[CIW]

Animals are line bred to pass on their characteristics because they have been crossed for certain reasons. i.e. big hips, color, head shape, gait, height, demeanor. You name it. All depends on the breed. That’s a common thing to have been done with horse flesh. So it’s easy to find them. Phenotypical traits are commonly things that you can see. In cattle, for example, you may want to breed for something like heat endurance, mothering ability or disease resistance. Things you can’t see just by looking at the animal. Those are genotypic characteristics.
Open breeding is just the opposite of line breeding. Very few copied animals, if any, in several pedigree generations.
Jackstock in the United States started out as composite of 5 different donkey breeds. In the recent past, people like George Hineman, Frank Mills, and L.W. Knight bred jacks for show and to produce consistant jack stock, so they line bred. The animals that didn’t make the grade were used to breed for mules. And they were bred to whatever mare that came down the road. It was more of a crap shoot. For examples read a book by Harvey Riley called “The Mule”. Their market was primarily the government. They had need for all kinds of mules, by the carload. So as long as they were structurally sound they would sell.
Today we are breeding to make designer mules except that way keep dead ending with the sterile offspring we call the mule.
We know what our mare stock is bred for, but if we breed to a line bred jack we loose consistency because the two animals are fighting genetically. Each time you breed those same 2 animals to get a mule, it’s likely you’ll end up with something different because of the law of percentages.
To better your chances, when breeding for mules, breed to what you know.
A quality mule jack is harder to come across than a quality donkey jack. Just because of population numbers. So why not go with something that someone has already proven (line bred mares).

The jack carries Seiman’s Glen, Jen Jack, Starlight Paragon, and Kansas Chief breeding. (Open bred)
The mare is almost exclusively Skipper W breeding through his son Spanish Array. (Line bred)
We get the same kind of mule every time we cross them.
That mare had 7 mules crossed to that jack that look and act very similar.

I hope this helps clear up what you were wondering about.

[CIW]

We look for jacks that are open bred and carry the tendency to have low propetancy. That in combination with a mare that is line bred will promote more of the mares size.
My jack is 15 hands. Breed him to a 17h mare and the mule finishes out close to the mares size. Breed him to a 14 2h mare and the mule matures around that mares size. That being said. He still has some characteristics that are dominant no matter what mare he is crossed with.
I know of a jack in T-ville, Kentucky that stands 13 3hh. You breed him to the mare of your choice. That john mule will finish out at 16hh. And the mollies are just a bit taller.
Just because a jack is a certain size doesn’t mean that he will throw the like.
See if you can look at some mature mules out of mares of similar size that you want your mules to finish out at. Then look at that Jack to see if he is the caliber animal you want to breed to.

[CIW]

I run dual shield many times when I’m doing something structural, such as a wagon frame, that gets alot of flexing. Especially if I need to make multiple passes, it greatly decreases any imputities in the surface of the previous bead. Less prep between passes that way.
The double shielded bead doesn’t seem to crystalize like flux core. Using 75/25 or pure argon instead of carbon dioxide as your choice of shield gas will decrease spatter and help with the way the bead lays into the piece your welding if you have your wire speed and amps adjusted correctly.
Also, and probably the most important thing I have found is preperation of the area to be welded. If I bevel out a place for the bead to lay into, it gives greater material penetration and surface area for the bead to stick to giving me greater results. This is where the grinder and a cup brush come in handy.
I also believe that if more people learned to torch weld well, before attempting solid state welding they would possibly find that they better understand how a weld bead is to lay in for greater adhesion and strength. It will also come in handy when wanting to learn to TIG weld metals like stainless or aluminium.
Wes I can agree with learning to use baling wire as filler rod. Also wire coat hangers and barbed wire work well.

[CIW]

Although I would be happy to do the work after reading the last post I read a clue that told me tnat I’m not in your area of the U.S.
When an inquiry is made on a web site that has people from around the world looking in, it might yield better results if a general geographic area of the poster was disclosed.
Tayook,
Maybe you could change your profile to include that type of general information. From past experience there is a great base of knowledge here that will activate if they only know a little bit about you.

[CIW]

Heres a photo.

