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So you want to drive a tandem? Have you lost your ever-loving mind? In the Duke of Beaufort's Badminton Library publication Driving (1889), Major General Teesdale quotes a celebrated horse dealer as saying: "I always look upon a man who drives a tandem as a fool; he makes two horses do the work of one and most likely breaks his silly neck."
So you STILL want to give it a try? OK, I will try to lead you through some of the steps to get into the tandem business. As a relative newcomer to tandem driving, the beginning steps are pretty fresh in my mind. Let's start with a little history.
In November of 1998, I was invited to a meeting of the American Tandem Club at Gregg and Jody Cutler's Oakrun Farm, in Moorpark, California. I was asked to bring two ponies and my High Rider cart. My "friends" assured me that I had ideal ponies for tandem driving, with a very reliable and stout pony for a wheeler and a very "forward" pony for the lead. Understand that I had absolutely none of the equipment needed to drive a tandem, other than the basic two-wheeled cart that has a rather high seat.
My mentors decided that I needed to have at least one experienced pony in my initial attempt at tandem so I borrowed a veteran wheeler from Jody Cutler. Shoulderbone Just In Thyme (Max) would do just fine. With Filly (Coffing Oaks Felicity) outfitted with a leader harness and reins borrowed from the Cutlers, away we went. Nancy Reimers bravely rode along with me, giving me instructions and occasionally straightening out the hands full of spaghetti that seemed to be growing out of the last set of terrets on the wheelers harness. Max seemed fine in his wheel slot, but Filly was as confused as I was. "What do you mean I don't have to pull anything? I can just stay out here and look pretty?" she seemed to be saying. After Nancy got my reins straightened out driving two handed, she insisted I give the Achenbach system a try. At first I thought she was nuts, but it actually seemed easier, once I got the hang of it.
By now, I am totally worn out and my hands have turned into limp noodles. After a long break for lunch, "they" decided it was time to put Sammy (Coffing Oaks Silver Shell) in the wheel and see how my two mares would work together. Hey! Filly didn't try to kick Sammy and Sammy only bit Filly once, when she tried to balk at something (invisible to me). With Nancy's able assistance, we made several laps around the Cutler's dressage court, and even tried a few gates of a cones course. Hey, maybe I CAN do this!
Obviously, I couldn't take all the Cutler's tack home with me, so we started trying to figure out what we could do to adapt what I already had into a tandem harness. The wheeler harness was not much of an issue. I was using a Smucker's Pleasure harness, with some deluxe parts for showing a single, so I had a good start. We added a couple of Dee rings at the trace/breast plate connection, and two big bull snaps for the ends of the leader traces. We made temporary trace carriers out of baling twine, and trace extenders out of the same stuff. Orange baling twine. Yikes, not TOO noticeable! I had a couple of old sets of pony harness with me, and we adapted a bunch of pieces into a useable, but not very pretty, working harness.
One thing to remember while we are going through the process of assembling a tandem harness, my budget is very tight. Yes, I could go out and buy a full set from a harness maker, but then I would not be able to go to events where I could use it. So everything falls together based on how well I can utilize pieces from here and there.
Well, I've got the bug. I am definitely hooked on tandem. When I got home, one of the first things I did was to build a good rein board with provision for four reins so I could practice handling the reins. Somebody recommended the Paul Doliveux book Driving a Tandem. I found it listed at the ADS book store and sent away for it. In the meantime, I had reported my weekend adventures on the Carriage Driving-list (CD-l-an Internet e-mail list) and received some good advice from several folks including Sterling Grayburn. I also got advice on assembling the harness and even got a set of Roger Rings from Bruce Campbell in Florida. Bruce implied that I was crazier than he was, so I might as well have the rings. (I'm still using them, Bruce!)
I found an old roadster harness in the back of the back closet, and after a liberal application of Harness Honey, I made the traces into trace extenders, lengthening an old breast collar with sewn in traces into a suitable length.
There is one big issue about driving a tandem. It requires more than one person to do it successfully and safely. I realize there are some folks who try to do it alone, but I am not one who will, nor will I recommend it to anyone who asks. I say that with full realization that both of my ponies are VERY reliable as singles, and seldom miss a step while in tandem. There are just too many things that can happen, none of which are good. This explains why the next opportunity I had to actually hitch and try to drive the girls in tandem was at the Arizona CDE in March of 1999. I had Filly and Sammy both there to compete as singles, but knowing that several tandem drivers were going to be in Coolidge that weekend, I brought along the harness pieces that I had assembled. Carolyn Harris, Rob McCartney, and Irene Gillis all helped on Sunday afternoon, after the event was finished. Carolyn, Rob and I all drove them in tandem and it was a pretty good success.
The following weekend in Scottsdale, at a Welsh Pony and Cob Show that Irene and I had stayed in Arizona to attend, we hooked them again. We were still using baling twine as trace extenders at this point, so we were not competing, just having fun. Little did I know that I would be driving the tandem in competition at the Arizona CDE the following year. Tune in next issue for the rest of the story.
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