[near horse]

One of the best sayings for DAP website:
“Every jack has his jenny.”

Another good one:
“That’s slicker than salmon patties at a cat convention.”

If you’re playing poker and someone bids high one might comment:
“That’s stronger than Nellie’s breath!”

None too inspirational but memorable.

[near horse]

Hey Donn,

I thought the jockey stick went from the hame ring on the outside horse to the bit ring of the inside horse but I could be (and likely am) wrong. Guys, straighten this out:D

[near horse]

Parades – here’s a quick story on what can happen.

A local guy used his team to haul the grand marshall(s) – in their 80’s – in a small town parade. It was a Memorial Day event so they parade string had to stop while they played Taps on a bugle and gave some speeches in front of a memorial. Well his horses started to get antsy (first time out that season) and wouldn’t stand still. Then they began rearing up, shaking the wagon all to heck – grand marshalls are hanging onfor dear life – finally they abandon ship – The teamster finally decides to unhitch his team (in mid parade string) and ground drive them down a side street away from the commotion to “cool their jets”. I think they calmed down and were able to hitch back up to the wagon after the parade had already moved on. That kind of stuff makes me not want to take my team out in the public arena.

[near horse]

I have about a 10 or 12 ft Superior drill w/ a single tongue on it (looks like it has been modified to pull behind a tractor) like I would expect but the JD Van Brunt I saw at the plowing bee a couple of weeks ago had 2 tongues – when they hitched up 4 abreast, 2 horses were in the “middle” (between tongues) and then one each on the outside. I didn’t get to see more of how they were actually hitched up (2 neck yokes and doubletrees ?). Is this a common thing on drills? Anyone else seen this?

[near horse]

I too was disappointed in SFJ when things started to get “out there” and there also was a lot of repeat articles EX. McD #9 mower stuff in both a mid 90’s issue and a 200_ issue. BUT now I have a different perspective, one which I think applies to our DAP discussions as well:

1) take from it that which suits your needs
2) disregard that which you find incompatible w/ your perspective or needs
3) contemplate those things that may challenge your current ideas and then decide whether to employ #1 or #2 above.

I think Lynn has taken on a challenging task in SFJ to try and provide pertinent, interesting and new information related to horse farming and to expect it to be perfect and all things to all people are unrealistic and unfair expectations. I, for one, now have a new appreciation for SFJ.

[near horse]

At an earlier plowing event with the first “warm” weather of the season (upper 60’s) , we stopped for lunch and so I tied lead ropes to the trailer hooks, took off the bridles and dropped them some hay to munch on. Well Ranger decides he’s too sweaty, harnessed or not, tied up or not, so he gets down on the ground and tries rolling w/ harness on – hames digging in to the ground – he did both sides before I got over there. He acted like nothing happened but it sure looked like it had potential for a wreck –

I hate the idea of pulling harness off for a 1/2 hr or 45 min break. Maybe that’s what I should do, though. What do you others do?

[near horse]

Although I don’t have mules, I think this comment wight be appropriate here rather than starting another thread in “horses”.

Over the last month I’ve taken Red and RAnger and plowed for 3 weekends and at each of these events, guys that I respect comment on what a great team they are. When I ask them what they mean or what makes them think they are great the responses usually focus around how broke they are and honest horses/workers…. It makes me happy to think that they are good but then I am surprised to think that many teams won’t stand w/ lines tucked in britchen while the teamster hooks the tugs to the cart, wagon, plow. In fact, I had someone freak out because I wasn’t using another person to hold my horses while I hitched. Shouldn’t we expect our horses to be able to do that? In this day and age, many of us (I assume) are working alone and don’t always have a “handler” at the ready.

Anyway, my point is this – I don’t know who broke these horses or how they did it but 1) they aren’t frightened and do have their own minds 2) they know how to work hard w/ no nonsense but again are not afraid (as far as I can tell). These are younger horses (6) with some good years ahead of them and how they got to this point seems to be of little concern now. They are a good desirable team. As someone mentioned earlier, there are all kinds of “horse/mule personalities” and different strategies might be more effective w/ each type.

Heck, I coached HS football for close to 20 yrs and you had the same situations. Most kids won’t work hard enough to reach a higher potential w/o someone pushing them. Some of those kids will increase their efforts when you get after them but a few will crumble if you get on them. You have to learn how to identify which kids are “more fragile” and use a lighter push while the others can handle and even thrive on getting their butt chewed out. Sorry to digress but it seemed applicable.

