[Ellen Anderson]

Let’s see if I can post. I must need to pay dues. Can I do it on the site now?
Hope everyone in NE has survived this winter.

[Ellen Anderson]

We had a mechanic look at the brakes. He unlocked them. Who knew they were locked? I got a heavy duty axle so hydraulic breaks were required. So far still haven’t used them but the mechanic said they looked fine.

[Ellen Anderson]

I am having the same experience with the paint. It is flaking all over. I am treating the rusty spots and will have to repaint. Very strange to have it do this. I guess I assumed the metal was powder coated.
We got hydraulic brakes and they don’t work but I haven’t asked a mechanic to look at them yet because we don’t really need them.

[Ellen Anderson]

Hi, Jen and others
I really liked the Equistar website last time I looked at it. But it isn’t very interactive, is it? Threaded discussion groups are really hard to do well and I can’t say I have any expertise. But IMHO the very best threaded discussions used to take place over on the USENet. That turned into Yahoo users groups and, though I follow some, I don’t think they work as well as they could.
I would be happy to help look at that long scary document with you guys.
I called Jack Kittridge over at NOFA and asked him who designed his website. He said it was his son’s company in Maryland though his son didn’t do it personally. I have the number if you want to get a second opinion or proposal. It sounds to me as though their webmaster is too busy to take on anyone else. But designing the site and being the master are two different things, right?
Does anyone know of a website, with a threaded discussion that works really well? I can’t think of one myself but if anyone has one I would love to see it. I know of several sites where things have gotten so confusing that no one reads them anymore.

[Ellen Anderson]

Sorry, Andy, I didn’t mean to be provocative. NOFA is more thinly staffed than you might think. Nevertheless, they clearly have more resources than we do.

[Ellen Anderson]

How does NOFA do it? They must have thousands of members and they attach their newsletter as a downloadable pdf. One easy way would be to tell all members that they must put DAPNEt into their email approved list.
Would you all consider hiring NOFA’s webmaster? I have no idea who that is but Jack Kittridge is a computer wizard and he might be very willing to help. Would you like me to ask him?

[Ellen Anderson]

Thanks, all. I got the new bit from Meader last week and we have been using it since then. What an impressive big thing it is. I have never used anything but a snaffle. The first day she was antsy about it, but now she is fine. We have just been logging. After this storm passes we will be back at it.

I am waiting until I have more help – and maybe even an experienced driver – before I try the cart again. But the bit just barely fit on my existing bridle so at least that problem is solved. I will develop a battle plan and run it by you all. Looking for my Doc Hamill DVD. If the lights don’t go out I might have time to watch it tonight.

[Ellen Anderson]

I really appreciate all of these comments and am sending them around to my support team. I ordered the bit from Meader and it should be here by Wednesday. We will keep the cart in an enclosed area for the foreseeable future.

[Ellen Anderson]

I think I have the Doc Hamil DVD. I had better watch it!

[Ellen Anderson]

Fanny was at Larry Poulin’s for one month when she was 3 years old. She pulled a cart every day. It was not a forecart, it didn’t rattle and the harness was not a D-ring.
She pulled the cart all of the way down the driveway, down the street and up the driveway and around the barnyard. She stopped and started fine. We used the snaffle bit that we have been using for logging. The trouble started when we went to go around the other way. The cart hit a low part of the driveway and made a big clattering noise. It was also a bit steep so the breeching may have goosed her. She just spooked and took off.
She has never done anything like this before and I have owned her since she was a yearling. Mostly she is a very calm sensible horse. Maybe it was a combination of the clattering, the breeching and the lack of rein control.
We have been working her in harness every day since the wild ride.
I am going to order the bit from Meader. I don’t know that it will fit on the bridle I got with the harness from Bob Boynton. I am going to need a 5 1/2″ bit and that means I have to shorten the strap on the bridle and it may not have room.

[Ellen Anderson]

I will be harrowing and spreading manure. I will not be plowing on the hillside though.

[Ellen Anderson]

Can’t find the number!!

[Ellen Anderson]

I always soak beet pulp. If you do it with most beet pulp you will see how dirty it is and you will probably want to rinse it. I now buy
organic, GMO-free beet pulp called “Speedi-Beet” because I also soak and feet it to my dairy goats. It is very clean.
My belgian cross mare is an easy keeper and she doesn’t get it in the summer. In the winter I give her about 4 cups each night in
about 2.5 gallons of warm water with chopped carrots, apples, one cup of carb-safe complete and a scoop of Focus Hoof. She really
loves that on a cold winter night!
Speedi-Beet is super expensive. I wish we produced something like that in the US. This is being imported from England, I think!

[Ellen Anderson]

Maybe leave him on the agenda for the moment. I am very curious about what he is proposing.

[Ellen Anderson]

Hi all – I have been busy finishing a big project and have been out of touch, I know. Yes, Monday nights work for me – also with reminders as I tend to fade at the end of the day. This will be a phone conference, right? I don’t have enough band width to do webinars and videoconferencing online.
When do you want to come out with the newsletter, by the way? I have written up the Winter Logging workshop a bit but would like a deadline please so I can procrastinate right until the last minute but not a minute later!
Mission statement is very important, I think. Do we think of this group as a “re-skilling” effort? I guess I do since I am building animal power and farming skills for me and my family. If this is part of our mission, there are a large number of blogs to which we might link. That would be more effective in reaching our audience than newspaper articles. We could also put articles in the local horse magazines scattered throughout New England. I forwarded the notice for the Winter Logging Workshop to the two big horse organizations in my area and did get several inquiries though no one showed up and the workshop.
Still trying to find even one person who knows Flintlock Farm in Harvard. Amazed that I haven’t succeeded yet.
If someone will tell me how to post a photo to this page I will send a pic of my 7-yr old mare, Fanny Buckingham, wearing one of Bradley Teeter’s harnesses (it was way too big.) We got measurements; Bradley recommended a harness supplier and we will soon be twitching small logs – I hope. This sort of one-on-one mentoring will be a necessary component of getting more horses into harness IMHO. The workshops connect us and then we branch out from there. Plus, it may be a good business model for some local horse people.

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