unzhenkas, mokshans, kolomenki, marmots, tikhvinki and many others.

§ 62. Before the appearance of steamships on the Volga and on many other rivers, ships going against the current were set in motion by people; this was the job of the barge haulers. A short thick rope (chipmunk) was tied to the mast of the ship, at the free end of which there was a block. A rope was passed through the block - a long rope, for which the ship was dragged upstream by the barge haulers walking along the bank. At the end of the cord, at a distance of 6 m from each other, there are loops (eyelet). A strong rope (thin, tail) with a length of 2 to 4 m is threaded through the eyelet. A wooden ball (cheburah, shank, chapura) tied to the end of the rope holds each rope in a loop, and an iron ring is attached to the other end of the tail. A wide belt strap is attached to this ring, which is thrown over the shoulder of the barge haule. Ahead is the most powerful and experienced barge haule (lump), followed by the rest, and the last is again an experienced barge haule, the so-called delivery, who is obliged, among other things, to remove (scrape) the rope from the stones and bushes to which it clings. The shore along which the barge haulers go is usually called a rope, a coastline, and also a sakma. Sometimes the ship is pulled by two ropes (two twines) or an auxiliary one is tied to the main rope (podzada).

The described method, in which the ship was dragged by people, was later replaced by horse-drawn, while the workers drove the horses pulling the line along the shore, or twisted the gate to pull the rope out of the water with an anchor, with which the ship went (horse-driven vessels that replaced the capstans, later displaced by steamers). With the advent of steamships, the barge haulers turned into sailors, who to this day partially preserve the old traditions of the Volga barge haulers. The raftsmen, who to this day are sometimes called barge haulers, have nothing to do with steamers.

Burlachism is a craft that was mainly carried out by the Russians. It was much less common among Belarusians. Back in 1905, I. Abramov observed the Belarusians who were dragging barges loaded with stones up the Dnieper to the city of Smolensk. Burlatsky artels united people from the northern and southern Russian provinces, and such direct contacts contributed to the cultural rapprochement of these two groups of Eastern Slavs (§ 2).

In the old days, the people considered the barge haulers to be free, unconnected people, "free Cossacks", experienced people, familiar with the life of foreign lands and with urban culture. This idea, however, has long since changed: the word "barge haulers" now means a rude, uncouth person or a homeless vagabond, and the villagers began to look down on these people.

§ 63. It remains to tell more about the transportation of goods. Most often, the load is carried on the shoulders. At the same time, a rocker (Ukrainian yoke) is used, which has a mostly curved, arched shape. However, the Belarusians also have a straight beam (Fig. 75). Russian women wear wet linen on the rocker arms on the river, and they do not hang it in baskets at the ends of the rocker arm, but put it equally on both ends. It is considered particularly dexterous to carry a weight-bearing rocker on one shoulder.

For carrying loads on the way, the North Russians have many devices on the straps, like a knapsack; these are crumbs, body (sevrus., Fig. 59), suma, pestle. The same Northern Russian straps are sometimes attached directly to various vessels made of birch and linden bark; this is called to wrap a vessel, to make a wrap on it. Baskets with small children are least often carried over the shoulders. South Russian and other Eastern Slavs usually carry bags not on their backs,
and over the shoulder.

On navigable rivers, especially on the Volga, in Nizhny Novgorod and Rybinsk, there is a special trade, the so-called kryuchniki, i.e. workers who carry bags of grain and other goods. They have a hook attached to a short rope, with which they hold a sack of grain on top of their shoulders. On their backs they sometimes have a special pillow that relieves the pressure of the load. A strong loader (humpback) carries a 150 kg sack on his back.

Of the more rare methods, we should mention carrying weights on the head. This method is adopted by Russian merchants, who often first put a soft round lining (made of leather, etc.) on their heads, and then a basket or vessel with various goods, most often with food, is placed on it. North Russians are sometimes worn behind koshla, on koshla children over a year old, that is, those who can already hold their hands on the neck of the one who carries them. The child covers the neck with his hands, and the carrier’s waist with his legs, which supports the child’s legs with his hands.

