[Jeroen]

In France you often see a similar type of harness: collar, chain tugs, straps to hold them of the ground and a cruper to keep the hame and these straps in place. Worked with it and its easy to harness, but the chains rub the schoulders when you don’t have wide hames and because there is no belly band you often have a line of draft  that is not good. Especially when logging this bothers the horse.

Horseloggers use this style of harness which does not have that problem, very easy harness, no contact with the shoulders while pulling:

For other work I use the farm harness with rope tugs, also used when pulling carts, then a pad and breechen is used. These are from Holland, but you also see them in France:

 

[Jeroen]

Ordered the book as a birthday present for my wife. Tip: don’t order it in spring time, you’ll lose a hand (she can’t put down the book) during spring work and you can’t change all your methods overnight. It’s great!

[Jeroen]

Would also love to see pictures. Most easy to get photo’s on a forum full view in your post is bij using http://www.imageshack.us/: upload, cut, click the insert photo and paste in image url. Results in this:

Everybody can directly see what your talking about instead of clicking attachments.

 

[Jeroen]

Shoeing or not also depends on the surfaces around. Over here we have lots of rock and stones so when barefoot the hoofwalls will chip off. Shoeing is in this case a must. But when I had even grounds and less tarmac around they would be barefoot. Saves a lot of time (and money).

I feed only hay (when its good) and when really working some grains. There is that widespread misunsderstanding about work. For me work is more than 2 hours sweating and really pulling something.

[Jeroen]

@Carl Russell 40505 wrote:

I expect my horses to stand until I am ready to work. They are completely released from pressure. That is when I expect them to stand. I have fallen off a sulky plow, and dropped the lines, and had them stop dead in their tracks. To reinforce this I NEVER even think about touching my lines until I am ready to drive. I have had trouble with others, particularly novices, who want to take a few seconds to gather their thoughts before asking my horses to move…. that won’t happen with my team. They have learned that pressure is my time, and release is their time. As soon as there is contact on the lines they are on.

Carl

I am very interested in this discussion because often you drive them without thinking like you drive your car and this makes you think…
Now while I am all for pressure and release and like to think I do well I have a mare that stands still like a sleeping statue (working single) when I throw the lines on the ground or when I step off the forecart, but as soon as I tough a line she is getting all jumpy and too ready for work. So what to do if you want to hold your lines and don’t want them to move? Got lots of situations over here where I don’t trust them to stand without lines in hand (wildlife, tractors, hunters, cars, etc.). This mare is 12 years old and works almost everyday, nevertheless she stays jumpy and decides on her own to move (when lines in hand).

[Jeroen]

Thanks for posting, I ordered one! Might be a valuable book, because it seems he makes a very practical connection between the farming and the use of horses. I look forward to add some knowledge, never enough!

[Jeroen]

I also start like described by Donn, a call and put them straight with the lines , but since my team is not so well balanced it often results in one horse who is attentive and the other sort of standing with the handbrake on. When work is underway it gets better. Voice commands are “Ladies”, then pick up lines and “Go” or whatever command is needed. When things are difficult we (my wife and I) have a tendency to talk to much which makes the horses nervous, so the one not leading the horses has het task of giving the “shut up” signal if that happens. My horses have a tendency to start, take turns and other actions on their own when they know or think they know what my next command will be. Very hard to get rid of this bad habit.

[Jeroen]

Thanks for the warm welcome!

The collars are horse-specific and the rest changes all the time. The collars are twice the weight of an american collar, so its impossible to keep everything attached. Downside is that you have to remember the adjustments or re-adjust all the time. Alltough I find them beautiful I will switch to american hame/collar combination when there is money in the bank. For now they work fine and I have to sell a lot of vegetables to pay for new ones. Transportation makes them costly for a european. We pay about $1200 each.

Being a longtime subscriber to the Small Farmers Journal I allready got lot of good ideas and tips from the US, but this forum is a super extra tool. I will certainley post questions when I have them. The internet has been a very good instrument to us up untill now! I don’t know how you all feel, but working drafts over here is very much a sort of draft desert with little oases.

Thanks for the compliments on my ladies, I love them and can watch them for hours. But in fact there is a downside to their beautifulness. Our belgians (same name for a different breed) aka dutch or belgian drafts are heavily bred on exterior and less for work. Breeding has become a sport, but finding a fine working animal has become very difficult. Too much inbreeding has caused the problem of chronic progressive lymphoedema (bad swelling legs) which can not be treated untill now. They still breed with horses who got it and it is genetic. The eldest mare got it and I see the first symtoms on the youngest. There is a way to slow down the swelling and thats work, work, work. I have to work them everyday which is fine by me. Learnt even to ride them (and how to fall off).

We are located in the south west of France, just above the famous Bordeaux wine area. We don’t do farm stays or visits, but when you are close give us a call. In fact operation is a big word for the tiniest of farms…

Brabant is one of the regions where the breed originated, this region nowadays is located in the two countries Netherlands and Belgium. We don’t call them brabants anymore.
Shipping is to expensive as you say, but the purchase is not. A breeding mare will cost you around $2500. A yearling $1300. But then again: how to find a healty one…

They change color all the time, same horse:

[Jeroen]

Thank you!

Harness and collars are from Zeeland, a Dutch state just north of Belgium. They are still being made. In fact the all black collar is 10 years old and the other is from 1954. There is little leather in our harnesses, but for each job we have to take a different harness. Rope tugs and the wooden pegs are quite common, practical and cheap, but we don’t use them for logging.

The move was (and sometimes is still) nervewrecking. Quitted two well payed jobs to live our dream. Now short on money, but always outside spending lots of time with the ladies. In Holland a life like this would not have been affordable. Land and houseprices are too high.

A photo of our logging harness. The metal front part of the tugs rounds the shoulders, so there is no rubbing.

[Jeroen]

This is a good video which shows how they work: http://youtu.be/A9P888HZ6cQ

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