[grey]

For the average start, I do like you described – Pick up the lines, touch the mouths evenly on both sides, wait for the ears to check in with me, then tell them to go with the appropriate amount of energy for the task at hand. If, after I have touched their mouths, I feel like I need to get their attention just a bit more before we go (due to some distraction or other), I will say, “Ladies….” and that will put them on full alert. From there I may say “back” or “come gee” or just give a little kiss.

When I first started out driving, I think I probably did wait for the horses to kind of “walk up into” contact on the lines because I didn’t have the hands yet. You have to take up the contact, and then give with your arms/hands/body as they push into the collars so they don’t bump their mouths as they lean to. I grew up neck-reining bridle and hackamore horses. The contact required for driving was entirely alien.

[grey]

Good for you – be choosey!

[grey]

Red blood is undigested blood. This means it is coming from somewhere downstream of the rumen.

If it was Coccidiosis, I would think there would be diarrhea but I guess that symptom doesn’t necessarily have to be present. I would treat for Coccidiosis, since it can damage the digestive system permanently if left untreated. Corid?

[grey]

And what kind of blood was it? A clot? A few clots? Streaking on the outside of the pile? Streaking throughout? Bright blood? Dark blood?

[grey]

May I ask – where do you acquire your harness and collars? Is it antique equipment that is put to modern use? Or are there craftsmen who still fabricate these items new?

The rope traces with the wooden peg fastening at the collar seems (I beg your pardon) primitive, yet very functional.

[grey]

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/e1abab3c2b/god-made-a-factory-farmer?playlist=featured_videos

[grey]

Thanks Tom, I enjoyed that. When it got to the part about Mountain Dew and Cookie Crisp I did laugh out loud. I think I’ll have to track down the parody and watch the whole thing.

[grey]

I kind of wonder who the target audience was for that commercial. Was it the farmer? Flattering him and buttering him up to get him to buy a Dodge truck? Or was it the non-farmer? Holding up the farmer as a paragon of all that is wholesome and hard-working. “Buy this Dodge truck and you will be standing among the ranks of the noble farmer!”

Either way, I do appreciate that the Noble Farmer seems to now be a hero of mythical proportions. My father-in-law came from a farming family back east. He went to college and became a Noble Stock Broker and his whole family was proud. He was no longer scrabbling in the dirt with the rest of the farmers. He had broken the bonds of the poor dirt-workers and had attained the ranks of the salary man with clean fingernails and shiny shoes. He lived in the suburbs and had a few citrus trees in the back yard and very nice landscaping. White shag carpeting in the formal living room. Automatic sprinklers for the 10’x10′ patch of lawn. The family back east would probably be alarmed and confused to know that we are now farming with horses BY CHOICE and don’t have a single scrap of carpet in the whole house. I doubt they would see the “God Made A Farmer” commercial in the same light. But then, they probably don’t watch much television. Or buy brand-new trucks.

[grey]

If it’s more than just an inopportune moment… if you need to be left alone while you work for an hour or two at a stretch, then maybe you need to take the person aside and explain about the amount of attention that you need to pay to your animals while you are working them. People who don’t do it, don’t understand it. They don’t understand how much active participation is required of the teamster to keep things running smoothly. How much of your focus is necessary to see the subtle shift of intent and head things off before they become a noticeable problem. How much of your attention is occupied just by being near the animals that are under your supervision.

[grey]

When I bring a horse in, there is nearly always (say, 90% of the time) some kind of snack in store as soon as they get in the barn. Usually we go straight for the tie stalls where there might be a bit of hay or a few alfalfa cubes or a scattering of oats in the manger. I might start the pre-harness grooming in the tie stall, then later move the horse into the aisle for harnessing. Or I might leave them to stand in the tie stall while I go other chores. They know there is work in store but the immediate short-term enjoyment of even a small snack is still sufficient to overcome any reluctance they might have about giving up their leisure time and clocking in to work.

[grey]

When they ask a question at an inopportune moment, don’t answer right away. Wait until the moment you would have preferred they had asked. If you are forced to acknowledge the asker, to stave off additional repetitions of the question, a lifted finger (to show “one moment”) or a quick “Hang on…” should suffice for all but the most dense.

People who don’t work animals don’t understand about nonverbal communication bandwith requirements.

[grey]

The “excitement” video is a good demonstration of why it is better to be on board rather than on foot when the horse is pulling something. Exacerbated, of course, by the poor footing (for the two-footed). At the very least, the driver should be clear of the turning radius of both animal and vehicle. My butt puckered, watching the driver regain his footing and stand for several seconds too long between the animal and the sled. But no blood appears to have been shed, so rather than it being a disaster, it is a learning experience!

[grey]

I just noticed that your hames don’t sit right on the collar. The top hame strap feeds through a loop on either hame. The loop can sit in one of three notches on the hame rachet. You are in the top notch. You either need to come down one notch or tighten the top hame strap. Perhaps both. If you look in the photos, the bottom of the hames sit too low. They should be up snugly in the hame bed, just under the rim of the collar.

[grey]

Otherwise, looking really good! Are you having fun yet????

[grey]

Collar looks okay to me. Looks like it *fits*, rather than slops around. I see many many collars that are too big for the horse and few that *fit*. The photo with the hand though the throat of the collar…. was that with the collar pressed back against the horse? With the collar pressed against the horse you still had room for that much of your hand? If so, then I’d say it fits.

When looking at the shafts as an entity unto themselves, they do still need to be let down a bit…. particularly the one on the horse’s right. Is that shaft bent upward a little? HOWEVER! The height of any cart’s shafts should be adjusted up or down until the seat of the cart is level. If the shafts need to be where they are in order to make the seat level, then the cart is a bit too tall for the horse and we’ll have to stop giving you a hard time about it because “it is what it is”.

In the photo taken from the horse’s right side, it is apparant that the holdbacks need to be tightened. The cart has “run up” on the horse. The additional length you provided for the traces has given you the ability to put the horse far enough out on the shaft to put the point of the shaft at the correct place on the shoulder. However, you need to tighten the holdbacks to *keep* the horse out there and not let the cart roll up when you slow down or stop.

Now, as for the angle of draft… If you look at the traces, you will see that the angle of the trace is “broken” at the belly band. The belly band is doing its job and maintaining the 90-degree angle relationship between the hame and the trace. On this type of cart (or this SIZE of cart, perhaps), yes, the point of draft (edited to say: I should have said “point of hitch” and not “point of draft”) is a bit high. This is not as efficient for the horse as if the point of hitch were a bit lower, allowing the trace to maintain its natural straight line from the hame. However, I don’t think that you will be doing any harm using the cart the way it is. If you use the cart in a manner that finds the horse reaching the limits of her ability, just know that it is plausible that you might be able to get a little more out of the horse if the angle of draft was ideal. The amount of trouble you would have to go to in order to lower the hitch point on the cart is probably not worth the additional efficiency you would gain, unless you plan to utilize the cart for work, such as hauling a harrow or logs.

Even then, I don’t know if it would be worth it.

[Author]

Posts