§ 64. Literature. About the harness and harness is mentioned in the works: Esimontovsky G. Agriculture in the Surazh district of the Chernigov province. Part I. SPb., 1846, p. 51-53; ZhMGI. SPb., 1844, part XI, p. 250; ibid., part XII, p. 3-5; ibid., 1845, part XV, p. 8, 17, 104; further, this is stated in the works of Nikiforovsky, Romanov and Serzhputovsky, given in § 22. Fig. 61 and 62 are taken from the article by A. Serzhputovsky, and fig. 63 - from the article by F. Volkov, named in § 6.

Sledges and wheeled carts are considered in the works: Efimenko P. Handicraft, latrine and some rural trades in the Sumy district. Kharkov, 1882 (Proceedings of the commission on the study of handicrafts in the Kharkov province, issue I, pp. 18 - 34);
Filippov N.A. Handicraft industry in Russia. Wood processing crafts. SPb., 1913, p. 257-296; Rudchenko I. Ya. Chumatskie folk songs. Kiev, 1874, XIIІ + 257 p. Rice. 65 and 66 are taken from the article by N. A. Ivanitsky mentioned in § 22, but improved here by us; rice. 67 was taken from a photograph of the Kharkiv Museum of Sloboda Ukraine; rice. 68 - from the work of A.K.Serzhputovsky named in § 22; rice. 69 was taken from a photograph belonging to the Russian Museum in Leningrad.

Tar is discussed in the book "Materials for the description of the crafts of the Vyatka province" (issue III, Vyatka, 1891, pp. 1 - 216) and in the article already mentioned by G. Esimontovsky.

About ships: Kornilov I.P. Kologriva goslings. - Ethnographic Collection of the Russian Geographical Society, vol. VI, SPb., 1864, p. 1-34. Rice. 70-72 are taken from the article by N. Ivanitsky named in § 22; rice. 74 reproduces a photograph belonging to the Russian Museum. For ancient Slavic vehicles and carts, see Niederle L. Život stzrych slovanů. Dilu. III, swazek 2. Praha, 1925, p. 437-462.

On the barge haulers see: Vernadsky Iv. Research on barge haulers. - ZhMVD. Part XXIII. SPb., 1857, April, p. 71-118 and h. XXIV. SPb., 1857, May, p. 1-42; Abramov I. Burlaki on the Dnieper. - ZhS. XV, 1906, no. 2, mixture, p. 35-36. On the attitude of the people towards the barge haulers and their influence on folklore, see: Zelenin D.K. XXVIII-XXXVI.

