how to avoid laziness?

A horse will work out past his lung capacity so then you have to rest him.
He can travel faster than an ox because he has a larger lung capacity.
An ox is smart enough not to out work his lung capacity except when he believes it is necessary and with less capacity he will travel slower. He will seldom need to stop and rest. There are a lot of jobs where he will catch up to the horse while the horse is resting.

I think the differences between horses and oxen (having worked both, often integrating both teams in the same operation) is precisely that horses are hard-wired to move, and bovine are hard-wired to stand their ground. Therefore horse athletic ability is often seen as an advantage over the slower moving cattle. As Howie says though the ox, although moving slowly, is not by nature a lazy animal. Oxen will move at basically the same speed, whether loaded or empty, so in my opinion they should be loaded.

Whether working horses or oxen, a teamster can sour the animal against exertion by not recognizing the energy/wind requirements of the working animals. The best way to make a lazy ox, or horse, is to try too hard to push them beyond reason. If impatient with the working speed of an ox, the teamster can actually create his/her own worst nightmare, the balky steer. There are some smaller, lighter breeds like Jerseys that are sprite and tend to be quick movers, but they can also be very smart, and ornery, and get beyond the novice.

I think it is not productive to compare horses vs. oxen, nor to bring any pre-conceived notions to the enterprise, but to set reasonable expectations, and to work with some one who is already putting the animals to use in the type of situation that one aspires to. This way the animal can be used to its fullest capacity.

Carl

Johnny Lamb used to work an ox and mule in a team.

I’ve seen pictures too. Morgan hitched with a Jersey, spreading manure. But have never tried.

I used to take horses and oxen to the woods together. Rode the cart driving the horses, hitched the steers chain to the log cart or sled, and would travel like that. Twitched with the steers, and drew the bobsled with the horses. Several times I would take a load on the sled and have the steers follow behind with a hitch of their own. I’d keep them close enough so I could speak to all of them at the same time to start together. My steers were never all that fond of my horses, or I may have tried a four-up, but never really had the need anyway.

When drawing a load like logs on a sled, steers do a great job, and with that much weight they tend to get right into it, so although they typically move slower than horses, I think mixing the two on heavy work wouldn’t be all that bad.

Carl

Thanks, great poem.