1. Griffin propelled Battle Car circa 2700 B.C.
Pictured above is the earliest known ancestor of the dorsal hitch sulky, the single shaft Lurastanian Battle Car, a vehicle used in Luristan, in west-central Iran, early in the third millennium B.C.(i.e about 5,000 years ago).
You may notice that the vehicle is pulled not by a horse, but by a mythical beast known as a Griffin. In reality, very similar vehicles were being pulled by the small, Donkey-like equine's of the era, known as 'Onagers'.
2. High Speed Griffin-Powered Straddle Car of 2300 B.C.
Illustration 2 shows a later (about 500 years later) high-speed two-wheeled single-shaft Griffin-powered Straddle Car. Again, similar horse-drawn vehicles were in use in this era.
The world's first two-wheeled horse-drawn vehicles were seen in Mesopotamia early in the third Millennium B.C.. They were fitted with a single pole and yoke and took advantage of the herd instinct of the horse by being always drawn by two animals.
3. Two views of the Saddlecar of the Ancient Near East. The driver had to stand at any sort of pace over the roads of the era. The two outer animals ("Onagers") were 'spares' and were hitched to the yokes when the first pair tired.
Nothing in human history has pushed technology more rapidly than the life and death struggle of warfare, and so we find the development of the straddle car and platform car leading to the chariot Note the single hitch neck forks by which the horses were attached to the yoke and thence to the pole.
4. A monument to the carriage builder's art, a light, high speed chariot from the early second millenuium BC.
Advances were made in wheel building, with wheels having from four to twelve spokes in evidence at the time. Also during this period we find chariot parts made of heat-bent timber for lightness and strength.
In the late second Millennium B.C. (1500 - 1000 B.C.) the chariot is seen in widespread use in warfare, hunting and as a fast transport. The "box" in which the driver and occasional passenger stood, was roughly the shape of a capital D, with the axle running along the straight edge of the D and the pole extending from beneath the central portion of the D. A couple of heat-bent timber pieces formed the frame, while the floor was made of a rawhide mesh which bound the parts together and formed a resilient platform. The size of the D was 1.0 metre wide by 0.5 metre front to back, and the entire chariot and harness weighed about 34 kilograms. Compared to earlier chariots, those of this period had a wider track and were faster and more stable in turning.
Control of the horses was much improved by the widespread use of various types of bits, and it was in this period that the Hittites of Anatolia developed one of the most elegant and effective pole and yoke assemblies ever seen. Combined with their three-man chariot and outstanding metal-working skills, this pole and yoke arrangement enabled the Hittites to dominate their section of the ancient near east for centuries.
Each horse had a single hitch on top of the saddle, as did the griffin-powered Battle Cars, etc, of earlier eras. However, the "Dorsal Hitch", as the Romans called it, was not developed until about the 5th century BC, by the Greeks. Unlike the earlier neck-fork harness, the dorsal hitch saddle was placed behind the withers, and was attached by a girth strap (Eqyptian harness had no girth strap) which prevented the saddle lifting off the horse when no download was applied by the pole of the chariot. The Greeks therefore moved the wheel axle forward to about the centre of the chariot's platform, and so balanced the vehicle that there was no load on the saddle at all when the chariot was moving on level ground at constant velocity.
This gave the Greek chariot greater speed (by removing from the horses a load equal to one sixth of chariot and occupant weight) than the Egyptian chariot, and increased stability in turning. The dorsal hitch then remained the pre-eminent hitching method for light and medium draft work until the end of the Roman Empire and the "Great Technological Leap Backward" which followed the Black Plague and its depopulation of Europe.
The Dorsal Hitch survived in a minor way in the Curricle Harness for pairs, until it was resurrected for racing purposes in the 1960s when American aerospace project engineer, Joe King, re-introduced the single shaft vehicle of Akaddia - and 'created' the single shaft sulky. The King sulky used the dorsal hitch.
5. A King Single Shaft sulky being driven to victory over a field of conventional all-wood bikes in the USA around 1969. The winning time in the $3,500 Inaugural Pace being a relatively pedestrian 2:06.8.
