[j.l.holt]

The donkey just keeps the pressure on..He is more stuborn than the cow. Just keeps going and if the cow wants to drink, she needs to do it when the donkey wants one,,or wait till next time.

It works the same way with a bull. The bull starts out pushing him around, but after a day or so the tables turn and the donkeys boss.

[j.l.holt]

When I load, I do everything to load so the horese are rideing backwards. With 70% of their body weight on the front end, the smallest quick stop sends them head first. They have very little chance holding them selves back.
Standing backward, if they crash into the wall they hit their hips and back side, not their head and neck.

[j.l.holt]

I think you will find a 12vdc water heater will not work so good..Dead short to heat the water will kill the batteries in short order. You can build a pipe that goes in the tank that will burn oil of any kind cheep… Just needs to be under the water. A one galon drip feed tank should take you over night.
I was at a farm sale one time where they had poured a concrete tank so it had a fire box in the end. Fed the wood from the other side of the fence.

[j.l.holt]

As was said early on in this post, starting a load is tough. I had a old red mare one time that was as good as they come. I would put her off the trail because it was narrow and I wanted to use the ditch bank to load off from. This would cock the Bob front alittle on the trail. When we left out the bob would pull a few inches before it was straight to the trail again. This gave the load alittle side pull and made it easyer to get going. I do this all I can now, even in the summer in a wagon. Just alittle side pull to get going.
One person said it seemed to him that the runners were one with the snow. This is caused by the snow melting from compression and freezing to the runner. Now you have to wear that layer of ”frost” off before they slide good.

[j.l.holt]

Just my .02 here….what is the reason to pack snow? For a trail? To make it easyer to drive the team? In the woods or on a road?
If you just want to clear a trail in the woods to log or get wood out,or a short bob sled ride, just getting the snow out of the way is all you need. I packed the trail and the snow while logging with a old tractor tire. The next morning it was froze solid and smooth. By spring it had built up very nice.
The thought about weight was brought up. When I was dog sledding, it was thought to add weight to the drag. Compression causes heat, heat will melt the very top layer of snow while it packs. By the end of the year you have a packed trail with a ice base.

[j.l.holt]

@PeytonM 39828 wrote:

10-4 I’ll harness them up tomorrow and get you a pic or two of them. thanks.

You could Google up Samson Harness out of Minnesota.. They have a online page that showes all the harness they sell. You can see a picture of every harness on a horse. You will be able to call it right and see what straps are what. I look at this quite ofton. I,m a fan of the Yankee Britchen harness.

[j.l.holt]

@dlskidmore 39600 wrote:

So they could do a little garden plowing and wood hauling? Mowing? They’d certainly be able to pull a small pleasure cart, my dog is big enough to pull a one passenger cart.

I knew a guy that had a 40in 1 horse mower, with shafts for sale. 5-6 hundred if I remember right. thought it was a little steep. might go for less if he still has it.

[j.l.holt]

@carl ny 39601 wrote:

I don’t know how big these guys are or the build so it’s hard to tell.Mowing would be the hardest thing you mentioned,you wouldn’t want much over a 4ft. bar.As far as the other stuff,you have to load to the size of your horses.I’ve seen a mini pull two people in a cart,as long as it was good going. HTH

carl ny

P.S. Are you right in Rochester or where? I live outside of Lowville,N.Y. ,if you know where that is.About 150 from you.

Is that east of Watertown ?

[j.l.holt]

Payton’
We used a old car hood for years.. Little noisy on the road but got used to it. When it wore through we just got another from the fence row. Used a dirt pick to make two holes in the front and ran a small chain around them.

[j.l.holt]

I don’t have any pictures. but if you e-mail me I can draw up something and my wife can post them back to you.

jefflholt@gmail.com

[j.l.holt]

I had a couple of inquires to how I made my last bob sled..thought some one here might be interested,so here goes. I used two pieces of ‘H’ beam for the runners. First thing I did was gather up a old pair of yard sale skies. Strip off the hardware. and match them the the botom of the runners. Torch cut the front to match the tip of the skies. I bolted the ski to the bottom with 5/16 carriage bolts, just snug. I took a piece of 1/4 X 2in flat stock and welded the front to the beam and let the lower back over lap the toe of the ski so it would ride over things with out breaking. bolted it on down the line about 8 places. Welded a scrap 2×6 channel iron to make the cross piece and a couple 1/2in rebar to make angle braces to the front. I had a bucket full of U-bolt from spring shackles. Two on each end made the stake pockets and 4 drilled from the bottom up under the cross piece.
To make the toung I used a piece of thick wall pipe, welded into a ‘T’ ends were burned threw the runner tops with a backing plate so they could piviot up and down. The ‘t’ joint is angled braced because this is where the presure comes when making a turn. The second piece of the toung is a thick wall pipe that slides over the first, the longer the inside pipe is the better. Get a 1ft piece of the best chain you can get. one end is welded to the out side toung piece,the other end is welded to the inside piece. This lets the out side pipe slide forward about 12in before coming tight. I cut a piece of 2in square 12in long with a 45 deg angle on one end. Weld this to the out side pipe with the 45 under cut down. this way you can mount the double tree and get a nut on the bolt that goes through the double tree. Last thing to do is weld three grab hooks to the back section of the toung. Roll the log up on the cross beam, chain up with a slip hook. go under the cross beam and forward to the grab hook on toung. Drag up the slack by hand and hook. When the team steps forward they slide the outer toung makeing the chain come tight before the bob moves. You are pulling the log by the chain,not the bob. The bob just holds it off the ground. The chain passes under the cross beam and through one of the U-bolts under the beam, keeps them centered up.3-4 of these u-bolt is enough. With a seat up on the front your good to go. If you want more info or try to porve me wrong. just post something.

[j.l.holt]

I kept a old tractor tire around..Drag it last trip of the day or after a fresh snow. If need be I would boom a log across to give it weight. Leave the log on all winter then in the spring use it to level the trails and landing. And if some one wants to steel it,you are only out a old tire.

[j.l.holt]

I saw a old timer one time that had a set up like this…front of the bob where the solid toung was had a short pipe (two foot long). the toung was the next size bigger. it slid over. The two were hooked frrom coming apart by a stout chain being welded to each. So when the team stepped up the toung slid forward.. To the end nearest the sled he had two grab hooks welded.. He would drag up the slack by hand and hook them. As the team pulled they kept the chain tight.

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