[JaredWoodcock]

I know this an old post but I would like to add something that I learned from Karl Pfister and this new team. Karl introduced me to working in the round pen so that I could get a relationship with them going on the ground before he dropped them off. I have done a lot of relationship building work in the past but never had someone show me actual round pen.

When I first drove these mares at Karl’s farm one was very responsive and the other forward as Karl said they would be. When I got them home they switched roles. They are both broke and great horses but there were subtle differences. I started by just hitching them as much as I had time for and they evened out nicely. Then I ran out of time one week for hitching and had them switch back to their original roles.

One day I only had a short period of time. I needed to move some wood and I didnt want to spend half of the time going for a ride and evening them out. I remembered a couple of things that Karl had showed me and I spent 5 minutes gently pressuring them around the pasture and doing some very simple commands. They settled in perfect, harnessed easy, stood patiently, and got the wood out even though it was dark and I could barely see where I was driving. That 5 minutes of ground work made it so that with only and hour to work with them we got the job done and had a great time.

I am sold and I will forever use some simple groundwork to help let the steam out vs. driving it out.

[JaredWoodcock]

Well I forgot a crucial detail, the landowner has a big tractor, excavator, and bulldozer at the landing because he is building a new house. I would have to be careful with the excavator to not damage the pole but it might work. I will keep you posted as we finish the logging for the barn I may try to sell the poles.

Thanks Again

[JaredWoodcock]

The solid rivet I got from the amish were basically a small nail. They didnt crack horribly but they were brittle enough that 2 out of 3 would split a little. I ended up using some old nails that are made of nice maleable steel. I am building the tugs from scratch with some bio covered nylon that the amish sold me so I need to have a strap on both ends. I dont like the way that the 3 hole straps fit around the d ring and it seems like it may rub on the horse. This is a $20 experiment and eventually I would like to find someone who makes leather d ring tugs.

On a side note; It is funny how when I was welding my logging cart together I was concerned about strength and bracing, now I am putting the tugs together with 3 tiny rivets? I think my weak spots are in the harness.

[JaredWoodcock]

Our Ace Hardware has some copper rivets but they are a little small for my needs, They had copper roofing nails which look like a good size for leather repair but still a little small for the metal brackets. I will probably use some nails for now and search for “nicer” rivets later.

George: What kind of bracket do you use to connect the tug to the d ring? I was planning on using the same kind that attach to the front hamebolt pivot.

[JaredWoodcock]

The stand is mostly weaveled white pine and a plantation of scots and red (rumor is that they were intended to be c-mas trees). The landowner is going to drop and chop most of the stand to release some of the hardwoods and create some deer habitat. I am going in being paid hourly by the neighbor, to get some of the poles and salvage some white pine sawlogs for his new barn. Because the landowner doesnt want any of the softwood he has said we can take as much as we want which will save him time thinning. They had logged another 70 acres of hardwood last year so there is a huge landing with easy downhill skids. I will look into the utility pole market. I was planning on only working some hourly jobs this year as I learn the ropes but this might be a good opportunity to try and sell some logs as well.

[JaredWoodcock]

Good stuff Carl. I will let you know how it goes when I get to those trees.

Thanks for all of the help and confidence building everybody!!!

[JaredWoodcock]

I have been game of logging certified for the last 4 years, and my father taught me how to hinge/bore cut/wedge/trigger when I was only a kid. Like I said before I am very confident in my directional felling and safety issues, I am looking for some of the more advanced techniques and conditional things to consider on a case by case basis. This topic is probably best learned through experience and mentorship but I am trying to triple check before I fell some of the higher dollar oaks. During the GOL course the instructor had mentioned some subtle changes for oak and I cant remember them?

[JaredWoodcock]

I use the hinge and bore cut techniques as well, but I have heard of some loggers adjusting their hinges, and bore cut locations, and in some cases cutting out sections of the hinge; for high dollar trees of species that tend to split. Anyone on here do anything more advanced?

[JaredWoodcock]

Congratulations!!! Our kids are about the same spread son is 2 daughter is 5.

Enjoy this special time….

[JaredWoodcock]

Mark, I noticed that same advantage with your piggyback. A week or so ago I hitched up to a decent sized pine log with a long chain to pull it out of the slash. Once I got it out I backed the horses up to tighten the hitch and they backed into the log, I was able to pull the slack out of the chain while still sitting and when they stepped forward it was nice and tight. Their harnesses dont fit great so I figured the pole lift would be visible if there was any and it didnt seem to lift at all with the tight hitch.

[JaredWoodcock]

Thanks Guys, Because these are new horses and I am new to pulling bigger logs with horses I want to make sure I am not going to over work them. I can take shorter lengths but If they can handle 24in and 16ft then I would prefer to take it out like that. I have an old tongue truck from a road grader that I have used for moving logs around. Maybe for the butt logs I will bring that along to get them off the ground.

Trust me Carl I know all about cheating, I have worked alone most of my life and I am 6ft tall and 145lbs wet but I have a bull’s attitude. I need as much leverage and cheating as possible to get the job done.

Any signs that you guys key into with your horses to know if the log is too big and should wait until they are in better shape or be cut shorter? These mares have a lot of go so I dont want to rely strictly on the fact that they think they can do it.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 9 months ago by JaredWoodcock.

[JaredWoodcock]

Thanks guys, My scrap metal pile is pretty tiny so using what I had I added a piece of tubing from the arch to the pole pocket (similar to Mark’s piggy back arch) and set the evener in front of that. If I can figure out the picture posting thing I will post some on here. Or if someone else wants to post them I can email the pictures. I should be able to test out the cart soon and I will keep you posted on how the geometry works. Like I said before I already have a few things I will change for cart number 2.

[JaredWoodcock]

Thanks Josh that is what I thought. Because I wanted my pole to be level and the new tires that I had for my wheels were taller than expected I ended up putting my pole pocket 2 inches lower than my arch. I will put the evener on top to try and offset the difference. If it really throws me off I will just have to chop and re-weld for plan B.

[JaredWoodcock]

So the trade off of having a slightly less efficient evener hitch point does not outweigh the fact that the d-ring harness needs to hold the proper geopemtry?
Carl could you measure how high off of the ground your pole pocket is on your barden cart? and how tall are your horses in the video?

Thanks

[JaredWoodcock]

That makes sense but I must be a little confused, Why does the barden cart have the evener below the pole? My arch is set vertically over the axle and slightly behind due to the thickness of the tubing.

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