[dominiquer60]

Welcome aboard, I think you will find some good people and advice in this group. I look forward to sharing with each other,
erika

[dominiquer60]

I forgot about Duke, another random Belgian cross. Here he is 8 years old, he was rescued and gelded that spring before he was assigned to me, well once I found out there was a draft coming to our breaking and training class I requested him. This was the first horse that I ever trained to saddle and the second to harness, he was great. He is too big for what I would like, but his attitude was priceless. He came to us with no known training other than a few minutes to get on the trailer for the trip to school. I even had to work on getting him to stand tied, the first time we tried to give him a bath, we were more wet than he was. After a couple hard weeks he settled right down and accepted his tasks. After 4 weeks he would stand ground tied while I took a hose to any part of his body even his face without any resistance. In 8 weeks, we walk, trot, cantered, bare back too, stood ground tied, and drove single all over the place, it took him 60 seconds to agree to load to go home and as far as I know the customers were thrilled with the big guy. Another great grade draft that I had the pleasure of working with.
Erika

[dominiquer60]

I forgot about Duke, another random Belgian cross. Here he is 8 years old, he was rescued and gelded that spring before he was assigned to me, well once I found out there was a draft coming to our breaking and training class I requested him. This was the first horse that I ever trained to saddle and the second to harness, he was great. He is too big for I would like, but his attitude was priceless. He came to us with no known training other than a few minutes to get on the trailer for the trip to school. I even had to work on getting him to stand tied, the first time we tried to give him a bath, we were more wet than him. After a couple hard weeks he settled right down and accepted his tasks. After 4 weeks he would stand ground tied while I took a hose to any part of his body even his face without any resistance. In 8 weeks, we walk, trot, cantered, bare back too, stood ground tied, and drove single all over the place, it took him 60 seconds to agree to load to go home and as far as I know the customers were thrilled with the big guy. Another great grade draft that I had the pleasure of working with.
Erika

[dominiquer60]

Love it 😉

[dominiquer60]

Thank you, she is built for it, but the two things wrong with Dolly is that: 1. She is not mine and I could never bare to take her away from the children. 2. She is bombproof under saddle but is a ball of nerves in harness just ground driving, I am sure that it could be dealt with but at 31 it would not be kind to put her to work. She does remain an ideal model of what I would someday like to own and work myself, and I am always thankful for the memories that she is a part of.
Erika

[dominiquer60]

We would love to have you, 90 east to 91 north in Mass, it’s 5 miles from the highway. There are usually a couple great food vendors at this event, pulled local pork, great soups and deep fried cheesecake! Not to forget Erik’s great breads and baked goods too!

[dominiquer60]

Thank you both for your suggestions. Dave I tried yours first since it involved keeping the images on my own computer, and it worked great. Check them out on the Draft Cross post.
Thanks Again,
Erika

[dominiquer60]

This is Dolly, she is a Belgian cross of some sort, she measures just under 15 hands. Her full time job is at a thereaputic riding farm for handicapped kids and their families. She is excellent at her job and is often used for back rides where the therapist and the child ride at the same time. Dolly was my 4-H project way back when, she is absolutely boob proof, you can trail ride her over, under and through anything as long as you can stay on while she makes it happen. She wins the hearts of everyone she touches, we even won the 4-H show my last year against some seasoned horse show brats and their thoroughbreds. She is an amazing little horse, I would love to find a pair her size, type and temperament someday.

[dominiquer60]

Welcome Pirate-Farmer, if you go to the top of this page you will find this link http://www.animalpowerfielddays.org/. DAP, this discussion group, is the direct result of a brainstorm idea at the first annual NEAPFD in 2007. Carl Russell and wife Lisa McCrory of Earthwise farm are responsible for getting the event and this online forum started, they are wonderful people.

[dominiquer60]

Nice footage, I am glad that you were able to share this with us. On a side note, I really like how simple cattle equipment can be compared to horse harness.

Erika

[dominiquer60]

At college we fed a group of horses a very low vitamin E diet to study the negative neuro-muscular side effects, it was a sad looking bunch of horses, but more ideal to study the deficiency when you know exactly what they eat. My point to think about is that in order to keep vit E to a minimum they got extra cooper in their diet that bound to the vit E in order to keep it from being absorbed. With so many factors to consider there is no shame in sending a sample of your unknown feedstuffs for nutritional analysis. I think its great that there are still people keeping horses on simple diets, it would blow your mind to see what some of these fancy show horses in Florida are fed.
Erika

[dominiquer60]

Friends of mine raise Angus, the youngest son wanted a pair of young Charolais heifers that they saw at a sale. They were the rankest show animals that they ever brought to any fair, even after more handling and training than the Angus. One heifer was beefed after numerous attempts to get her bred, the other delivered her calf while she was down hill half way in the pond, she died but fortunately the calf was still alive when they found him after work. Bottle feeding did him wonders, he was a superstar at two county fairs and is the easiest bull to handle on the farm.

[dominiquer60]

Bivol,
Did you ever post this gathering? it would be interesting to see what you taped.
erika

[dominiquer60]

Joshua,
There are women your age interested in your lifestlye, I have had a hard time myself. A mentor of mine, just turned 94, once told me that if I wanted to find someone to grow old with, than I would have to make myself more available. So I did, and it has worked so far, he is not a draft man, but he can see them fitting in very well with his corn/hay/egg/veggie operation. A hundred years ago his ancestors were well known for their milking shorthorns. His father has already offered a corner of the cattle barn to keep a pair of calves. You know, just in case I find myself (I currently live in an apartment) in a situation where I need to buy calves all of a sudden. I suppose its just pops way of saying that I am welcomed and could fit in. Anyway I know that there are indeed young folks looking for other ‘draft friendly’ halves, just open your eyes, get your nose out of the books/computer and get off the farm and look. They don’t have to be as crazy as we are, just support it. (that’s a royal DAP “we”)

Erika

[dominiquer60]

I know a guy that just did silage in a pile for his first 2 milking guernseys. He piled a little heap packed it down with the tractor and covered tight with the good plastic. He has a hillside bunk now that he milks 16, has young stock and a dozen belted beef animals. Start simple and see what works for you.

Erika

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