[blue80]

Scott:

His name is Ray Steele, located in Pinecliffe

I think he said he “used to” log with horses…

[blue80]

Hopefullly this shows what I’m talking about, by the way they were chromed over 20 yrs ago.

Kevin

[blue80]

Found this on craiglist:
2 sets of harness- 4 horses worth- 5 bridles with two bits, 6 spreaders, 4 trace ends, hames no collars $500.00 delivered to my door. Nice retired horse logger in Colorado, says they have life left in them for farm work….

Have 15 more pics if anyone cares to give me best opinion. I don’t want junk as mentioned above, but don’t have discretionary income to bring new d-ring harness out west….
But purchasing unseen is probably also a crapshoot….

But if I save some money maybe I could afford some of those fancy suffolks and collars like Mr. Rutledges pics.:cool:

Thanks in advance,
Kevin

[blue80]

just like to take the opportunity to bump this fantastic thread.

I had a mentor in S. Indiana, in his sixties who I’m sure would have a few things to add. Don was a proud, “grass farmer” as he put it; he jumped at any opportunity to beat up the “corn and bean factories”, his dad taught him how to “farm grass” while working teams of horses in the river bottoms in Kentucky, and Don was extremely influential on my rethinking about soil health/tilth/plant growth. Until then, I had only been a factory farmer laborer, in several areas of North America and Australia.
The first time he inspected our newly purchased farm, he was putt-putting on one of his restored model A’s, and loudly crowed, “there ain’t nothin here that won’t grow!” knowing the farm was loudly known as the “red rock farm” and nobody every remembered a plow being put to it. With his and his friends help, we grew a fantastic crop, without plowing, or using a seed drill. I miss Don, and the way he prided himself on proving me quite young and dumb. He could sure make me laugh…

I have also heard and seen of the benefits of mechanical aeration on pastures, and am looking into utilising this approach to keeping the concrete effect of routine traffic and irrigation on heavy soils, if anyone has inputs in this area. I am wondering whether clipping after grazing with an aerator following on the same pass is an option.

Kevin

[blue80]

Call me crazy too then! I’ve for some reason always found them therapeutic, and fascinating.

We have an alternative energy person coming in the next week to look at our options for hydro power, and our hope has been to have a water wheel incorporated. So far they only do solar and wind, but want to learn how to use moving water also as an option.

Thanks for that link, bachlerfarmer, why didn’t I think of that nifty deal :oearlier???

[blue80]

heard this on the radio today,

“Big Horn Basin, it’s cold out, and when it’s cold, tractors break. So call the Tractor Guys for your repairs….!

Gave me a good laugh. First we plug them in all night, then they break down anyways….

Have to go wash the diesel out of my carharts from the excavator fuel filters gelling, good night.

Kevin

[blue80]

I like the idea of being vertically integrated to provide a wide measure of products/services.

The csf could operate on a credit system, to be utilised however the consumer sees fit whenever they have wants or needs, much the same as the “points” sytems on many credit cards.

Maybe a few retirees/woodworkers could make finished products/gifts such as wooden toys/horses/picture frames/furniture
Some unfinished T&G hardwood flooring or trim
Some RS lumber for DIYers
An idyllic picnic/fishing area available for special occasions
etc. etc.

I am also big on the work, low on the marketing/sales/PR side….

Kevin

[blue80]

Thank you for the great advice

Kevin

[blue80]

I guess I’m one of the unlucky ones…

Well I was lucky enough to tag along with my dad, a veterinarian, on “calls” saturdays and emergencies, every since I drove my mom crazy. Age 3 I think?:rolleyes:
Countless times “we” were treating leg and shoulder wounds from barbed wire injuries, usually younger animals, or animals recently purchased.

Then, when I purchased a farm in Indiana, we put over a thousand hours on a backhoe tractor remediating age old fencelines which had become 50 feet wide with multiple eras and strands of barbed wire. After each given 5 or so acres was “cleared” we’d open it up to the belgians. Somehow we missed a piece, which later we found embedded in the middle of a spruce tree, it cut one mare wide and deep, looked like a letter sized envelope wide open. It was right in the pressure point of the collar area, I thought I had ruined her.
Thankfully, I called my dad for free vet advice, and was told to pack the wound with hydrated lime once a day and pull off only proud flesh. Three months later, no scar was visible and she was good as new;

One foxtrotter filly we bought at auction a few months ago decided to jump a 5 ft. tall barbed wire fence and stand in the hightway; but didn’t quite make it, got a light laceration on the leg.

