[Lane Linnenkohl]

As stated, the early American freighters (i.e. conestoga wagoners) would ride the wheel horse and drive with the jerk line. Horses would be tied in with jockey sticks and sometimes buckbacks. The lead horse would be the one selected for the near lead, the one driven with the jerk line. Horse nature and training would be that the rest of the team would follow the leader. Also as stated, the stoutest were typically selected for the wheel team. I posted a phot of what this looks like. The man on the horse is driving with the jerkline. The man on the wagon is an assistant and is sitting on the lazy board working the brake. Not all had assistants, so the wagoner would often ride on the lazy board and both drive and work the brake if in hilly terrain.

Here’s a bit of history, the consetoga freighters would always drive from the left side of the team or wagon. Easiest for the teamster to see if he passed oncoming horse traffic on the right. Thus, the American custom of driving on the right hand side of the road originated with the conestoga freighters.

The custom of riding a horse in the lead team seems to be more specific for carriges and similar vehicles, and from what I can tell, was more common in Europe. That custom didn’t seem to take hold in America, or it died out rather early.

[Lane Linnenkohl]

History… that was the way it was done in the 18th century and earlier. They would ride the lead horse, and the rest of the team would follow along. I have many 18th century period images that illustrate this.

In fact, early freighters, horse drawn freight wagons, would drive a team of 4 or 6 horses with just one line to the near lead horse and would ride the near wheel horse, or sit on the lazy board, a board that slid out to the left of the wagon, in front of the rear wheel.

[Lane Linnenkohl]

My opinion is… If you work horses, or rather use horses in your work, at some point you’ll have to lay down the lines where there is no place to tie them. You better be able to trust them to stand.

Regular work helps a lot with a team standing quietly. Start for short periods of time and short distances. Gradually lengthen time and increase distance.

I’d rather not lay down the lines, but I’m out on the farm by myself with the horses quite often. That being said, if I have to do something where I’ll be out of sight of the team or for some time, I’ll unhitch the team and tie them to the back of the wagon, or to some other object until I’m ready for them again.

I suppose the same can be said for oxen. Although, in my limited experience with oxen, they tend to learn to stand quietly quicker than horses do.

[Lane Linnenkohl]

We’ve been using the braided poly line to divide paddocks for cattle and horses for several years. Easy set up, easy take down. Like Donn said, occasionally we have to reset a line and put the critters back where they belong. But, that’s a small inconvenience compared to the convenience of using the poly.

[Lane Linnenkohl]

@Iron Rose 5251 wrote:

In Minnesota are Governor has been saying that he will not raise taxes yet he has raised the fees on hunting and fishing license,camping fees, and ect some as much as 500%. For instance 5years ago a burning permit was free, now they charge $25. Most of the money goes into the general fund. Finally today someone brought it to public attention. Mainly because of the declining license sales. Just a way of sneak taxation. Same goes for are county goverment raise taxes and then give themselves a raise in pay.

Are you sure it was the governor that raised the hunting and fishing license fees? Here in KY, it’s the State Fish and Wildlife board of commissioners that set those fees. Our State F&W is run entirely on the revenue generated from those fees. They receive no general fund money (or so I understand). So if sales go down, they either have to make the decision of closing public areas because they can’t afford to keep them up, or raising user fees (license fees). If people want to keep public lands available for hunting and fishing, they either have to get young people involved, or pony up.

Sorry to get off topic. Jen, good luck fighting that. Hope you get them.

[Lane Linnenkohl]

dominiquer, that horse right there is built for work. Nice mare.

[Lane Linnenkohl]

Yes, you can start willows fom cuttings. They do pump a lot of water. It would be really interesting to find out what you learn. It’ll be several years before the trees are big enough to pump a significant amount of water, but if you have the time…

Lane Linnenkohl

[Lane Linnenkohl]

That’s apretty broad question, with an even broader answer. Can you be more specific? What types of equipment? And I’m sure prices in Germany will be different than here in the States.

Lane Linnenkohl

[Lane Linnenkohl]

Very nice, thank you for sharing. But I think you need longers handles on the plow. My back is killing me just watching that guy…:eek:

And nice looking oxen.

[Lane Linnenkohl]

If I may ask, why is it you feel you need to “bump his nutrition up”? Is he small, underweight, weak? I mean, if he’s doing fine, playing, active, eating and drinking adquately, why change what you’re doing?

I say just give him the Redmond salt and kelp meal free choice, give him all the clean hay he can eat, and let him out to run and be a foal. Why get fancy? I think people over think this feed/nutrition stuff sometimes.

[Lane Linnenkohl]

Not to beat a dead horse on this topic, but I completely agree with the above two posts. Not knowing any more about your routine, my first guess as I was reading your post was “this horse needs more work!” My advise, find something heavy for her to drag and work her till she’s tired, then do it again tomorrow, then the next day….. After several days you should start seeing a change in her attitude. But don’t let up. As the other’s have said, my experience is that a bad attitude in a well broke horse is caused by lack of regular work more times than not.

This of course assumes that you’ve checked the collar and harness fit and there’s not a discomfort issue.

[Lane Linnenkohl]

I’ve always oiled my collars when new, then re-oiled when I’ve cleaned and oiled the rest of the harness. I wipe collar clean with a damp rag after taking off of horse. I just never heard to not oil the collar face.

[Lane Linnenkohl]

If you’re in dairy country, see if you can find any Holstein X Jersey cross calves. I wonder what others think about this cross for oxen.

I have a good friend that works a team of 4 shorthorn oxen, the old style Durham type. They are very well behaved. They’re about 5 years old now, I think. They each stand abut 5 feet tall at the shoulder and weigh around 2,000 lbs each.

[Lane Linnenkohl]

What about selling advertising in the form of banner links at the top of the page? It doesn’t have to be intrusive. Draft animal buisnesses like equipment dealers, harness shops, etc can be approached. They’d likely be interested since the advertising would go directly to their target audience and only their target audience. Very little waste of resources.

Lane

[Lane Linnenkohl]

Ya show off! 😉

Very impressive Neil. I’ve seen your other videos on YouTube as well. You are a wonderful ambassador for the horse power community.

Lane

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