How Come? Who is to blame here??

[Brodie]

So often you read in the Stewards report and elsewhere, that harness horses get fired up due to their legs hitting the wheels lr discs to the sulky!

Does anyone know why this happens?

Surely the horse doesnt have a change of stride length from race to race?

Has the sulky been put on wrong or has the hopple length been altered?

Very hard to understand what has happened and you would think the regular driver would be able to see somethi  was wrong i. The warmup even if the horse was not  at full stride??

 

[Harrison]

It is a result of the horse being too far up in the sulky, but they tend to be a lot worse if they come out fired up already and you’re trying to restrain them when they get tense they seem to swing more and hit the discs. Often they look like they’re very far away and won’t touch but when they get running around the bends at full speed some pacers especially tend to swing a leg out and that is generally when they will hit, unless they’re up way too close. With some really big horses you actually have to get especially long carts made & use extensions. You wouldn’t really notice in the warm up unless they’re far too close. 

sure big stables should often use same cart/ know where horse goes over time. But I guess many trainers probably borrow carts/ or use different carts week to week if there are multiple runners in & this is generally where you strike trouble and some carts are also wider than others & so that’s when they need to be out longer. Also sometimes horses that are big don’t swing at all and can go up short and be good as gold it really just depends On their action & the cart so that’s probably why you often see it happen. 

[Rangatira]

33 minutes ago, Harrison said:

With some really big horses you actually have to get especially long carts made & use extensions.

 

[Gammalite]

1 hour ago, Harrison said:

they get running around the bends at full speed some pacers especially tend to swing a leg out and that is generally when they will hit, unless they’re up way too close

Lots of those Big horses or Long striding 'good' horses hit the foot-rests when streching out in full flight.

Quite Famous here Top Right,  had to have the actual Sulky shafts lifted to get the foot-rests out of the way. Note the different shape compared to the other sulky's in this montage of Vinnys , Vic's or Village Kid's. 

[Brodie]

Thanks Harrison and Gammalite.

So I personally believe that the trainers should not be using carts that the horse is not used to!

Think it is less than average when the Owner and Punter are relying on the trainer to be professional and put a sulky on the horse that ensures that it doesnt hit anything.

They must surely be well aware of the needs of the horse due to its action and not swap carts and hope that it will be ok!

Surely this is a gear issue that warrants a fine just like other gear issues?

What I do know is that it happens far to often!

[Davis]

On 7/6/2022 at 11:12 PM, Brodie said:

Thanks Harrison and Gammalite.

So I personally believe that the trainers should not be using carts that the horse is not used to!

Think it is less than average when the Owner and Punter are relying on the trainer to be professional and put a sulky on the horse that ensures that it doesnt hit anything.

They must surely be well aware of the needs of the horse due to its action and not swap carts and hope that it will be ok!

Surely this is a gear issue that warrants a fine just like other gear issues?

What I do know is that it happens far to often!

Agree mate. I cannot understand how trainers get away with this excuse, hit the cart. WTF? The horse and the gear should be perfect on race night. Trainers should not be using any old cart on a horse. Not good enough. I think they only time this excuse should be acceptable if there was a late change of cart required due to damage/flat tyre etc before start. Or possibly on a wet track? 

I wonder what would happen in the U.S. or Europe if a horse was hitting the cart? I guarantee action would be more severe than here.

Horses should be ready to go on race day, if they are not, don't race them.