What Is "Jacknifing" With a Horse-Drawn Four Wheeled Vehicle?
Posted: Monday, June 16, 2008
by Ellen Schmidt
http://www.discover-horse-carriage-driving.com
Did you ever ask yourself why a two-wheeled vehicle is safer for a beginner? In every book you can read this and whoever you ask will tell you so.
See here the reasons for it.
For the novice whip a two-wheeled vehicle is easier and safer to handle and to drive than a four-wheeled carriage.
There is a situation known as "jacknifing" that can occur when a four-wheeled carriage is turned tightly or backed up incorrectly.
If a four-wheeled carriage needs to be backed up jacknifing happens when the horse/s are not backing up straight and/or if the front and back wheels are not in a straight line before attempting backing up the vehicle.
In this case you will end up with the horse/s next to the back end of the carriage (in a cut-under vehicle) or the non cut-under vehicle will tip over.
A non-cut-under carriage will tip over if a turn is too tight, as the front wheels are hitting the side of the vehicle and are being blocked.
Cut-under means that there is a side-to-side space allowing the front wheels to go under the carriage in tight turns.
Although a cut-under carriage allows the wheels to come under the body, it can make the vehicle unstable. If the horse/s keep coming around , then they can hit the vehicle or "jacknife" it and flip it over,too.
For many drivers, more advanced and beginners, a cut-under vehicle would be the four-wheeled vehicle of choice.
Most Phaetons are cut-under, have got smaller front-wheels, don't have a box and can be driven with a single horse.
A two-wheeled vehicle should still be considered for the novice whip, as it does not become jacknifed even in tighter turns or by being backed up not entirely straight.
Author: Ellen Schmidt http://www.discover-horse-carriage-driving.com/jacknifing.html
This Article has been viewed 430 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
No comments yet.We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.