Horse teams and bicycles.
Yes, these are the most common modes of transport on the island. And if the first endemic is used only by tourists, then the second, democratic, is used by both tourists and locals.
Cowsleds - a fairly common form of transport on the planet in the old days, has survived, as many claim, only on La Digue. Not a single advertising brochure or guide to the island is complete without a picture of a picturesque good-natured ox harnessed to a simple covered wagon. Exotic. When I made out a tour to the Seychelles at a travel agency, I refused all transfers, but a transfer from the pier to the hotel on a ox-cart was practically imposed on me and I, driven more by curiosity than a desire to ride a cow, agreed. I waited a full hour at the pier for this carriage, but instead an ordinary taxi arrived. In short, so I, unlike most vacationers on La Digue, personally did not ride this type of transport. But I often saw how these very carts with the speed of a tortoise transport a dozen tourists, flushed from the heat and pleasure. The cabbies do not have regular routes, but you can always find them in the "parking" near the pier in La Pass and make a voyage to any point on the island, as long as you have enough money and patience.
With bicycles, everything is easier, especially if you know how to ride it tolerably. There are plenty of bike rental shops on La Digue, both at hotels and private in every village. The cost is about 50 rupees per day. Most often they offer Mountain bikes, since almost all roads on the island lead through rough terrain, and in some places these roads themselves very much resemble very rough terrain. However, despite this, as well as the heat, which makes pedaling very tedious, bicycles are very popular. Near every restaurant or shop there are special parking spaces for bicycles, and they are specially equipped.
It is only for me that it remains a mystery why La Digue people have not yet taken advantage of such fruits of civilization as a bicycle bell, a rear-view mirror, and, especially, a lantern. At night it is difficult to walk along the unlit roads of the island on foot, and even on a bicycle, even more so ... However, you need to sleep at night ... In short, I am selling an idea - who wants to get rich - come to La Digue to do bike tuning ...
There are, of course, ordinary cars on the island. One police officer (but several police bicycles), one ambulance, several trucks, four or five taxis - one ordinary car, the rest are jeeps-semi-trucks, which have seats in the back along the sides. There are also "fixed-route taxis" - Chinese baby trucks "Isuzu", which also have open-body seats along the side, usually packed with local residents. But I still didn't figure out how to use these "minibuses", because most often I used an even more popular island mode of transport than bicycles - with my own feet ...
In conclusion, I will tell you about the La Diga road network. The main road of the island runs along the western coast, it begins near the Gulf of Cours d'Argens in the village of Union, then passes through the village of La Reunion (about a kilometer of the way), then leads to the village of La Pass with a pier (another kilometer), then begins to wind towards the northernmost point of the island (and a little more than a kilometer), after which it turns sharply to the south and goes along the eastern, sparsely populated coast. In the end (after three kilometers) it ends in a dead end in Fourmi Bay.
Another "main" road leads through the center of the island to Gran Bay. It begins at the pier in La Pass, then in a semicircle bypasses the foot of the Ni de Aigle ridge, at the flycatcher reserve it divides into two "arms", one of which leads directly to La Reunion (the length of the segment is 800 meters), and the other continues its movement towards After a while, another road separates from the "main road", this time to Union (the distance to it is one kilometer), and then the "main" road, then going up the mountain, then falling down, after a kilometer and a half abuts against the Gran Bay.
The last, the most difficult road remains - to Belle Vue, to the ridge Ni d "Aigle. It starts not far from the flycatcher reserve (an offshoot from the" second main "road of the island), in a straight line along it you can cover a distance of about a kilometer, but this is if you have if you have wings, if not, you have to zip along the steep serpentine for at least an hour ...
In addition to the main roads I have listed on La Digue, there are several other paths that continue the directions of the main roads, for example, from Union to the interior of the Gulf of Source d'Argens, from the Gulf of Gran in both directions along the coast - to the Grand Anse bays in the south and Coco Bay in the north , from Belle Vue to the ridge Ni d "Aigle, but the latter is quite for trained pedestrians, if not to say - climbers ...

The main element of horse harness is horse harness. Knowing the features of the presented element, using high-quality material and fit, experienced horse breeders greatly facilitate the maintenance of animals and their operation.

The breeder should be well versed in the quality and types of horse harness.

What is a horse harness made of?

A standard horse harness consists of the following parts:

• Clamp. Its purpose is to transfer traction capabilities to a cart or sled. The element should be worn around the neck in such a way that it does not burden the horse's movement and breathing. A clamp that is too long or wide can damage the animal's body and reduce traction. For reliable fixation of the element, a sturdy leather harness is used, which provides braking.
• Bridle. This part of the horse harness is the most difficult part of the harness. It consists of bits, reins and a halter. The best option is the use of a marching bridle, which makes it possible to carry the animal with parallel reins. The reins can be made of leather or durable textile material.
• Girth and saddle. The presented parts of the harness are designed to hold the entire set and transfer the traction effect to the horse's back.
• Shlea. It fixes the position of the yoke when the horse settles, slows down or moves the horse uphill. The harness element is fitted tightly so that the palm passes between the seat and the rim buckles. The harness is made from several belts.
• The saddle supports the weight of the bow, shafts and yoke and transfers some of the thrust to the saddle.
• Abdomen. This harness element additionally fixes the position of the entire structure, passes under the girth and is attached with the edges on the shafts.

The arc by means of tugs fixes the clamp with shafts and serves as a vibration damper in case of sudden jolts or jerks.

