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Sicklehocks, for oats with legume, I was taught by some old farmers to disc the ground, wait for 30 days. Next spread the oats and then disc them in, which also kills newly germinated weeds. Immediately spread fertilizer with alfalfa mixed in, at half rate. So spread it first one way, then perpendicular to eliminate striping… Then cultipack both directions. It worked great, and I plan to do the same in the future. A 40 hp tractor, 10 ft. disc, and 10ft. cultipacker was all that was needed to plant a stand into bean stubble…
Cut the crop the first year to eliminate weeds, not for perfect tonnage. It pays off in the long run, what I was told.

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I recently read that a furlong is a measurement which originated by the distance a team of horses could plow before needing a break; 660 ft. if I remember correctly…

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I think roundpen work is a huge tool in the toolbox of what we have available to establish a foundation of leadership.
It becomes a very safe method of getting to know, beginning conditioning, and inspecting your horse for lameness; Often they will limp in a circle but will not while moving straight ahead.
When a mare is in heat and not paying attention, I may send her around a few times and tune her up.

The horses/teams that I have put straight to work, I have had more close misses, and even a couple runaways. I was “too busy” to work in the roundpen with them….
Right now I am working 4 horses abreast discing. Three of them had never worn harness before last September, one of them is in harness only 2 weeks.
I agree with Lynn Millers checklist. If they did not all know and respect a sharp “whoa” command, chances are I would be having more problems….

What I am trying to say is that I think round pen work makes me more productive and safer in the field, quicker.

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I would agree George, there is a need to lengthen one set or shorten the other set so they are equal length hames to doubletree. Shortening is easier, but whether you lengthen or shorten is decided largely on what will be done to the line of draft….

I have a few different sizes of harness, so I measure/keep in mind the hames to chain end dimension on each set. The tugs get set on both horses so they are equal, as the height difference in my horses is within a hand.
Any adjustment to get alignment is done is now with the lines.

Bowers and Steward book “Farming with Horses” explains this the best I’ve seen, with regards to longitudinal and lateral alignment. Pictures and diagrams…. The hames to doubletree length of tugs gets set the same, if one horse is longer in the body it just sticks farther back. If one head reaches farther forward, BOTH cross checks get adjusted. Keep in mind that working conditions of the horses heads can be different than standing conditions.
So ideally, evener is perpendicular to the tongue, horses bodies are parallel, and spaced in the center of the doubletree/neck yoke arena and heads are straight as well; thus providing the most effective bit contact and draft efficiency. In an ideal world.

I look at pictures taken from the side when I am working to let me know how much a given horse is flexing their necks and therefore a better idea of how my lines should be adjusted. I’ve started working 3 and 4 abreast and it is fun to tweak the lines and see them working straighter, without making rocket science out of it….

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The only crazy idea I see is the one where you are considering buying a tractor;)
When I bought my first team I also had a couple tractors. Between not having a great amount of confidence driving, nor experience or availability of equipment, and also a lack of time due to work schedule, the team got fat, tractor got worn out, and I didn’t progress where I really wanted to, that is working the drafts… Hope you find a good balance, but if you don’t start, you won’t get there.
As mentioned, some of the smaller draft breeds may suit you. Or a draft cross. I am training a couple standardbred/belgians right now and they are a nice ride/pack/drive size with great temperments.

I peruse drafthorseclassified.com once in awhile and tonight just noticed a team of black percherons in Orlando. Might check them and the owners out?

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Would you like to pay us to come down to Florida? Preferably next January?:D

Seriously, I’d start with books, there are many draft horse books and applications available. Get the theory down from several different authors. Then when the opportunity arises, it becomes a plug and play type scenario with whatever theory/s work for you.
I started with a team, then followed up reading books when it became apparent I was always on the verge of being out of control…. Leave it to a man to read directions AFTER he is lost…

I spent several years in Bradenton. Had to leave, like you say not enough draft animals…

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Lots of old mowers out here have raw pine log as the tongue. Just square off the mower side with a chainsaw so it attaches to the mower nicely, and the pine pole tapers down to about 3-4 inches at the neck yoke end….

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I don’t mean to be a prima donna but I don’t want to cut with a 60 year old mower anymore if I can help it. These mowers are high on my wish list.

i have a grasshopper “problem” Sounds like turkey feed to me…

I want to try chicken/turkey/sheep tractors 8 ft. wide in “lanes” up and down the pasture. There will be 17 ft. of pasture/hay between chicken tractors.

I want to buy two of the I and J mowers, one ground drive and one gas powered, and remachine the gas powered to cut to the left.
So with 3 horses on a PTO cart I can run up the chicken tractor “aisle” and cut 9 ft. either direction with the horses driving straight up the aisle which has largely been eaten down anyways.

Problem, that’s already a $15k setup without remachining the mower to cut to the left! Aw well, theres people buy 4 wheelers for that nowadays….
Cmon santa!