[CIW]

While we are on the subject of bale twine, I use it to make hobbles from. I just make sure that I cut the strings beside the knot. 11 strings from a 40″ bale for saddle animals and for darfts I use strings from a 46″ bale.
Put the knot ends together. I squeeze them in a vice then twist and pull to keep them from buckling over. Twist as tight as you possibly can without pulling your bench over. This could be done between 2 people.
Holding the end with your right hand, hook the rope with your left hand and fold your right hand back to the vice. Let go with your left hand. It will twist up.
Tie all 22 the ends together. Trim off the excess. from the knot, to about 1 in.
Lastly melt the ends and squish it flat. I push it against a piece of steel.
To apply them, kneeling beside the animal put the loop end around the far leg from back to front. Cross the ends over twice between the legs. Put the loop end around the front of the near leg and the knot end around the back. Open the loop and pass the knot through.
These are inexpensive and quick to build, but mostly they work really well. When you have alot of animals like a pack string 10 or 12 sets of hobbles gets pretty expensive.
I wrote this in a quick reply so I will have to go back in and post a picture using the other reply method.

[CIW]

I don’t have any experience building an arch but had some thoughts.
The larger diameter a wheel the easier it turns.
I was thinking that if you were to salvage a pair of front spindles from a wrecked 2 ton truck. They commonly have 18 or 20 inch rims. That would give some more ground clearance. Also it spreads the weight over more surface area with the larger tires making it less apt to sink in soft ground and it would roll over the deadfall easier.
I guess they would also come with brakes if you wanted to set them up.

[CIW]

I don’t see this as something that just happened one day. Its a habit thats been developed. Without sounding mean. It isn’t something that will just go away over night
If I were in your situation I would start by slowing the way I was hitching. Harness and then leave them tied at the hitch rail while I went and did something else. Then come back later and hitch up to whatever piece of equipment and set there. Let them go to sleep. Then just pick up the line slack and ask them to walk off walk off. Not if but when they want to charge away. Stop them and let them go to sleep. Pick up your line slack and ask them to walk off. Repeat.
Harness them every day. Even when you don’t hitch them. Just let them stand and at the end of the day put them away.
I don’t see this as a mechinical problem. Its a confidence problem. And only building a new habit will correct it.
Yes, you can bit the animals heavier and band-aid the symptom but that doesn’t address the problem and often only serves to harden their mouths making the problem harder to deal with.
They need more confidence. That can only come from you, through your voice, your hands on the lines, then lots of time with their bodies collected working in a steady pace.
You may not get any work done, for a while, but you will change the habit of your horses.
Good luck

[CIW]

I learned from the endurance sporters that feeding soaked beet pulp is a great tool for keeping a horse hydrated or quickly bringing them back from dehydration. The beet pulp will soak up 2 1/2 times it volume in water and has a very high level of roughage. It keeps them a little loose in the bowel so everything keeps moving. Most horses don’t drink very well when they travel.
I start feeding it a week or so before I leave and continue throughout the trip.
I also give each animal 35cc of procaine penicillin the day before the trip. It seems to stop them from catching shipping fever or a cold.
About 2 weeks previous we would start mixing an envelope of cherry Kool-Aid in our market steers water when we would show at the fair so that they kept drinking.
Good Luck

[CIW]

The horse could have worked his entire life in the woods and only worked in a team. He may not know how to work by himself.
Tie him up till you get someone there to help you.
If he has in fact been worked you may be giving him some kind of signal while you are hitching that is causing him to react the way he is.
Get some onsite help.

[CIW]

I didn’t notice how he powered the Hydra-fork. Did he have a small motor to run the pump, mounted on the sled?
J-L, your wish can come true. Baker Machine is still making them in Neligh, Nebraska.
They originally were mounted on the front of an underslung to pull hay off a 5 ton stack that was slid on.
There is also a model made with a cutter bar on it, to slice hay off the stack, onto a belt, then it was fed into a feed bunk.
They can be bought used for less than $1,000 anywhere along state highway 20, in Ne.
Did you buy a round baler? I’m still working on a hydralic round bale mover/unroller that you can pull with Huff & Ruben or a tractor. I finally found a source for an accumulator a few weeks ago.