[near horse]

I have to say that in a pecking order or herd heirarchy it sure looks to me like leadership by dominance through fear and intimidation. Who had the horse that got knocked of his spot at the top by getting a solid kick in the ribs from a new mare? That is intimidation. Although I’m not of a military background, many soldiers seem to defer to and respect the SOB sergeant that drove them into the ground in training. He is the leader and, although he scares the ….. out of you, you’d walk through fire for him.

With regard to the tractor – I would like to hear more about how you hitch them – do you hitch to the loader and drive the tractor in reverse?

This weekend, I plowed with my team and one of the guys I was with is going breaking a mule to drive for an older fella (it already rides). He handled her nice and gentle when bridling, harness etc. But then he just hooked her onto the three abreast (she became the 4th) he had on a plow and off they drove. She got used to it enough so that then he switched her for one of the 3 and had to pull her own weight – but no driving lines to her – again she did pretty well. The problems usually arise when you stop and they have some time to think about what to do next. I didn’t think this was cruel at all -more learn by doing and seeing others aren’t having a fit doing it.

As far as being anthropomorphic goes, that’s all we’ve got. None of us will ever truly know what’s going on in a horse’s head – shoot, they could be doing calculus in their heads while we’re plowing for all I really know. So what does it matter if we say “they like this or that” or “hate this”. Life is pretty vanilla w/o a little speculation.

[near horse]

Hey Plowboy,

Was $800 the cost for a straight-forward gelding procedure or was it higher due to the cryptorchid state of one of his testes? What is the normal fee for gelding a colt? Surely it can’t be that high.

[near horse]

I want to add that for my “tongue hanger” horse I’m going to try a straight bit – actually a Mullen mouth – straight w/ an arch to it, not a port. Another teamster mentioned that in addition to the action on the tongue and jaw, some bits can bother the roof of the mouth in some horses. I’ll give it a try.

Also, while there are a lot of bits out there, it is challenging to find some in the draft sizes 6 to 7’s.

Happy Spring – now turn some earth!

[near horse]

Hey Tom,

I tried to take a look the pics but the site said they were gone or moved. Could be something “blocking” them on my computer but I don’t think so.

Regarding the surgery, I imagine that the main concerns now are keeping Autumn from busting out the stitches before the area heals in and keeping her gut moving and active to limit the chance of any twisting. What did your vet have to say about post op concerns?

Isn’t it pretty amazing under what “field conditions” one can perform surgery? Probably not too many human surgeons using hay bales to stabilize someone getting a “tummy tuck”.:D

[near horse]

Black flies have a purpose too but not what you may think. They help us appreciate cold miserable weather.

[near horse]

Thanks John. It kills me that in Idaho logging country no one seems to know who puts on a “Saw School” or Safety class. Not the State Dept of Lands – who handle all logging contracts on state land – in fact they list and post every logging accident tht occurs. How about a little prevention?!

And the USFS is about as unhelpful. Come on guys!

[near horse]

Hi Robert,

Sorry – I brought a camera but didn’t take any pictures. I was just too excited about getting to spend time working the horses. There were A LOT of other folks out taking pictures – tripods and the whole 9-yards. I don’t know how to find out who was taking the pics but I’ll look into it.

An interesting sidelight, this field is right along the 2-lane highway that heads toward Seattle so it sees a fair amount of traffic. Since the weather was nice and it was “Mom’s weekend” at the local university, there were plenty of people out looking for stuff to do. Anyway, there was a group of maybe 5 to 15 motorcyclists going by and one guy must have been watching the plowing a little too close as he drove off the road, down the shoulder and out into the plowed ground 😮 I didn’t see it happen but when I came around for another pass, a couple of guys were pushing his bike back out of the field and there was this weird single tire track in the freshly turned soil. The guy was alright (I’m not even sure he fell over) and the horses didn’t even seem to notice. People-

[near horse]

Hey Hardpan,

What do you mean by a “single-sided wheel rake”? We use 2-wheel rakes to flip over windrows but I haven’t seen anyone with a full blown wheel rake that only had “one side” – only the v-type (2-sided ?). As far as the windrow turner goes, we have a “Farmhand” brand but I would look more at the Sitrex brand if I had my choice – the tines are more flexible and easier to come by w/ Sitrex – they do a nice job. With the Farmhand, you can wipe out the wheel completely if you’re not careful and the wheel frame hits the ground while raking 😮 How would I know?

Sorry I can’t be of more help.

[Author]

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