[LStone]

Spoken as a true professional.

LStone

[LStone]

Though I am mainly interested in the horses. I couldn’t get to this, I am buried with things around home to do. I feel fortunate that I have a place like that so close to the house.

LStone

[LStone]

He hits you so hard and often with the right, you end up begging for the left. Amen brother. I missed it too.

Larry

[LStone]

I release my horses by saying “we’re done” with a slight push off and a pat on the rump.

larry

[LStone]

Hey!
Keep on reading man a lot of posts over the summer that I have been waiting and wanting to see your reaction to. I cannot count the times I have wondered what would Moonshadow say? Looking forward to you catching up with us. Hope all is well.

LStone

[LStone]

Let’s ask him directly. If it is the same Wes Gustafson he is a member of this group. Last seen here on 10/15. If not the same, apologies to all for inciting confusion. Wes are you the same Wes on the Youtube video? if so would you describe the purpose and usage of the described steel please?

LStone

[LStone]

Good Morning,

I come form a position on this subject with relatively no knowledge or experience of the concept of Sustainable Forestry Management techniques. My appreciation for the logging industry has grown over the years, but only in the last ten years or so have I gained what knowledge I have accumulated about sustainable forestry. I am absolutely self taught through reading and talking with knowledgeable people in the industry. With the advent of the Web and its increasing popularity, it has become a huge teaching aid for me as well. In my view there are many benefits to self education. You can proceed at your own pace and if you have questions you can stop your progress to search on specific terms and concepts to gain a better understanding before you proceed. Another advantage is the fact that I don’t participate in the industry for a living, it is more of a hobby or a labor of respect if you will. This gives me the advantage of much less pressure to feed my family off of this skill. As a woodlot owner I gain advantages of having a big lab to practice with. No time line or expectation equals all the time in the world to me to view my progress and results. That said I do exclusively heat our home with my efforts while working towards a more sustainable forest. The big trade off on self education is that I miss out on the real time feedback and confirmation of what I am developing. I also do not have the tutorship and mentors available to me that I would have if I would spend a little time in a more formal learning situation. But I do appreciate this site and what it is contributing to both my knowledge in sustainability and horsmanship.

I think that I stumbled on the “sustainability” concept quite by accident in pursuit of my infatuation with draft animals, horses in my case. In my experience I found that there are a lot of common sense principles involved in the practice but the key to complete understanding of the subject matter is in the definition of the term “sustainability”. You have to understand the definition of the word. Another aspect to whether or not you may understand what it is would be your interest and drive to gain the knowledge of it at all. If you are not so inclined you will not learn. Fortunately for my own purposes I have been quite motivated to learn what I can about it. It also seems to me that there are plenty of willing individuals who are more than happy to set you out on the right direction if you have a mind to learn about it. I think over the years that sustainability has become more mainstream and has also become more associated with animal traction practitioners but even that phenomenon makes economical common sense when figuring in the volumes and money required to operate profitably animals vs. machines.

Sorry for rambling but I voted in the poll and these are some thoughts and reasoning behind my vote. Thanks to all for your interest.

Larry

[LStone]

Looking good John. Great pictures too. Its a pity that I mostly always find myself alone in the woods with only the deer and squirrels to photograph me. I found it easier to do as Donn mentioned with the lines as well. Start in an open field or paddock to get used of the concept rather than the woods though. You will find that you can handle them the same way in a round pen as well to get the idea. It will only take the horse a minimal amount of time to get used of the sensations of the lines switching from side to side.

Larry

[LStone]

This is something to think about I will look for this harness adjustment on my next hitch. I have been conscious of the belly band and checking their heads but I think I may be carrying my back straps a little too tight. Goes to figure that it might also loosen up the horse and make them a little more relaxed in the harness too.

Thanks for the advice Bumpus

Larry

[LStone]

This site isn’t maintained but it has great historical information on NH Logging, and great old pictures of early logging with animals in NH.
http://www.greatnorthwoods.org/pittsburg/logging/

Larry

[LStone]

Hi Mark, I was wondering about trying it myself this year but I have not been approached. I would only be able to do it locally though and I have not prepped them for anything along the lines of the “dead blood” thing yet. My filly and I jumped a large mose this summer though and she didn’t appreciate it too much but managed to keep it together for me.

Larry

[LStone]

@karl t pfister 11447 wrote:

Every possible combination has been tried, and I have never seen it written in stone “The best Way”.

Yes I agree with all who responded here and I think this statement from Karl about summed it up. The horse is yours to do with as you see fit and you should accommodate your needs with him. There are no hard fast answers in a fluid process such as training, but there are easier and different ways. If you read other threads on this site you will read some references to a kind of virtual “toolbox”. I am not sure who came up with the analogy but I think it is a great one. Every time you handle him it is a training experience. Be it new or a refresher. My philosophy is to expose them to as many things as I can think of to familiarize them with as much as possible. Then I can build on those experiences. There are easy lessons and hard ones but the sooner you have trained for saddle and harness the sooner you can either ride or drive. I don’t believe harness one day and saddle the next would be confusing either. I think it would be similar but on a lager scope to desensitizing him to a waving flag and a bridge crossing over a river next to a dam in the same day. When you get him by the flag you can worry about the bridge and theoretically getting back home should be a little easier. Tomorrow will be an entirely different story. No matter the task, situation, or discipline; you must put in the time and repetitions to get the desired result.

Larry

[LStone]

Carl,
In my opinion you have no need to appologize. you are doing a great job here and it is very difficult to stop the bad guys from beating in the door. When you catch them at a game they change their game.

Larry

[LStone]

I train a “step one” and “back one” command with success. I figure to tighen tugs I’d just “step one” until tight.

Larry

[LStone]

It has been a little while and I have been pondering the questions quite a bit more. I appreciate all the advice here. I am readng “Horses Never Lie” now Jen. I always get time to start a book and never time to finish though. At least that is how I’ve been lately.

So what I think I got out of this is that I have attainable and realistic goals here regarding the whip and comming by name. That I should “lose” the whip more. I can attain these results through more maturatey on the part of the horses; while I focus on assertiveness, confidence, and deliberate and consistant clearity of commands. I think it was Donn who mentioned that people tend to rush their animals, so I would have to throw in consideration for a good dose of patience also. Thanks all or the homework guys. We’ll make a good team at some point I’m sure

LStone

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