[Donn Hewes]

Hi Bob, Just for the sake of a rainy day discussion I have often heard folks say this.

“It gives you much more precise control and I think it must be easier on the horses’ mouths.”

I use the other system – two short checks from hames to bit; one on the left and one on the right. I own a set of the three abreast lines and use them when driving Five a breast (and have used them to drive three many times). I use regular team lines with four short checks when driving four also.

I think intuitively we all assume that control and easier on the horses must be true. My only argument that it may not be so is in my experience I have not found it to be true. Look at the videos of Baling with four our tedding with three. I like to use my team limes because of the simplicity it provides. Short checks remain on all my harnesses all the time. Anyone is always ready to work any where in a two, three, or four horse hitch. Too wet to do much today, but try and tie down my hoop house! Donn

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Erika, My computer does know what file type that is or how to open it. When I wish the computer to be smarter than me it isn’t; and when I wish it wasn’t it is!

There is a good description of these lines in Lynn Miller’s workhorse hand book, page 236. It suggests the short check is 6′ long and the longer one is apx. 8′ long. Start by placing them at 5’8″ and 7’4″, but have 6″ of holes either way to fine tune your spacing.

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Stephen, I believe you are planning to use the offset evener, right? I think Georges suggestion is a good one. You can lay out the evener and measure how much room is lost. Two links off the back doesn’t really tell us how much room the Fiords have (how long the remaining tugs are); especially the space behind them. When the team of two is hitched and walking how much room until they hit the evener? Donn

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Tracey, If you have good harness one option that you have is converting it to D ring. With side backer harness in good condition you costs to convert it would be the 2 Drings for each horse and some metal clips that go over the cut end of the tugs. You might also need an extra buckle on each side strap. Just another possibility. It is fun, but also a little nerve racking to cut into a nice tug. if you are interested I could help you with more details or suggestions. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Rich, Do you know David Fisher? he is in central Mass. and just finishing a new barn that will handle loose hay with a trolley. He might be a good person to reference if you are anywhere close to him. Google natural roots farm.

[Donn Hewes]

Tom, Where are you located? I am selling a good grimm tedder this spring. $800 on steel wheels. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Erica, I told you I would write if you wrote! Great advice so far, and great question by the way. For established farmers or families it can be so hard (or impossible) to get away for a big chunk of time just to learn a new skill. This is a big challenge, but not insurmountable. I would break it down into two parts. The first is figuring out exactly what you want. Once again a lot of short farm visits were you get to actually work with different sizes and breeds (and cattle) will be the best way to making a good first step in bringing animals home.

The next thing I would do is figure out what the tasks you hope to accomplish are. Through you farm visits and work with other folks figure out what the easiest one or two tasks from your list are to perform with a draft animal. Then when you start learning some basic skills, make sure you learn everything you can about this one or two tasks. The purpose and goal for this is to be ready to perform these tasks the day you bring something home. Often when folks bring their first horse home they have everything, but part of the harness is missing. It might take six months to get that piece. sometime they hope to skid logs and they have everything but the chain. It will be a month or two before they get to the hardware to pick up the chain. I would like to the animal to be unloaded in the morning and working in the afternoon. ps. I am available that day if you would like a hand!

Then you can keep practicing this basic skill while you are preparing to add each new task you want to accomplish.

[Donn Hewes]

Another link. I think this one will work!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7e6tMaZdyPg&feature=youtu.be&noredirect=1

[Donn Hewes]

I have less experiences plowing, and less demand, than farmers that produce vegetables or grains for sale, but I have been building the skill and tools for the last few years on small plots. Last year I did about three acres. I imagine that many of us are plowing with the plow we have versus a distinct preference. At least that is true with me.

I have a 12″ or 14″ Syracuse walking plow. While I don’t think it was originally intended as a three horse plow (the beam would be shifted a little to the left), I often use it that way. I have plowed a lot of shod as i have worked into old pastures, and I find the extra horse makes the work easier. In the last couple years i have upgraded new handles and last spring Sam Rich (CT horse farmer and Plow Champ) rebuilt the point on the plow.