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If you go to Monsantos website for instance, vegetable division, they list a lot of their distributors and seed subsidiaries. An awful lot of the big seed catalog names are there…

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Nice, glad you got just what I wanted:D
Now get out there and wear some of that paint off. Something that shiny is liable to get stolen;)

Need skiis on it to use it out there now? 8 degrees in NDakota today and I forgot my hat…..Now I know how the calves feel.:rolleyes:

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I sure like the neck yoke/britchen combo on those mountain horses. Something sexy about about a half harness….

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We had a great day yesterday. The older kids and I got 2400 lf of electrobraid fence done. Couldn’t have done it without draftpower! The long cold winter made something we don’t get, and don’t miss much-MUD. Didn’t really want to make a muddy mess, but with paying work starting next week, this just had to get done.
This worksled, not to be boastful but I have to say I am happy with, chains on front and rear so I can get myself out of situations I get into. I can stand in front or behind the rack depending what I’m doing. The frame is the motor mount off the snowplane we converted, the tool box/playset comes off in a couple seconds.

We’ve had a great winter, and I’ve had the opportunity to work with teams almost daily. I’ve trained and am training a couple teams for others, and we took on a couple wild percheron geldings that have melanoma warts. Experts say they may live normal for a long time, or not. So the price was really right, and the one pictured on the left has progressed a huge amount and is a blessing to have. His mate is on pasture treatment and groundwork only so far. His warts are bigger and his feet were bad, looks like he foundered a few months back….

We saw an horse expo ad at the Powell college in the paper a few months back, and called to see if there was any horse in harness demos. They said they called all over and couldn’t find anyone, so they invited me. I took our mares and had a great time, did a presentation, we did wagon rides in the parking lot, and dragged/drug?? the arena. We had a booth and had questionnaires to guage interest in draftpower and got some great feedback and interest, and they booked us to return at a primetime spot next year, so that is nice to look forward to.

Some snowmobilers stopped at the hostel and told us to get a listing on vrbo and trip advisor, we did that and have received a lot more interest in the hostel. Which is bittersweet, because I don’t like living in a hotel but agritourism sure will and is helping out our goals and dreams…

Hopefully get something to plant that will turn green in a few weeks. I hope. Because I cut most of that kocia field twice this winter, and have raked most of it twice, and I don’t know if I want to do that again.

Actually, if the bills are paid, I probably woudl like to do it again though worthwhile work might be more desirable.:D

Kevin

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I usually work alone, but have used a pickup to a running w. for gelding on a big rank team. The gelding would climb the walls of the round pen….What we did, (my mentor taught me) the horse “runs” from the handler, horse comes up against the w. Person in the pickup should only be 2 ft. of slack in the rope, so the horse drops to its knees, but isn’t abused. The driver should move the pickup forward to give slack the moment the horse “yields” This takes good coordination, as the w-rope should always come out between the horses back legs…That gelding did wagon rides downtown last month….

But my favourite is proper ground work in the round pen. Not because round pen work is fun for me, au contraire, but because it works. By the time the horse is hitched, they already hopefully have experience with whoa, easy, and kiss (my commands for stand, slowup/stop, go) Before I start to ground drive them, they stand at least 8 hrs over the course of a few days with bits in their mouths and harness on. So when we are going to drive them, we have lessened stress…

I started two belgian standard breds today in harness this way for the first time. First in the round pen. Where are they gonna go except around, and they’ve done it before, and they are sick of it. So we go around at a walk until I can do figure 8’s in the roundpen, and then open the gate, and go back and forth past the gate. I stop very often, and brush the horse or tell it my problems. Notice how fast they are breathing, you want to keep adrenaline from running. It’s like a hostage situation. Don’t let emotions escalate by rushing things.
Hopefully within 25 minutes and 5 breaks, they are ready for new scenery
So then we go in an arena sized paddock. With traces up, with one down, then between the legs, then on a evener hooked long. Some horse get bored quick and need to start pulling things to keep them out of trouble. I think an hr at a time is plenty. I am using open bridles whenever I can. I think they like it.

If the horse is throwing its head and pulling against me, I go with a lighter bit. I start with a snaffle, then a straight, then rubber. They aren’t going to perform well if they are in pain. I’ve been working a 12 yr old gelding who was a stud with a rubber bit every other day for six weeks now, he is just getting to the point where he needs a “real” bit. FLexing the neck, and loosening them up to yield to pressure has worked great for me…

I don’t mean to say I know it all, but I’ve had six problem teams here in the past year, and the problems I’ve had with a couple of them, including a couple “runners” is when I “didn’t have time” to do the groundwork, earn the horses respect, and/or let them properly settle in.
They are all different, have fun and be safe!

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Didn’t see the RH show, but Esch Manufacturing might be the one….

1 horse per ft. of drill I am told…

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A couple other options,
I put an open bridle on my one mare and she straightened right up.

Maybe also check your line adjustment? If you have been ground driving and the team was set close together and you go to a wide neck yoke and double tree, you will need to move your check lines forward to allow them to move their heads apart for proper alingment. Just a thought,

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