When the SSS ran into safety and regulatory problems, various fixes were proposed, all of which revolved around (no pun intended) a single dorsal hitch on the top or 'crown' of the saddle. Interestingly, King and his imitators had no problems with the exposed wheels of their new sulkies, while in the same era (1967) in Australia, the first Regal sulky with independent suspension was shelved because of the potential safety problems arising from exactly similar - but safer because of the movement of the suspension - exposed wheels. In stark contrast, when a single shaft aluminium 'Track Cat' sulky with fully exposed wheels on stub axles was imported into West Australia in 1973, the stewards reportedly saw "no reason" why it could not be approved.
6. George Hewitt winning behind Tension, a 7YO gelding, which was pulling Hewitt's 1974 variation on the Single Shaft Sulky, called either the "Gemini" or the "Double Dip", and banned the same year by the Canadian Trotting Association.
The late, great, Eddie Simms wrote of the Wishbone sulky in January 1974 (Harness Horse magazine - article kindly provided by Jon Semmens):
"Latest innovation on the American racing scene is the "wishbone" racing sulky.
7. The Wishbone Sulky. Note appalling bend quality near saddle hitch, and generally poor workmanship.
"Attached to the crown of the harness saddle, in a similar fashion to the controversial [King] single shaft sulky, the wishbone sulky is the invention of well-known Pennsylvanian horsemen Warren Cameron and is currently being marketed by him.
"Introduced to the US raceways just a few months ago this sulky is off to a good start with horsemen, and unlike the early days of the single shaft sulky, one hears few words against it.
"On the other hand the single shaft sulky, introduced in 1969, shelved shortly after, and re-introduced again last year, now seems destined to possible oblivion.
"The Rules Committee of the Canadian trotting Association will introduce a rule at their Annual Meeting this month, banning the single shaft sulky from all Canadian Raceways.
"Several American tracks are planning similar measures, the latest of these being Washington Park, Illinois, where the horsemen voted 63-22 in favour of discontinuing the further use of this unusual looking conveyance.
"I used both types of sulky recently and found the single shaft sulky uncomfortable mainly due to a slight tilting back of the seat and the requirement that both feet be placed together directly in front of you.
"This gives a feeling of imbalance. However, the main objection that horsemen seem to have is that the "SSS" has a considerable amount of "tail swish" which some drivers claim can check the progress of an over-taking horse.
"One leading driver at Liberty Bell Park told me that "horses race keener in a sulky attached to the harness saddle crown" but was at a loss to explain why this should be so.
"The wishbone sulky has very little, if any, tail swish, and the feet remain in the usual position as in a normal sulky. There is also no change in seat position.
"You may possibly ask why try to improve on the conventional sulky?
"Well, there seems little doubt that horses go faster in a sulky with a crown of harness attachment, figures seem to unquestionably bear this out.
"Also, most trainers I spoke to, even if they did not have an overall like of this type of sulky, were of the opinion that horses made the turns better in such a conveyance.
"One leading Hollywood Park trainer said that even though he was against the single shaft sulky he thought that there was definately something to be gained by the increase of freedom of movement by horses using same and as a result was now tieing his tie-down straps much more loosley than before on the conventional sulky.
"A leading Sydney gig maker plans to import a wishbone to Australia early next year for experimental purposes. Its progress will be observed with great interest."
In 1974 the US saw both the Wishbone sulky and the "Double Dip" promoted in an effort to get past the bans on the SSS. However, Canada, followed shortly thereafter by the whole harness racing world, changed the rules so that a sulky was defined as a two-shafted vehicle with the shafts separately attached on each side of the horse. King re-created his high-uplift SSS design with two shafts (but no dorsal hitch) and thus was born the "modified" sulky that was to dominate northern hemisphere harness racing competely until the late 1980s.That brought an end to the single hitch until Jim Walsh resurrected it again in the Regal Gemini Pairs sulky (the "two shaft" rule did not apply to pairs vehicles) in 1992.
8. The 1992 Regal Gemini Pairs Racer. Vic Rassmussen driving on a wet and windy day for the first world pairs record ever achieved in the southern hemisphere.
Compare the Regal Gemini with the vehicle that set the records that it broke:
9. Harness Racing Legend Stanley Dancer driving 2Yo pacing fillies Caterer and Cutlery to a world record in 1989. The sulky is a pre-WWII design. Note the conventional pole hitch derived from heavy vehicle usage and the two traces attaching the horse to the sulky.