There is a funny thing about making the work easier. When you start plowing for the first time your horses may well be all over the place. It is very hard to get your plow adjusted right and to learn how the basic movements steer the plow while this is going on. The horses may also start and stop as the work seems heavier than they are use to (also because you are distracted by the plow). Each of these problems is a positive feed back loop for the others!

Making the draft lighter will help reverse one of those positive feed back loops. Soon, your horses will start and not stop so readily while you are figuring out the plow. Once that happens you will start to get the plow bridle adjusted so it runs straight and takes the right amount with each pass. Finally the horses will walk a little slower with out stopping and that will help you learn how to tip the plow left and right to make it go where you want and help it around rocks.

This is when some smart aleck comes along and says, “that plow only needs two horses”! just wave and keep going. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

Interestingly, my wife and I were having the same conversation recently. She was explaining to me all the possible positive effects of robotic milkers. While we milk 45 sheep with a small compressor and vacuum milkers, I don’t think I have to worry about robots here anytime soon. In my opinion it is industrialization pure and simple. Now, we must all admit that many jobs no one thinks they want to do have been replaced by industrialization, but in my view it has also led to the break down of local economies and communities.

While I personally would love to see this process reversed for the sake of the environment and communities, I don’t expect it to happen in anything less than a economic collapse scenario. As long as there is money to be made someone will be figuring out the cheapest, fastest way to make the most of it.

I am standing ready with my pitch fork to replace my tractor bucket, I just have to figure out who the three other people are that will take the other forks out of my hands so we can all start loading. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Stephen, I am pretty sure they make a boot like that, but I can say for sure I wouldn’t put much faith in them. There certainly are days when it is too icy to work horses, but at least for me the logging trails have not iced over as often as the drive way or anything plowed like that. Most days a horse can work in the woods just fine. The extra power and confidence a true logging horse gets from his shoes is used to move more merchantable timber with less effort each day. Something the homesteader / fire wood harvester doesn’t really have to worry about. I plowed my driveway with horses every time but once so far this year, and I coulda (shoulda, woulda!) used horses that day.

[Donn Hewes]

In thinking about Carl’s post in the member diaries, and being inside with a head cold; I thought I would write a little about how I approach teaching a horse to stand. First I need to be clear about what it is I want. (Of course after I wrote all this I realized there already was a great thread that covered most of it. I must really be sick!)

For the green untrained horse it is to stand still while I move around it. The important thing in this case is that I am focusing all my attention on the animal and keeping its attention on me by touching it, and watching for the first sign that it can’t stand much longer. This is when you ask it to move and it has stood still successfully for the first time. Standing like this is usually a pretty easy thing to achieve. You start by asking a horse to move around you. There is more to it of course but pretty soon they are happy to change places and stand still while you walk around them. I follow this by teaching a horse to brush, pick up its feet, trim their feet and be harnessed all while standing untied. For my purposes I fee this is preparing them for what will come next. So far all the standing has been accomplished by me focusing a huge amount of attention on them. What will make them move? How long can they stand for? When to bring on the next piece.

Once I start driving this horse it is time for the next level of learning to stand. This is where I introduce standing while I pay varying amounts of attention to the animal and they learn to stand for longer and longer periods on their own dime. Some folks suggest that they taught a horse to stand in basic training and it has stood anywhere, anytime, ever since. That has not been my experience. I find that I need to gradually build their ability to stand independently and my expectations of them over time to ensure success and safety. Initially I create situations where it only appears to the horse that I am not paying attention, but actually I still have complete control. Get off the cart and hang up the lines, but stand some where in front and to the side, so you can reach the horse’s head easily. Talk to some one for a minute while the horse waits. Or get off the cart and leave the lines in you hands with lots of slack, facing half away from the horse while talking to someone or fiddle with something, but also never taking your eye off of them. Gradually you can figure out what their limits are. Filling a manure spreader by hand while the horses face away from the barn is a relatively easy thing to teach. Start by being aware of where the lines are and stay close enough to reach them easily.