Horses in yokes

Types of harness

The harness must be made of high quality materials and be tailored to the individual structure of the horse. The types of harness are subdivided into agricultural, field and transport options. They have varieties according to the number of horses used: single, double and multi-horse options:

• One-horse Russian or European harness. This design can be performed with or without arcs. The arcless modification involves the transfer of the main weight of the carriage by means of a harness. The version with arches is completed with a collar, a saddle, a saddle, a tug, a shaft and a bridle with a harness.
• Line-by-line-breath sample. In such a team, you can use either a pair of horses or one individual. The efficiency of animals increases markedly if you put on them a saddle and a sweet saddle.
• Line-by-line model. Quite simple, but not very easy to use harness. Traction in this design is provided by the straps and the clamp. Option requires vehicle equipment braking system, in order to avoid injury to the horse.
• Tachanka variation. The types of this system of harnessing horses have been known since the time when people began to massively use animals in various sectors of the economy. The device consists of a post-edge part and a drawbar, but today it is practically not used.
• Combined team. Classic European construction with trims and shafts. The types of harness presented allow you to harness at the same time from 6 to 8 horses. The selection of animals in terms of height and strength plays a decisive role for the correct operation of the part. In the forefront of the carts, they put hardy individuals, behind, they pick up the pulling horses, which determine the turns of the cart, and tall strong horses, responsible for braking, close the harness.

Horse in European harness

Historical facts

The first types of harness for horses have been known since ancient times (according to historical finds, parts of the harness found by archaeologists date back to two millennia BC). Horse breeders attached great importance not only to the practicality and quality of the harness, but also to its beautiful design. The richer and more important the owner of the animals was, the more beautiful and brighter the equipment looked.

What the harness consists of plays important role in the efficiency of use and the effect of harness elements on the condition of the horse. In the Middle Ages, equipping with precious stones and harness materials has lost its relevance, since horses were used mostly as freight and work transport.

Since the middle of the 16th century, high-quality and beautiful harnesses have again come into fashion. This was due to the appearance of carriages and horse-drawn carriages, which required appropriate design.

Although horses have now been replaced by mechanisms and vehicles in many areas, their use has not completely lost its relevance. Horses help people in private households and entertainment. Animals are widely used in sports and various competitions. There are even competitions for skillful handling of the harness. Correctly worn harness allows not only to increase the efficiency, but also to preserve the strength and health of our artiodactyl assistants.

CHARGING, special device, which serves to transfer power from a draft animal to a wagon or car; the harness should facilitate the correct movement of the cart or car and be comfortable for the draft animal; the harness is composed of elastic parts (belts) and springy (curved shafts, arc, etc.). For the direct transmission of the force of the harness animal through the shoulder connection, a collar or harness is usually used; then the force is transmitted through shafts or strings, rollers and drawbars.

Clamps are usually made sliding, for ease of putting on a horse: they are put on over the head, less often - on the side of the horse (Forbrich system, Fig. 1). Both halves of the clamp, the so-called pliers, are pulled together at the bottom with a rope or strap (supon). Clamp pliers are made of wood, lined with felt or wool, and trimmed with soft leather; weight of a workhorse clamp - 6-9 kg.

From the clamp to the rollers there are belt, rope or flail strings. The best are considered flail; hanging and swaying during operation, such strings play the role of springs. Length of strings d. B. certain, since the depth of the gun's stroke depends on it, which increases with long lines and decreases with short ones. The strings are attached to the clamp 5-10 cm above the tugs going to the drawbar roll. To relieve pressure on the yoke, the strings are often pulled up with a rope or strap (weekly), thrown over the horse's back and resting on the saddle.

Consists of a chest strap f (Fig. 2), up to 14 cm wide, with a slightly wider felt lining; strap f is supported in front by neck strap a; in the harness of workhorses, another strap b goes from saddle c to support the harness; the third belt d, coming from the saddle, ends at the bottom with a girth e. When drawbar harness chains are often attached to the neck strap.

