Driving people, help please

Irishcobs

Irishcobs

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The brakes, they should be able to hold the carriage back when going down hill, therefore saving the horse from having to hold it back with the breeching, or should they stop the carriage completely and the horse pull the carriage down the hill? I'm talking about a 4 wheel marathon carriage not a coach or anything that uses shoes to brake.
Just wondering if I have been taught wrong.
 
You have been taught right. If the brakes blocked the wheel completely you'd end up with very little control ...
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A driving horse should never pull against the brakes. It wears them and the brakes out. We use the brakes on the waggonette and don't put the breeching on, idea being long days, if we use the brakes it gives the horses a bit of a rest going downhill. On our marathon we normally just let them brake it, esp with novice drivers, but say with babies i'll "lighten the load" a little going downhill so they're still sat in thier breeching but theres not the full weight. Heavies are particularly poorly co-ordinated when they're young!
 
My understanding is that when you apply the brakes going down hill it lessons the amount of work the horses have to do holding the weight of the carriage and stopping it rolling faster down the hill. The horses still need to hold the carriage to some extent though, the brakes on a marathon carriage won't stop it completely to the extent that the horses would need to pull to move it.
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Thank you so much. That is exactly the point I was trying to tell my dad but I was starting to confuse myself.
 
Ask your dad if he would drive the car with the handbrake on. Should clarify the point
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I was taught a trick by a driver in Hungary. A pair of Shagya Arabs to a four wheel hunting carriage.

On downward slopes he always put two wheels on the grass verge (note there was not a step up the the verge - that would have been dangerous). When I asked why he explained it naturally slowed the carriage so he needed less brake.
 
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