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Will they get in trouble with the EU?

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It’s called an IBC Tote, the standard is 275 gallons but also come in 330 gallons. At my last job we filled them with 250 gal. / 3000 lbs. of honey.

As far as weight: scrap metal, logs, children, bags of salt/concrete/grain/gravel/sand. Maybe some heavily weighted tires on chains like anchors behind the stone boat, not exactly the same as more weight on the stone boat but it may have a similar effect? Attach a shaft to the stone boat and then put wheels with seized or damaged bearings and then have them touching the ground and be turned as the oxen move forward. Increase the force needed to move without adding weight.

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It looks like this will work out well for my minis, especially if I use them in teams. I would have to get the money together without dipping into savings though, it could take a while.

How far apart are the handles? How large are the handles?

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I can’t guarantee he will test it but I would plan on him testing it. I have a couple horses that regularly test the hot fence and one that I can’t use it on because he goes through it. My neighbor had 3 cows in his field so he surrounded his trees with “false” hotwire and the perimeter with live hotwire. The cows ended up pushing through the false hotwire around the trees and he lost the smallest one.

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http://abe.psu.edu/extension/idea-plans/sheep/ip-725-24/view The very last page has a portable shelter.
http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/extension-aben/buildingplans/beef Then perform a search for the word shelter on the page, there are several that are on skids.
http://bioengr.ag.utk.edu/Extension/ExtPubs/PlanList97.htm

There you go, have fun and I hope you find something that works. I don’t think it’s safe using an animal shelter for food purposes, but that’s the most I will say about that.

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http://www.malwarehelp.org/freeware-open-source-commercial-website-security-tools-services-downloads.html

http://safeweb.norton.com/report/show?url=www.draftanimalpower.com
http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/www.draftanimalpower.com
http://sitecheck.sucuri.net/results/www.draftanimalpower.com

All of them say it’s clean now. I also checked draftanimalpowernetwork.org and it was clean.

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Fantastic, thank you. Now I just have to convince my wife that I have to get the collar sooner than we planned. Has anyone converted a small dump cart to be pulled by minis? What are there heights and who did you get the collars and harness through?

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I got the Biothane instead of leather thinking it would be less maintenance. Because it is slightly textured it sticks more around the face and in the rings, and makes it more difficult to keep a light touch. I plan on having a leather one next time. Once line starts sliding freely though I barely have to move my hand and he responds. I really don’t think I could make him lighter on it than on a bit though. The reaction time is at best the same, you potentially have more rein to move. Instead of going straight to the bit you have to take up any extra that goes under the jaw and around the opposite side of the face up to the corner of the cheek. If you aren’t keeping the right amount of pressure on the line then you will have too much slack and it takes a little longer to take up that extra line before the horse gets the full signal. After a lot of training your horse can learn that just feeling the rein on one side start to move, even if it isn’t tight yet, means turn that way. It is easier for you to learn how tight to hold the lines so that the smallest twitch or pull gives your horse the signal you want it to have.

I have a mare on a bit and she does better with it. She is sensitive with having the bitless setup going around her face and tightening under the jaw the way it does. It is easier to go with a bit since she accepts it easily. My stallion is the other way. He took to the bitless bridle but fought a bit all the time. Thankfully my mare has not given me any signs of discomfort while I am driving her with a bit, I hope I truly have been able to keep a soft enough touch up to this point.

A large part of getting a bitless bridle was the limited variety and size of bits for minis. The selection is growing now so if I feel my stallions response ever starts to slow down or dull I will finally have a greater selection of bits that should fit his mouth better. He has a large tongue and a very narrow mouth, even for a mini. So far though he is doing well, comparing him to horses on bits I have no complaints with his performance.

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Donn you are correct. It is like a safety razor: hard to cut yourself but supposedly not as close a shave, harder to injure the horse but not as precise communication. Without communication you have no control. I have found it to be more forgiving to heavy hands, although not encouraged in any way, but can still be sensitive to minor adjustments. It’s like a double edged sword that way. I had to make sure to develop a very light touch when using a bitless bridle, that way the next bitted horse I used would not notice.