A bridle (Fig. 3) serves to attach the reins, which in working horses consists of belts: occipital a, frontal b, subpharyngeal c, buccal d, nasal, or ratchet, e and mandibular f; to belts d and f are attached using bit rings; the reins are attached to the same rings g. In halters, the mandibular strap is connected to the subpharyngeal strap using a special chin strap.

Rolls and vagi. a) With one-horse harness a simple wooden roll with a length of 0.7-0.9 m is usually used. At the ends of the roll (Fig. 4), notches are made for attaching the strings. The middle part is usually shackled, and in this shackle an eye is made for threading the harness hook. The length of the roller does not affect the correctness of the movement of plows and other implements and is chosen depending on the width of the horse, so that the traces coming from the roller do not rub the sides of the horse. While our iron rolls did not spread due to great severity and high cost, in America they are very common. More advanced rolls are equipped with devices that keep the lines from jumping off and support the rolls when the horse rides on weight (Dowden's system), but due to the complexity they are not used here.

b) With parokonny harness the rolls are attached to the common rail (Fig. 5). The length of the wagon does not play a role when harnessing agricultural machines, but it has a significant effect on the correctness of the movement of furrow implements (for example, a plow, a furrow trench). When harnessing, they usually pay little attention to this, but the working length of the carriage, that is, the relative position of the rollers, etc. strictly matched to the width of the furrow; otherwise, if the wag is longer than the specified size, then the horse walking along the furrow will move the wag to the left, in the direction of the unplowed field, which will cause an increase in the width of the furrow and an incorrect plow movement.

v) With a three-horse harness vaga d. b. even more massive than with a parokonny; location of the harness hook attachment point e. b. such that the distances from the ends of the vagi relate to each other as 1: 2. A parokon wagon with two rolls is attached to the shorter end (Fig. 6), and one roll is attached to the longer end.

FIG. 7 shows a three-horse carriage of the Ransom system: the harness hook c moves along the comb of the carriage b, depending on the traction force of the horses; the width of the parokon carriage (in the places marked with the letter a) can be changed depending on the width of the furrow.

Due to the inequality in horse power, especially with multiple harness, it is difficult to establish the correct length of rolls and wagons; in addition, horses do not work with the same tension; as a result of this, the car is skewed during operation, which causes an incorrect movement of the tool.

Therefore, the so-called constructions arose. leveling harnesses, in which, in the event that one of the horses begins to pull weaker, it is pulled back by the forces of other horses, which makes it strain again. From the equalizing three-horse harnesses, the three-horse composite roll of the McGoy system has become widespread (Fig. 8a and 86). By separating this wag, you can get a single roll and a separate steam wag.

G) With a four-horse harness, depending on the type of agricultural machinery, horses are harnessed either in one row or in pairs in a train. The harness of the first kind (Fig. 9) is used for heavy disc cultivators and for complex harvesting machines.

To the main AA wagon are attached two paired BB wagons, and to the latter one-piece SS rollers. The train harness is used when working with plows and reaping machines, since in one row, according to the working conditions, it is impossible to arrange horses. The most common harness is in which the front and rear pairs of horses are tied with a chain or rope to the adjuster hook. The disadvantage of such a harness is that one pair of horses can work at the expense of the other, if they are not friendly enough to work. To avoid this, various systems of equalizing harnesses are recommended, one of which consists in connecting a block (Fig. 10).

The equalizing chain AB covers the block C with a diameter of 15 cm, coupled to the regulator. With this method of harnessing, each pair is dependent on one another: if the front pair B slows down, then at the same time the chain A of the rear pair of horses moves forward, causing the chain B to stretch, and the front pair must involuntarily pull; as a consequence, the force of two pairs of horses acts on the implement or machine in the same way.

e) With six and eight horse harness each horse loses 6% of its strength from each horse harnessed to it, and therefore these harnesses, in which the loss is 30-40%, are unprofitable and are used very rarely. In the case of a six-horse harness, it is possible to recommend the use of McGoy's calm wag, and the ratio of the lengths of the shoulders of the calm wag d. B. equal to 2: 1; the front pair is connected to the long shoulder using a chain, and two rear pairs of horses are connected to the rear, using the equalizing block described above.