[CIW]

I have my Jack driving in a full ring snaffle. Jacks, in general, have very gentle mouths but have to be driven in a proactive manner. They also must be given plenty of time to think something through for themselves. What often happens is that we get in a hurry with them and try to force them through to our own preconceived result. The end is an animal that reacts hard. Thus where donkeys get the reputation of being tough mouthed.
People who have had donkeys around will confirm that they can learn from repeatedly watching other animals go through a certain proceedure. When asked to go through that process they will often just do it as though they had been doing it for many years. I also have seen this in my own animals.
Just be gentle handed and let the donkey choose the speed for a while. Once he has gotten a good grasp on the task at hand he will repeat it the same way each time asked. Unfortunetly that is also true when he has learned something thew wrong way. So be aware.
Theres a pic of my Jack and son driving 15 min. after we first harnessed him. I think the Jack was about 6 or 7 yo. then.

[CIW]

I’ve been building bits now for about 20 years. Some of what taught me was information and patterns from the very blacksmith that made the bits that J-L has at the ranch.
There are ways to relieve the pressure that is causing the horse to throw his head. It makes the weight of the bit rest on the lip instead of the jaw and also reduces the amount of pinch on the tongue.
Some of the bit designs have been made with no reward in them. No release. Thats where some of these odd habits come into play.
Also loosening the bit down a notch will make the horse pick the bit up and hold it. Head throwing is a symptom of a horse that was never taught to hold a bit or is getting no reward or relief.
More often a horse that hangs its tongue out is due to irritation on the tongues surface causing it to go numb. He’s just solving the problem by hanging it out the side of his mouth. Getting away from the pressure.
There’s a misconseption about the inate power of a snaffle mouthed bit. It is the most severe bit that can be put in the mouth to exert lateral pressure, (To make the horse give to the side.) and if not used gentle enough can cause callusing. That will then render the bit nearly useless.
Its kind of like going down the road with your foot on the brake pedal. It eventually just wears the brakes out.
There are so many different ways that pressure can be applied to an animal that changing bits may not need to be going to a more severe bit, but one that applies a different kind of pressure, that works better with that particular animal or teaching of a certain command.
Another thing that will alter the way an animal reacts to a bit is the angle of pull from the drive lines or reins.
These are some of the things that aren’t taught to todays horsemen. We are several generations away from those who knew the information about building an animals mouth.

[CIW]

This is one of those cases where less is more. A horse can feel a fly land on its hair. They have highly developed hearing.
It stands to reason that they only need you to ask in those manners and levels.
Before I got my mares they had competed pulling. They get high, really quick. Thats why I was able to get them. They kept running away with the old man and he didn’t have the means to work them through it.
They taught me that the lower and more gentle I asked for something. Anything. The more compliant they were. Always trying to get softer.
I have had great sucess dealing on this level. They know exactly where I am at and actually have started interpreting my body language alone. Something like the movement of my head will cause their movement. Especially the one that tended to get high the easiest.
The other thing that I have become aware of is my position in relationship to what I was asking them to do.
Also mules excell at this level of communication.
I hope this helps

[CIW]

We’ve been doing something a little different this year than years previous. We have been feeding 5 gal. of soaked beet pulp. (2 gal. dry pellets) To this I add 1 cup of corn oil, 1 gal. whole oats, 1/2 gal. Safe & Sound. Also 60 lbs. of grass hay.
This is for a team of 1900 lb. open mares. This is working really well.
Where we buy all our winter feed we are finding that the $ output is less with a little additional effort to take the beet pulp to the house and filling the buckets with water for soaking.
We are hitching about 4 days of the week. Working 3 to 5 hrs. in the snow & on the roads. The mares are lean and fit. Its pretty tough to get them to break a sweat.
Only recently have I started adding the corn oil. Its adding a little oil to their hair and skin which in turn helps keep the mud from sticking. It also seems to up there energy a little bit.

I do have to say though. Don’t let J-L kid ya by the way he wrote in his previous post. Just hay and a little oats when its really cold.
I have seen first hand that he should be called the “Candy Man”. He walks around with a pocket load of cow cake. He’s always slipping those mules, Huff & Ruben, 2 or 3 pieces at a time.
Those mules will give a low hu, hu, hu, trying to get his attention each time he walks by. I’ve never seen it, but I wonder if he doen’t give them a little hug now and then.
Straight up, they work hard for him and he treats them very well. And with the highest reguard. I think they have such a high level of trust in him that they would go right off the side of the dugway if he pointed them off of it.
Your friend
CIW

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