[KMichelle]

I’ve treated a lot of ‘itchy, hair loss’, of mysterious fungal/bacterial origin, on saddle horses of mine. I would definitely clip the area in question as short as possible and betadine is good start. Lavender/Tea tree essential oil diluted slightly with water and used in a spray bottle, aggressively 3 or 4x daily. Is there any noticeable swelling? Is where the hair sloughs off leave abraded skin? If is travels to the legs and there is swelling, I would be wary of cellulitice – although I’ve also treated cellulitice with lavender/tea tree. Of course, can’t discount the allergic reaction…

[KMichelle]

We would usually put our squirrely-est(large string/mixed bag) horse away from the tongue and drove with the check lines running through the middle horse’s rings.

[KMichelle]

Hey there… I am wondering what Donn is referring to when ‘the third horse steps back and neck yoke slips off…’ I have driven three with offset hitch and offset tongue and almost always used a regular two horse yoke. Is that a reference to too much slack in the hitch chains? Actually, the only time I drove with the neck yoke attached to the tongue, the bar that the neck yoke ring attached to broke. Thankfully I heard it happen before I saw it, in the middle of a left hand turn, there was nothing I could do to keep the tongue from sweeping under my outside horse, before she ‘whoa’d with the tongue under her legs. Anyway, nothing inherently against the attached neck yoke – just a story. Only wondering if it is anecdotal that I have always driven three with a regular yoke without trouble.

[KMichelle]

Thanks, they never looked varnished but I don’t have any construction credibility. Will pass info along. Leaving with the horses in the trailer tomorrow! Dodging snowflakes and not stopping till we’re most of the way through Kansas! Sub-zero temperatures I will take if they keep it high pressure and sunny!

[KMichelle]

Reber Rock Farm is selling a team of Percherons, I believe. They might be somewhat green but you should look into it. Searching ‘Reber Rock NY’ should do it…

[KMichelle]

Oh good, so now when my mom bristles at my mention of living in a tent when I start my homestead… I can just tell her that’s what all the reputable teamsters do. At least the horses have a barn!

[KMichelle]

HAHA, maybe I can start her in the round-pen too. The horses will all think her twig skidding is silly.

[KMichelle]

Thanks Carl – In touch… I would also like to put a plug in for my appearance at the MOFGA Low Impact Forestry workshop in mid-November. I will be attending without horses and hope to network with the community.

[KMichelle]

I’ll be camping this winter and maybe next. I’m hoping my German Sheperd/Husky mix will be stoked on pulling groceries up the hill to the house. She’s just a little squirt now, but maybe by February(6 months) I can start her in harness.

[KMichelle]

I wanted to give this post a burst of new life… I am still looking for farms interested in adding a team and teamster to their roster 2014. I will be in Vermont late October and early November to interview and prep my winter situation.

I would be extremely interested in finding some part time woods work this winter. As the Roxie horse is still quite green, I am looking for someone to be in a mentorship position. She is good for driving single, and in a team for skidding things on the ground. We are not working wheeled implements yet. However the Junior horse works single, or with whoever you need her to, on whatever implement you can come up with.

Thanks

[KMichelle]

We had a runaway spring! With green treamsters and green horses together in the mix, you just cannot account for all the things that can go wrong, and how FAST! Especially when new people just don’t quite understand the inner workings of the horse brain. These mishaps culminated in a runaway wagon wreck that broke the back of the ‘farm wife’, though she has since experienced a miraculous recovery. It also left the horse I intended to buy, laid up with a chest abscess for weeks.

The interns left, and we recovered slowly, uneventfully and deliberately. As the only horse employee on the farm, it has left a lot for me to do! The other day while cultivating with 4 abreast, one of the green, outside horses was lagging so far behind his partner, that he continually pulled the check though his hame ring. For a moment I was content to let it go, but then got off and shortened his inside line so he couldn’t pull outside anymore. I’m glad I did it (not that I think they’re goin’ anywhere with that cultivator- no need to tempt them).

Today we started 6 on the big double gang disc, on the steep hills, quite the circus act! I’ve heard of people getting run over by those things… broken noses and such(In this case – I also heard the owner told the teamster they weren’t to run these rude horses in curb bits…).

Anyway, ugh, I don’t actually like to dwell on the topic much. I’ve had my fair share of protracted thoughtful consideration about runaways and such this year. Donn I’m glad you’re OK and I think you must know about arnica, for your calf? Applied topically in this case would be ideal.

[KMichelle]

We have a notorious hill on our farm that we often haul a hay wagon up to feed horses and cows. There have been many times this hill was so steep that neither the tractor nor diesel truck could climb during ice, rain, or flood irrigation. The horses have never blinked an eye, regardless of an upwards of 2,000lb load.

[KMichelle]

Thanks for the encouragement Carl. I didn’t mean to suggest that I thought ‘whoa’ would just come about by happenstance, but that it might still evolve out of her ability to work and listen and be patient (mine too, I guess). I’m still trying to digest some of the stuff that has been talked about. By it reminds me of a few months ago when I was obsessed with her wearing a halter but I hadn’t introduced the idea because she was still so tense with her head and neck. Eventually I just stopped pushing the issue and moved on to other things. Once we were making progress in other areas, haltering was no sweat.

[KMichelle]

This idea of ‘bale babes’ I find intriguing… Today was another day of bale loading, by hand onto the horse-wagon. This is our second crop alfalfa, and triticale hay. We’ll probably end the season with over 3,000 bales, counting the big squares that we do with the tractor. I had been reading this forum with some musing, since our bales here weigh in about 70 to 80 lbs at times – you won’t catch me stacking them. So I drive the wagon and informed Cole and Francis, the biceps-force we use to load bales, they were MY ‘bales babes’. I think they smiled.

[KMichelle]

Thanks for all the input, folks! I have noticed that the round pen is a tool with it’s limits. This is the first horse I have ever started using only a round pen, and it was tremendous in helping me to be able to read the horse’s language and feedback, when she was not approachable. It definitely puts you into patterns though, and I think this is the part of her training were it is showing.

Though her aptitude for focus and learning has made her exciting to work with, she has NOT been easy. After 9 years grazing in a field with other mares and the occasional stallion, she was initially hard pressed to convince I was worth her time of day. That being said, most recently I seem to be combating a hoof abscess in her right hind foot. Which having momentarily put our driving on hold, has been giving everybody and their uncle a chance to poke around at her foot. She has been pleasantly patient with this endeavor.

I do think she is a horse easily bored and quick to catch onto gimicks. Recently I has given up on asking for ‘whoa’ outright because I was tired of the miscommunication. As I think per Donn’s suggestion, I began driving around and around until eventually, when she seemed ready to stop, I would ask. This typically got a favorable response. I wasn’t confident this was an avenue to pursue, since it didn’t seem direct enough. But the general opinion seems to be for mixing it up and waiting for the ‘whoa’ to evolve more logically… Perhaps driving her with another horse would be appropriate? I’m not totally sure she is relaxed enough with that much rein-pressure, maybe soon. I have linked a chain across the back of her tugs once, this was a non-issue. In fact it was the time I figured on just letting her walk around until she seemed more content to ‘whoa’ when asked.

Onward, until this abscess draws out!

[Author]

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