At this point it is good to learn to use your voice, usually a little tsk, tsk or something, to correct a horse that has moved it feet or tried to think about eating or rubbing. While I know I do it, I don’t like to repeat the word whoa, I have already given the command to stop. But once one of these green horses starts to walk away, you must be in a position to recover the lines. Saying whoa to a horse that has started to walk away with out the lines to reinforce the command, will often result in the horse speeding up.

Standing unaided is an incredibly useful tool and safety feature on the farm, but what is it really for? and what are the limits? I have met horses that never learned to stand well, and it usually was because no one ever asked them to. I have always considered these horses a little unsafe because even if you are in the habit of tying your horses for every thing you do; unintended situations will still require a horse to stand quietly while you work something out. The most important function of horses that stand well is standing for hitching and unhitching.

There are also many simple farm tasks that can be accomplished while horses stand. Loading a spreader, unloading a hay wagon. But these tasks could also be arraigned so that horses could be tied up. This is where the skill and knowledge of the teamster must come into play. I like to ere on the side of caution. I will fill a spreader by hand with pitch forks. Any of my drafts are capable of this task right now, but when I bring home a new animal I will be very careful to make sure they pass other tests before I use them in this way. I will not fill a spreader with a tractor with unrestrained horses, by myself. I always have some one to head them up while I dump bucket loads into the spreader. It would be too easy to hit the spreader with the bucket and make a horse or mule move. I would be in no position to stop them.

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Peyton, I have been meaning to look more closely at some of those other tractors. Bit I really don’t know any of them well. Don’t really know much about tractors! What did when I went into a barn full of old tractors was I first looked for something I though might have the right size and weight. I think some of the tractors you mentioned would fill that bill. Then try shifting to the levers to see how it works. Ideally if you can a rear wheel of the ground and get the clutch in, you can check several things. is the PTO shaft free spinning? or Locked by second clutch or separate toke off. does it stop spinning if you engage the PTO. Does it go in and out of gear easily? With the tire off the ground you may be able to spin the rear wheel and by putting the transmission in gear and engaging the PTO it should spin. That is a positive test. If you are lucky it will spin different speeds for each gear you put the tractor in. Also change direction in reverse. It sound like a lot of work but it is definitely worth it before you drag it home. If the tires are no good at least make sure you have good rims – a mistake I made.

Tere may be a few photos of us taking it apart on my web album: picasaweb.google.com/mulemandonn

[Donn Hewes]

Thanks Carl, That is a good example of the complexity of teaching horses to stand. We build their ability over time by expecting a little more each time. Some times we over shoot. I am glad no one was hurt.

I find with time I am developing more and more little places to stand as a habit. Maybe I am just getting slower! Just after harnessing I go ten feet out side the barn and stop and drop the lines while I go back and close a door and put up a wire. This little trick has proven to be a very nice way to remind horses of their most important skill, “to stand”. They are standing in the barn yard looking out, where they gona’ go?

Just for other folks who might be reading (I think Carl already knows this!) If I think I can reach the lines on a team or animal that is starting to move, I will go fast for the lines with out saying a word. Then say whoa when I get them in my hands. For green horse that has started to move, your whoa as you are heading for the lines will often just help them accelerate.

Keep it up Carl, and I will talk to you soon, Donn

[Donn Hewes]

In a PTO cart you want to deliver all the weight to the drive wheels. So I didn’t want any front wheels. Also added weight for horses to pull. It that video it was not perfectly balanced and (heavy tongue weight) and I have since built a small frame behind the seat where I mounted one of the wheel weights. That has balanced it perfectly. One interesting thing I learned from Neal is that by design anytime you are driving the PTO shaft that will put down pressure on your tongue. So having the cart wheel balanced is important. I have two tongues specifically for use with D ring harness. While it has worked well for me it is limiting as to how many configurations I can use. the next step up would be five abreast or three more in front. Donn

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