Swingletree - In a plough, harrow, carriage, etc., a crossbar, pivoted at the middle, to which the traces are fastened, giving freedom of movement to the shoulders of the horse or other draught-animal.
| Example | Meaning |
Interviewer: Yeah. Speaker: But what's that thing that they- they put a plank down, you-know, have you never seen that? Interviewer: No, I often made one. Speaker: What- what do you call that? Interviewer: Eh? Um, weighty- isn't that a weighty? Speaker: Yeah, that's right. Ah, just weighty, or is it a- a weighty-buckety? Interviewer: Something like that. Speaker: Yeah? Interviewer: When I'm going up you're going down. Speaker: Yeah. Ah, have you ever heard that called a sh-- a shugie (sp)? Interviewer: Eh? Speaker: A shoagie? You-know, is- is it ever- you ever heard that called a shoagie? That weighty? No, just weighty? |
Swingletree - In a plough, harrow, carriage, etc., a crossbar, pivoted at the middle, to which the traces are fastened, giving freedom of movement to the shoulders of the horse or other draught-animal. |
Interviewer: What- what's that- w-- ah, that piece of wood behind there? For the- to put the- Speaker: The whippletree, yeah. Interviewer: What i-- what is it? Speaker: Whippletree. |
Swingletree - In a plough, harrow, carriage, etc., a crossbar, pivoted at the middle, to which the traces are fastened, giving freedom of movement to the shoulders of the horse or other draught-animal. |
| Example | Meaning |
Speaker: Well, you backed them into the- into the- of course they have uh, traces and you have a- you have a place where you put them on the end of a- of a whippletree, a little whippletree. Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: And then for a team they had uh, what they called a pole- Interviewer: Oh, yes. Speaker: And then they had two whippletrees, one one each side. They had a larger whippletree and then there's the two little ones on that and uh- |
Swingletree - In a plough, harrow, carriage, etc., a crossbar, pivoted at the middle, to which the traces are fastened, giving freedom of movement to the shoulders of the horse or other draught-animal. |
| Example | Meaning |
And then um they have whippletrees, single whippletrees, for each horse. Probably whippletree like um- you can attach each horse to it. |
Swingletree - In a plough, harrow, carriage, etc., a crossbar, pivoted at the middle, to which the traces are fastened, giving freedom of movement to the shoulders of the horse or other draught-animal. |
Interviewer: ... where would the horse go in- relative to the shafts? Speaker: Between the two shafts. And then there was ah- what the hay was or-something, and there was little places for the shaft to go in on the harness. And then a whippletree, a single whippletree. And the traces were hitched to the whippletree. ... whippletrees, single whippletrees, for each horse. Probably whippletree like um- you can attach each horse to it. |
Swingletree - In a plough, harrow, carriage, etc., a crossbar, pivoted at the middle, to which the traces are fastened, giving freedom of movement to the shoulders of the horse or other draught-animal. |
| Example | Meaning |
And ah I put the other one on the whippletree and ah used it to take off the lifts of hay. |
Swingletree - In a plough, harrow, carriage, etc., a crossbar, pivoted at the middle, to which the traces are fastened, giving freedom of movement to the shoulders of the horse or other draught-animal. |
Interviewer: Now how would you train up a team? Speaker: ... (Laughs) Take quite a bit of time and patience. One pair, I started putting them- just driving them around with a harness on them. ... And then I'd put them on the whippletree and drive them around with a whippletree and a chain on it. And then as they got used to that, I'd ah put the two together and do the same thing, drive them around on the whipple-- double whippletrees. Interviewer: Now what's a whippletree? Speaker: Well it's what you hitch them to for drawing items. About that long with a hook on each end and as they got more used to it- I had hold on to the lines, of-course at the start 'til they're ready to go to the bush and ah skid logs with them. Interviewer: Uh-huh. Now how do you skid logs? Speaker: (Laughs) Well you put them in ah s-- whippletree and chain and drive them into the bush where the log was and hitch onto it with the chain onto it and then you pull it out with the horses into an open space. |
Swingletree - In a plough, harrow, carriage, etc., a crossbar, pivoted at the middle, to which the traces are fastened, giving freedom of movement to the shoulders of the horse or other draught-animal. |
| Example | Meaning |
They had fighters. And he come out over the farm where- and I was down at Dad's and I was plowing and I han-- unhooked the whippletrees off the plow 'cause the horses (laughs) he'd come over and come down you-know, (whistle) (inc). The (inc) lied down. And I expected one of these times when they come out, they're going to leave here (laughs). |
Swingletree - In a plough, harrow, carriage, etc., a crossbar, pivoted at the middle, to which the traces are fastened, giving freedom of movement to the shoulders of the horse or other draught-animal. |
| Example | Meaning |
Sometimes you're changing wires or working them on live wires and there's a thing between the cable and the whippletree so nobody could get shocked you-know. That time it was all wooden whippletrees anyways. |
Swingletree - In a plough, harrow, carriage, etc., a crossbar, pivoted at the middle, to which the traces are fastened, giving freedom of movement to the shoulders of the horse or other draught-animal. |
So I said would you take that couple of bales of hay in the whippletree and take it out to number seven highway there, ah- where you- where the end of the Perkin sideroad is down. |
Swingletree - In a plough, harrow, carriage, etc., a crossbar, pivoted at the middle, to which the traces are fastened, giving freedom of movement to the shoulders of the horse or other draught-animal. |
