Antique Wood & Iron Draft Horse Neck Yoke — Original White Paint, Forged Hardware

The neck yoke is the complement to the evener in any draft hitch: where the evener equalized forward pull, the neck yoke controlled braking and backing, resting across the horses' necks and transmitting the wagon's weight through the pole. This example is classic fusiform construction — a single timber shaped to a lens profile, tapering symmetrically to both ends — with all original iron hardware intact and in three distinct forms. At center, a forged iron kingpin barrel mounted on a through-bolt drops over the fixed pin on the wagon pole, creating the pivot that allowed the yoke to follow the team's movement; this barrel fitting is a more mechanically refined connection than the simple ring staple used on lesser examples. Both tips are fitted with matching forged hame hooks — an oval eye seating against a riveted iron ferrule plate at each tapered end, terminating in a downward hook for hame tug engagement. The ferrules themselves are a blacksmith detail that prevented the tapered tips from splitting under load, and their survival intact on both ends is uncommon. One face retains substantial remnants of original white paint in a crackled, flaking layer — physical evidence of the object's working life that weathering alone cannot produce.

CONDITION

Good. All iron hardware is present and structurally intact, with heavy surface rust throughout consistent with age. The wood displays a full-length check along the center grain and moderate surface wear; original white paint survives on one face in a heavily crazed and flaking layer.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• Height: 5¼"
• Width: 30¼"
• Thickness: 1¾"
• Weight: 5 lbs
• Construction: single timber, fusiform profile
• Hardware: forged iron kingpin barrel pivot (×1), forged hame hooks with oval eye (×2), riveted iron strap ferrules (×2)
• Original white paint present on reverse face