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Out of date??? Does that mean you don’t think I’ll be able to fit those spinner hubcaps on there?? Say it ain’t so!

Yeah, the bearings could be an issue if they need replacing.

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Maytown, Washington? This is over in western Idaho… not too far from Spokane.

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Donn, by “bolt on an implement seat” do you mean cut the existing seat post off and put a new, longer one on and bolt a seat to it? I’m trying to figure out if there’s something that can be done with the existing seat post. The forecart is $50, so don’t call the Better Business Bureau yet.

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Yeah, if I were the welding type I would just start fabricating. But I don’t weld yet. I’ll have my neighbor tack on a chicken bar and maybe some expanded steel grate for a deck. I have a spare evener and neck yoke. Just not sure what to do about the seat. It looks like the guy who built it had something specific in mind… just can’t figure what it might have been.

I’m not actually going to drive for it. That was just the condensed version. In actuality, my brother lives in the area. He can pick it up and store it for me, delivering it next time he heads over my way.

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Just wanted to mention that our goats are satisfied with our dog, a horse, or a person for company. They don’t necessarily require another goat. Just a companion that makes them feel safe.

Easier to feed when the animals have similar nutritional and fencing needs, though. Couldn’t free-feed the dog her kibble when she was housed with the goat. Had to have separate mealtimes. While the horses just need a strand or two of hotwire, the goat could easily duck into the nearby garden and do a number on the strawberries, so long as the horses were nearby for company.

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Sounds like how I went about it. Didn’t have any one to help, so just muddled through alone.

Wanted to mention that I’m not sure about the shape of your beam. Let me take a photo of mine so you can see what I mean.

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You’re talking about driving single hitched to a wheeled vehicle with shafts?

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Hey, how did this plow work out for you? Any updates?

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Depending on how the collar is sitting you might be able to just use a top-pad. It, in effect, shortens the collar by about an inch or so without changing the width.

Some parts of the year (winter, for example) I use the collar without a pad. Sometimes I add a top pad. During the height of her allergy season when my horse paces and stamps all the time, she’ll lean out enough that I use a full pad to shim the collar out.

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Since you aren’t sure how your plow is going to perform, I’d say have someone else drive the horse at first so you can focus on feeling your plow.

So it’s a wood beam. Did you have the original beam to use as a pattern for the one you made? Can you post a photo of your plow?

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All of which didn’t address your question about side draft. Sorry. Got all excited about someone wanting to plow single.

I’d say just try it. If you find that you are fighting the plow too much, move the clevis to the left or kick the heel of the beam over if you have an adjustable beam plow. If you can’t get it to straighten up and fly right, you might have a worn landside. You could also possibly get a horizontal bridle on the front of your plow that has a wider range of adjustment. Some plows only have a few holes in the horizontal bridle, some have many. So much of the adjustment on plow performance is most effectively done as trial-and-error rather than trying to reason it out ahead of time.

Don’t get me wrong – measuring and doing the math is good when trying to figure out if you should buy that old plow or if it’s only going to be good for decoration in someone’s garden. But if you’re sure the beam isn’t sprung and there seems to be enough wing and landside and suction on the bottom, hitch up to it and give it a whirl. The proof is in the puddin.

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I plow with an Oliver 10N and a single horse. The horse walks on the land, fairly close to the furrow. It can be a bit more challenging initially to plow with a single horse rather than with a team because walking “near” the furrow isn’t as cut-and-dried, isn’t as easy to teach, and isn’t as easy for a horse to remember as walking “in” the furrow. But it isn’t too tough and I feel that it might perhaps be a bit more rewarding than plowing with a team. But I’m a bit biased! 😀

If you and the horse are both fairly green at plowing single, I recommend you do one of two things:

Either have someone handle the lines while another person handles the plow, till the horse learns where he is supposed to walk

OR

Open a fairly straight furrow however you can and then drive the horse alongside the furrow, without the plow. Teach the horse to walk alongside the furrow and use the first furrow as a guideline. Drive the horse back and forth alongside the furrow several times till you find that you aren’t having to do much to guide him.