And like Okiefarmer and Jen were saying, if it takes any real amount of force then they need more training and to try different bits and bridles. Coming back around to what you were originally saying, teaching/learning comes before all of this. If they haven’t even learned the concepts of what they will be doing they shouldn’t be around the horse. Better yet getting actual experience with a teacher present is worth more than almost any piece of equipment a novice will buy. It was the best thing I ever did when I started driving, before even the horse and the cart.

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I drive my stallion with Dr. Cook’s bitless bridle, I have for 6 years. I replaced the stock blinders with the set from my old headstall but other than that I haven’t had a problem. As far as a run away situation, I had it happen once. My wife brought out another stallion during breeding season and I was driving by. My stallion decided “damn the torpedos, full speed ahead!” I had to do some sawing, starting with short alternating pulls right rein then left, increasingly pulling further each direction as his head turns more and more towards his shoulders. He had to slow down, his view is changing rapidly enough that he can’t compensate for it, nothing is consistently in the same direction.

We have one of our mares using a bit and my stallion in the bitless bridle. I really like the bitless bridle and the biggest complaint I have heard about it, losing connection or sensitivity with the horse, I only experienced until I had time to learn the feel of the bridle and how my horse responds to it. Now I know the exact amount of pressure needed for any turn or stop and I can feel if there is any slack in the line that goes under and around the jaw.

There is an interesting article Dr. Cook wrote about different types of bits and relating them to different types of razors. He compared the bitless bridle with the newest safety razors, anyone of any skill level can use it, horse and rider, and have little worry of injury to the horse. He progressed down the types of bits and equated them to double edged razors, all the way down to the straight edge razor: super fine, very advanced precise communication, high chance of injury or damage in a beginner’s hands. In the end, like Jen said, they were all about communication with the horse.

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I have been looking at collars for him and what I have found for minis are being called driving or buggy collars. I assume that they would be fine for the stress that implements would put on them because of economy of scale: the smaller an object gets the more force it can withstand relative to it’s size. The other way around is something 4 times larger can’t withstand 4 times the same force. Of course I would rather buy the proper collar the first time instead of paying for one that can’t take the stress and then buying the proper one. https://www.mydrafthorse.com and http://www.chimacumtack.com/horseharnessdrivingcollars.shtml

He can haul 2 adults in that cart without a problem. I believe the most weight was between 350-375 plus the cart. The larger wheels help a lot, easier starting and more leverage. He can even take me totally off road and off trails with it. The wide wheelbase and low seat makes it extremely stable. I am embarrassed about the fit of the harness and cart, we were still making adjustments. My friend broke her collar bone a few months ago, her mini spooked, her cart tipped and that’s all she wrote. Her cart was the normal type you see minis pulling, tiny wheels located under a seat that is high up in the air. Well I totally went off on a tangent there.

He is actually one of my finest boned horses but he really has the heart to work, he will do anything for me. I have to be mindful of that and regulate how hard I work him. He will just go until he can’t any more.

Thanks for the compliments guys.

Here is a short video of him driving: Puck Driving – Youtube

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Thank you, everyone, for the warm welcome and your support for the use of minis. I will post a couple old pictures of my stallion, from when I trained him, at the end of this reply. I won’t have access to all of my real files until I get home Thurs. night. BD Casto what type of harness do you use? Jean I would love to see the videos. Do you have pictures of the cultivator? The feeling I get is I am stuck having to make all my own implements, or take existing ones and try to make them lighter and smaller but still structurally sound. I can do light fabrication work, including welding, with the tools I own. But I can’t do projects that require a metal lathe. Robert, I have read that they were used in mines but I don’t know what size they were at that time. Part of the reason I am here is to maximize the usefulness of the horsepower that I already have. “Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”

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You may want to contact Etheridge Seed Farms. They can make recommendations based upon your soil type, drainage, and the types of grass/forage you want in the pasture. IE: Rye, Wheat, Orchard, Brome, Alfalfa, Legume, Fescue… on and on. I purchased my first horse from them several years ago and when I moved not too long ago they helped me set up a new pasture.

I really like Orchard, Rye and Clover mixed but those three work well with my irrigation allowances and climate. How much maintenance are you going to be doing? I don’t know how much you know about pasture management but the less you do the harder it is to keep your pasture diverse and producing high quality forage.

http://www.etheridgeseedfarms.com/frequently-asked-questions.htm
http://www.etheridgeseedfarms.com/types-of-grass-seeds.htm

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