RE: Sam's sleigh -- what are the poles for anyhow?

[rolloverrover]

Maybe this is a ridiculous question, but is it really necessary to have these poles. How are they used?

[horsemom]

The poles hook the sleigh up to the harness on the horse. Without the poles, the horse would only be hooked up to the sleigh by the reins going to the bit in its mouth. Of course, for a doll sleigh all it would mean is you can't pull the horse around and have the sleigh follow (which it sounded from the board that you couldn't really do that anyway with this sleigh). In real life, you couldn't do without the poles on a sleigh because they are what allows the horse to pull the sleigh and also to stop the sleigh when the horse stops (rather than having it hit the horse in the rear! LOL!). The reins attached to the horse's sensitive mouth are only for direction. Hope that helps!

[rolloverrover]

I almost forgot I posted this question. Thanks for answering. Now I understand about those poles.