Then hitch to your plow and you shouldn’t have to do as much steering of the horse and can pay attention to your plowing. When the horse knows where to walk and shifts down into a nice slow granny-gear and you’ve got your plow set up right, everything goes smoothly and it’s a really beautiful thing!

Good luck! I love to see people working single horses.

Oh, one other thing: single horse plows are smaller than those plows designed to be drawn by a team. They cut a narrower furrow so it will be a little more difficult for you walking behind the plow in the furrow. When things get going smoothly, you might try stepping out of the furrow and walking on the land with the horse and just putting one hand on the plow to steady it. If your horse doesn’t go quite slow enough, you will find yourself stumbling in the narrower furrow and giving unintentional signals with the lines. This moves the horse and frustrates everyone. So for maximum success, keep the horse slow.

Edited to add: sorry Shepherd, didn’t see that you had already covered the narrow furrow issue.

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I haven’t read through all the replies but in your latest post you mention how your horse “flew into the load” when you “released” him.

Perhaps you could bring his energy down a few notches (which hopefully will result in better manners when asked to stand) if you worked on getting him to start more softly. Can’t say just what you’ll need to do to accomplish that… probably a combination of things. Maybe hold him tighter and only eeeeeeease up on the line pressure as he is moving off. Maybe soften your “go forward” cue – whatever that is (kiss, smooch, cluck, “walk”) – so you are only barely touching the throttle and not mashing on the gas pedal (not saying that is what you are doing).

There are times when I have to start a load with fairly firm contact on my horse’s mouth to keep her from trying to lunge with it. Dropping down into granny gear and slowly but steadily lugging the load along is harder than slamming into it and trying to power the load out quickly. I know my horses would be hitting the load hard if I let them.

You horse seems to be anticipating a high-energy situation, but I can’t tell if he is dreading the energy or looking forward to it.

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I really like the super-fat bar-shaped “logging bits” of yesteryear, however I have yet to find one larger than a 6″. Both my mares take a 6.5″ bit and one would actually be more comfortable in a 6.75″ in some cases. I guess I will eventually have to stretch a couple of 6″ bits to get them to fit. And by “stretch” I mean cut in half and add a bit of metal to the middle.

Many a cheap mullen-mouth bar or broken-mouth snaffle bit that comes with a headstall is chrome-plated. Once that chrome plating starts to flake off, the raw edges of the plating can be razor-sharp. I use stainless or base metal, some of which may or may not have copper somewhere on the mouthpiece. All the chrome-plated bits that come through my place get tossed or used in art.

I have tried most of the shanked driving bits out there but my horses object to the curb chain. In my case, I have found that if I can’t get it out of them with a bar or broken-mouth snaffle, I won’t be getting it out of them with any other sort of bit. I end up trading one problem for another. So for driving I stick with any one of several types of snaffle bits: mullen-mouth bar, D-ring, full-cheek. I have had a loose-ring snaffle pinch before, but my mares have awful fleshy lips.

I do have a low port curb grazing bit with a leather curb strap that I use for riding. Both my mares seem happy in it.

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You need a hotter fence. Either your fence isn’t sufficiently grounded or the charger is too weak for the amount of wire you are trying to power. Don’t forget that if you are using tape, there are several minute wires in each ribbon of tape. Tape and polyrope draws the charger down more than plain wire. Can’t use as many feet of tape/rope as wire and still have the charger deliver a good zap.

Make sure your fence tester isn’t just a yes/no on/off type single bulb unit. Get one that has several bulbs that show you just how hot your fence really is. You might need to add more grounding rods in series or water the ground at your rods from time to time to get better ground. Check, double-check and triple-check all your connections and test the fence after each splice.

Myself, I use three strands of smooth, very hot wire on capped T-posts set at roughly 8 to 10 foot intervals. Ideally, one day I’ll have crossbraced wood corner posts but I haven’t gotten there yet.

Horses can hurt themselves on just about anything. Mine would be in greater danger of injury if they escaped from the pasture than they are from the fence itself.

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