My neighbour called a few weeks ago, wanted to borrow a round pen; He had bought a new mare which had been bullied by some of his other horses pushed into a barbed wire fence which tore into its leg to the bone….

I am a believer that when you know better, you should do better. Because I’ve been bitten in the past, I am motivated to highly recommend use of electric, even one strand on top of/offset the barbed wire is highly effective. My favourite, again, is electrobraid, a highly visible, high tensile electric fence system. I believe use of this fencing will actually appreciate your property.
And located in a “fence em out” state, I am also motivated to keep the neighbours hungry cattle out of my alfalfa and hay pile; experience speaking again here:(

Horses have to respect fences, for their own good, and we have to help them do so.
And don’t even get me started on goats….

Kevin

[blue80]

Carl:
Your post recalled a childhood memory of my father singing one of his favourite smartass tunes,
“O Loooord, it’s haaaard to be HUMble,…….but perfect in eeeevery waaaay.”

Thanks again.

[blue80]

We are keeping two stallions, but I’m not sure if they “count” They are registered foxtrotters, coming 3 and coming 5 years old, full brothers.
We got them cheap at auction, I intended to cut them and just train them for riding horses and possibly to sell, but am greatly intrigued by working with them. They of course have a different focus for life than the other horses I’ve worked and learned with, and have required different adaptations in training them.
It is interesting how some people have told me I have no business having stallions with a wife and little kids around, while a couple old timers tell me of the stallions being the smartest and strongest on the farm, and how some teenage girls have barrel raced stallions at the local fairs. So I am treading lightly and trying to be responsible; “never trust a stallion”- though my wife with very little riding experience now confidently rides the 4 yr old with a hackamore. The same 4 yr old that right after the auction, the trainer told me, “watch out, that horse will throw itself over backwards as soon as you get on it.” Turns out, the guy who initially broke him had the biggest spurs in the county…..
Application of lateral flexion is a dream come true, and they respond wonderfully to it, even when around our filly’s which have come into heat. So far it seems a weekly session in the round pen makes all the difference for their “respect factor” of those around them.
The overall possible plan is to purchase some stout draft mares and breed them to the foxtrotters to get us some stout pack horses for the mountains….Some percheron/foxtrotters locally weighed about 1200 pounds and made excellent packing and riding horses. I am wondering whether they would also do great in front of a mower?

And in defense of posting these play horses on a work forum, I am training the studs to drive, so far without harness. Just ground driving dragging things behind to get them in the feel of things. hey, it’s all I’ve got to “work” with….

Kevin

[blue80]

well just last week I yelled upstairs to my wife, “look who came for Christmas dinner”
She came down to see me and Cloud, a coming 5 yr old stallion in the living room.
We both had to leave, but she laughed and that was the whole point…..At least I had taken off his shoes the day before;)

[blue80]

thanks Rod!
I think Albrect was one of Neal Kinseys’ mentors if I remember correctly from the book?

[blue80]

this reminds me of a salesman I once met in Texas at a lumberyard sales event.
There are tool guys some that sell welding helmets and tire manufacturers and fastener suppliers. And the hit of the day for me, was a glove salesman.

Talk about enjoying your work, this guy knew his stuff! His specialty was the cotton gloves with “rubber” coatings, though it turns out all the coatings were different.
Gloves that were for working with oiled steel.
Gloves that were working with rusty steel.
Gloves that were for working with rebar.
Gloves that were for working in concrete.
etc. etc.
The amazing part to me was the different grips that different polymer coatings had on different materials.

Its rare finding a salesman that is knowledgable and “in” to his work, but I bet this guy would find a newfangled beta grippy glove if there was one.

Hope to hear more on this,
Kevin

[blue80]

Thanks Scott!

Another excellent resource and information.

Thanks to you, I’ve spent the last hour reviewing a single link on your website.
That’s going to cut into my “wake up early drive around with nobody else alive in the world day”:cool:

[Author]

Posts