Shafts carry the animal’s pull into the cart. For a single horse or mule, two shafts bracket the animal, with the shaft tips at its shoulder height and the pull taken through traces and a belly band, or a breast collar; for oxen, a single centre pole runs forward to the yoke, which only works with a yoke-trained pair. With the bed low, shafts rising to shoulder height slope upward at roughly 22 degrees.
Part of Cart & Wagon Construction
Shafts and hitch points are the poles and attachment points through which a draft animal’s pull and its share of the load pass to the cart.
Two Ways To Hitch One Or Two Animals
Single-animal shafts. The animal stands between the shafts and is attached by traces and a belly band, or with a breast collar. The shaft tips should be at the animal’s shoulder height, because shafts that tip up or down put extra weight on the animal’s back or lift off it.
Ox-pole configuration. One centre pole extends forward from the cart and the yoke attaches at its end. It is simpler to build, but works only with a pair trained to a yoke (Draft Animal Training).
More than one animal. For a second animal, harness and training questions are covered in Harness & Yoke Making. In general, two animals abreast use a pole, and the pull of each is balanced through an evener, as the wagon’s double tree arrangement does in Four-Wheel Wagon. A third animal ahead of a shaft animal pulls on its own traces and leaves steering and holding back to the one in the shafts.
How Steeply Do The Shafts Slope?
The shafts leave the bed low and must reach the animal’s shoulder. With assumed figures: a shoulder height of 1.4 m, a shaft fixed to the bed at 0.6 m above the ground, and 2.0 m of shaft between the bed attachment and the animal’s shoulder:
- Rise = 1.4 - 0.6 = 0.8 m
- Slope = 0.8 / 2.0 = 0.40, which is an angle of arctan 0.40 = 21.8°
So the shafts climb at nearly 22°. A higher bed or a smaller animal shortens the climb, and a taller animal lengthens it. The steeper the shafts, the more the cart’s pull on the harness is directed back and down onto the animal’s shoulders instead of straight back. These dimensions are assumptions to show the method; measure the animal and the bed before cutting.
What You Need
- Two shaft poles of straight, slightly flexible hardwood (Frame & Bed Construction)
- Traces and a belly band, or a breast collar, or a yoke for a pole hitch (Harness & Yoke Making)
- A shaft prop — a forked stick or a stand that holds the shaft tips up when the animal is out
- The animal’s measured shoulder height
Method: Fit The Shafts To The Animal
Step 1: Measure. Stand the animal on level ground and measure the height of its shoulder where the harness will sit.
Step 2: Fix the shaft angle. Tilt each shaft so its tip is at that height, and fix the shaft to the frame at that slope. The tips should finish parallel, at about the width of the animal.
Step 3: Check the load. With the cart level, lift the shaft tips: they should feel light but not free (Tilt & Balance sets the target).
Step 4: Test hitched. Harness up with the cart empty and walk it on level ground, watching that the harness stays settled and the shafts neither lift nor press.
Common Mistakes
- Shaft tips too low or too high — they press down on, or lift off, the animal’s back.
- Rigid, thick, unsprung shafts — they transmit every bump to the animal; the shaft of ash flexes a little, which is desirable.
- No prop for the unhitched cart — the shafts drop to the ground and the cart tips forward.
- Ox pole on a pair not trained to a yoke — one animal pulls, the other fights.
Safety
Never stand where the shafts can swing or drop
Unhitching releases the support that holds the shaft tips up, and a front-heavy or rear-heavy cart can drop or lift by tens of kilograms in a moment. Chock the wheels before unhitching, support the shafts on a prop, and do not stand between the animal and a loaded cart on a slope.
What’s Next
- Learn next: Tilt & Balance — how much of the load the shafts should carry
- Combine with: Harness Design — collars and traces