Or with the earlier still pairs sulky in which Frank Ervin drove 3YO trotters Impish and Sprite Rodney to a new world record at Lexington, in October, 1962:
10. Impish and Sprite Rodney trotting to a new world pairs record at Lexington, 1962. Note positive balance and scaled-down heavy commercial hitching technology.
Prominent daredevil horseman Vince Silvestro accidentally wrecked the Regal Gemini on January 22, 1993, during a training run at Harold Park. Walsh decided to take the opportunity to scrap the original design and use what was useful from the wrecked Gemini to make a new and more efficient model. The design for the new vehicle was finished on Australia Day, January 26, and manufacture started the next day. The new cart, renamed the 'Hittite Special' after the ancient race of master horsemen and charioteers whose pole and yoke design it borrowed, was finished on Friday, February 18.
11. Two Coins & Star of Indigo crossing the line in a new world record for pacing mares of 1:59.8. Two Coins had a previous best of 2:04, Star of Indigo was a maiden. The sulky is the Hittite Special. Note the change in hitching apparatus.
12. The Hittite Special collecting yet another world record, this time that for a half mile track of 2:01.7, at young, New South Wales, on November 29, 1997. It is the only world mile record of any type ever established at Young.
The Hittite Special has also achieved the astonishing feat of holding the OUTRIGHT track record on Queensland's 700 metre Marburg track. This is believed to be the first and only occasion on which any pairs sulky has established a higher speed record over the mile than any previous horse has achieved in a single horse sulky. The time achieved, 1:58.3, might not seem remarkable, unless you consider that no single horse has broken two minutes on that same track!
The Hittite Special was recalled in January 2000, and was fitted with the Floating Link Suspension in preparation for further attacks on existing world speed records. It is believed to be the first light (less than 34 Kg) sulky with independent suspension. The rapid evolution of the Regal Pairs sulky will be appreciated in a comparison of the original Gemini (above) with its latest manifestation:
13. Gary Lefoe driving Hilarious Humor and Ruin (both trained by Pene Kirk) in arguably the most technically advanced light (less than 34 Kg) pairs vehicle of the last 5 millennia, the Regal 2000FP during a run against the clock (result: 2.01.5 for the mile) at Albion Park during the Brusbane EXPO of August 27, 2000.
Over the last few years Victorian inventor Trevor Knipe-Jones re-adapted the crown hitch for single horse sulkies in a design strongly reminiscent of the 1974 US "Wishbone" Sulky. However, several years after its introduction, no world mile records have yet been established in carts fitted with this apparatus. Which is not to say that none ever will. However, new sulky technology that makes any sort of "splash" usually does so very quickly after its introduction. For example, the offset sulky captured a swag of world mile records, many of which were unprecedented in the Southern Hemisphere, within 18 months of its introduction. The US version won seven of the first nine races in which it competed. The Australian offset sulky, the Ireland Special, won seven of its first ten starts, and the Gemini broke a world record at its first start. Similar results were achieved by Joe King's SSS and his later "modified sulky".
In 1998 and 99, a new variant on the dorsal hitch was introduced in both hemispheres. Called the "rein-bow" hitch in Australia and the "arc" harness in the U.S.A., the new harness is essentially an artful way of circumventing the bans on the single shaft sulky. It preserves the essential dorsal hitch feature of having all loads between horse and sulky concentrated on a single swivelling attachment to the top centre of the harness. Horsemen using the "new" hitch confirm what horsemen have known for thousands of years - horses race keener and more easily in a dorsal hitch than with any other.
In late January, 2000, a sulky was realeased which arguably combines the most useful advances in animal-drawn vehicle technology of the last 4,000 years. The Regal Millennium Mini is a startling combination of single shaft chassis, dorsal hitch and independent suspension. It was designed to dramatically reduce the pulling effort required from miniature horses and draught dog breeds when used on unpaved surfaces and being driven by an adult.
The 21st century looks set to see a large scale return to the dorsal hitch in fields where performance and animal comfort are essential ingredients of the driving or racing unit.
Copyright James S. Walsh