Moderators... Since draft animals, especially horses, work with separate impulses, and the resistance of the soil during plowing and plants during harvesting are not the same, horses during work experience a number of shocks that reduce their performance. Therefore, it is common abroad to include special spring moderators in the harnesses, who, during the push, take over effective force, which is given at the next moment, as a result of which sharp jolts of resistance forces are not completely transmitted to the draft animal. Harnesses with the inclusion of springs in the lining or in the roll are used in Sweden (Seden system) and in the USA (Wilson system). The Rudolf Sacca plant produces special fuses for heavy plows and seeders, equipped with a buffer spring for a force from 600 to 1200 kg (Fig. 11).

Shaft harness is used extremely rarely in agricultural machines, since it constrains the control of a machine and an implement and causes unpleasant and harmful shocks for draft animals, due to a more rigid connection of the machine to the animals. Directly the shank harness is used only when working with a plow and roe deer; in other cases (horse rakes, seeders, mowers), a roller is also included in the harness, so that the force is transmitted to the machine directly through it, and the shafts served only for turns (Fig. 12).

The drawbar is used when the machine is working in arrivals and for transporting the machine in the field. A wagon with rollers, which are usually located at the bottom, is attached to the drawbar to relieve the pressure transmitted through the clamps to the withers of the horses. A chest roll is attached to the front end of the drawbar, which is attached to the clamps. In heavy machines and implements, it is necessary to use a two-wheeled front end or a one-wheeled drawbar holder (Fig. 13), which would perceive the shocks transmitted from them; The drawbar in this case consists of two parts: the rear, shorter one, which is rigidly attached to the machine and the front end, and the front, which is hinged in the vertical direction.

Horse harness... When working on horse-drawn drives, especially when connected to a thresher, constant jolts are obtained, causing the horses to run unevenly. Therefore, it is useful to connect various spring devices, for example, the Hepfner system (Fig. 14).

It is connected to the carrier using bb clamps an oak or birch bar from 10 to 12 cm thick. In the middle, this bar is separated from the carrier by an insert with; a hook d is pivotally attached to the end of the bar and passed through the carrier. During operation, the bar is springy and the impacts are softened, which has a beneficial effect on draft animals and keeps the gear train from breaking. For multiple drives, an equalizing harness must be used. Angles are attached to the carriers, to one end of which the harness rolls are attached, and to the other - the rods going to the articulated quadrangle located above the middle of the drive. If one of the horses pulls harder than the others, then the quadrilateral is pulled into a rhombus (shown by a dotted line in Fig. 15) towards the harder pulling horse; then the lagging horses are pulled back and involuntarily begin to pull more amicably.

Harness of oxen. The most common ox harness is the yoke harness, while the use of the yoke, which is common in America, is less common in Europe. As a result of harnessing the oxen in pairs, a pair is usually made of the yoke, the so-called Hungarian yoke (Fig. 16).

The upper bar is made curved in the shape of the withers; the lower crossbar - the undergrowth - must also be bent; arched racks are made with several rearrangement holes in order to fit the yoke to the size of the animal; The drawbar is connected to the upper crossbar of the yoke by means of an iron rod. For a single harness of oxen, the head yoke is often used (Fig. 17); pressing on the forehead, this yoke harms the animal and reduces its performance.

When harnessing in several pairs of oxen, in order to evenly distribute the resistance of the machine, special harness systems are used. The simplest harness of the Grossul-Tolstoy system, consisting of several equalizing iron links (shtilvag), connected by chains. FIG. 18 shows a four-pair harness, consisting of three shtilvags - a, b and c and four chains - d, e, o and p.

Often produced in a yoke, which is a wooden transverse bar, naturally arcuate at both ends, with which it is placed on the front of the hump; a soft lining is placed at the end of the bar, the ends are covered with soft clamps; the tool's drawbar is attached to the middle of the bar.

Harnessing the camels to the mower is shown in Fig. 19, from which it can be seen that straps are put on the humps, and from them there are straps to the rollers.