The Chariot - The Accidental Smallholder

Now I needed a cart, but couldn’t afford one. I looked at the “saddle chariot” and thought it was wonderful, but way out of my price range, so I built a wooden chariot out of scrap wood.

The chariot in the workshop.

Spiller took to shafts without any prior preparation.

First fit of the chariot - needs some adjustment.

Unfortunately I fitted the shafts to the height of the harness, which turned out to be incorrect, so another alteration to both harness and shafts was called for.

Final adjustments made. Note how the shafts have been dropped.
The red line is the balance point.

The final fitting revealed a change needed to the swingle.

When it was all fitted it looked OK, but the swingle didn’t have enough movement so was altered to above the front crossbar. I then wanted to move some muck, so fitted a tow ball and attached a small cart that used to be used with a garden tractor.

Spiller, the chariot and the trailer.

Unfortunately I haven’t any pictures of the chariot being ridden with a charioteer, but that is great fun. I have even slid it round a right angle corner while Spiller was cantering. That wasn’t entirely intentional, but he has trotted with it for a few miles on rough bridleways.