[Plowboy]

Rudy our local Amish equipment repair guru also uses a press to achieve proper lead on the mowers. Gotta go harness 6 horses to cut corn for the silo fill this weekend. Trying out our freshly rebuilt mcCormick binder this morning. They say good weather this weekend so we need to cut a bunch ahead today. We’ll have 3 binders going this morning hopefully. Also have to mow some clover and load greenfeed with the hayloader today so we don’t have to this weekend. Tired horses this evening I’m thinking!

[Plowboy]

In the past I’ve worked with some rank stock and it can be fun, challenging and sometimes rewarding when they come around to be great horses. I had a big Appaloosa/Belgian cross white with liver spots on his rump. He was going to be an all purpose work,driving and saddle horse and he was but not without a lot of effort on my part. We went through rearing up higher than Silver, trying to closeline me on tree limbs, bolting for no reason, and trying to runaway while working. Luckily nobody was ever really hurt and he never dumped me. We never treated him badly and one day when I was getting him ready for a 25 mile trail ride as I brought the saddle out he spun to kick me with both feet. I dropped the saddle but had the bridle in hand with long heavy reins. Each time he spun to kick I stung him good with the reins until he gave up. The old don’t get mad get even concept. I rode him about 15 miles and my girlfriend at the time handed me a package of peanut M&Ms and I tore the package open and started fishing out the contents. The crinkling of the paper sound made him bolt about a hundred feet before I hauled him in. On that ride I made up my mind I had invested too much time in him and everytime I got him over one trick he would come up with another. I put him through a sale honestly and he was bought by a dealer the dealer rode him all afternoon and put him back through the night sale as “kid broke”. A friend of mine knows where he went and said nobody ever got hurt with him but I see that dealer at all the draft sales and have to overcome the urge to drive the SOB good right between the eyes. If someone could have worked him everyday he may have been a good tough horse but any idle time he would revert back to his old behavior. The time I spent with him wasn’t relaxing or enjoyable having to be on guard all the time. We have much better stock than that and is relaxing and enjoyable to work so I never missed Buck at all. I put the money towards a good stout bred Percheron mare and now have a good work mare and her 4yr old daughter. I would say that was better use of the money even though I lost some. I always regretted putting him through the sale after what happened with the dealer.

[Plowboy]

Is that the same Brubaker that dabbles in JD equipment? If you have his phone# Please PM it to me. He used to have an answering service but all we can find for him is an address. We need some parts for our JD cornbinder and he had some when we had the last problems with it. Thanks Dennis

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Larry, No there is no real adjustment to the spreader but you can still adjust your crosslines. As for “play” if you give them the space they will use it and take up the slack. The feel of the lines doesn’t change either. As for bit response it would depend on if you were driving a squirrelly one or not. We train our horses on a very light line. We don’t pull on them and they don’t pull on us. Luckily every one of our horses has had a sensitive mouth so it was never an issue. Also with spreaders the extra room helps with air flow in hot weather to keep them a little cooler. A lot of line pressure has to do with the hands of the teamster. Yesterday we visited friends that were getting a young team ready for show. The wife who is a very good driver was driving and stopped to talk with us. The horses seemed impatient one pawing slightly, the other wanting to step ahead. Her husband reached out his hand and she put the lines in his open hand. He stood there like that for 15 minutes and they never even flinched. He is an excellent lifelong horseman though but his non invasive approach is something to see as he interacts with even some rank ones. Sometimes some folks try to hard to “Drive” or “Hold” them. Not saying that this is the case with you just an observation.

[Plowboy]

Larry, Look at my thread in the training section “The Next Dream Team” and you will see a good look at one on our young Dan horse. The strap with red, white and blue rings. It allows the horses to move farther apart or “float” more. We always use them on wagons but some implements like plows and binders you need them to work closer so you have to use just the hame ring. Spreaders can be as simple as a strap with a single ring and a snap. I hope this helps.

[Plowboy]

We have good soil here and raise alot of Alfalfa to feed to the dairy cows. We have some clover but heavy clover doesn’t dry fast. June alfalfa is nice to feed dairy cows when they are milking good but that won’t happen this year. We also cut some old native grass hay on a neighbors farm for the horses to eat during winter. That hay is always dust free and pretty green even if it gets cut late in the season. I work full time and run a business on the side but come good hay weather we all pull together and get as much in in a day as possible.

[Plowboy]

Rain here in central N.Y. too. We have a small amount of square bales in but our best hay is getting past it’s prime. My parents cut 5 acres of green feed with a #7 and a hayloader to supplement pasture for their dairy cows. Getting ready to go over it the second time if this keeps up. I’m hoping for hay weather this weekend. We have a young team that needs some hay to rake and we need 12,000 square bales and 200 round bales to feed everybody until this time next year. When the weather breaks bigger batches and longer days will be the norm.

[Plowboy]

We have both a John Deere and a New Idea green crop loaders. To the amazement of many of my Dads modern farmer neighbors we use them to pickup half dry hay or “green Feed” for his dairy cows. What they don’t know as they laugh at the backward farmer that messes with horses is that there is a lot of milk in that half dry Alfalfa. It works well once you get the hang of loading it so you can unload it. They work pretty good but loading green feed takes a good team if you put on a big load. After a while the teams get the hang of following the windrow. He green feeds a 5 acre meadow 4 times a season feeding 45 cows and some youngstock. The IH 9 bar is the best from what the Amish say then New Idea and David Bradley. The John Deere is the least favorite which is how we bought a restored one for $150. It works ok but trails the wagon differently than the others and like their Corn binders pulls a little stiff compared to others. Our Amish friends put up loose hay and there Alfalfa has all it’s leaves when its in the mow. If you have the time and space loose hay is a wonderfull thing.

[Plowboy]

Jen and Old Kat sorry about your recent setbacks. An old mentor of mine says “These things happen” and “Ain’t never been a horse born that can’t get scared”. Glad no one was seriously injured. I’ve worked with problem horses,and runners and colts that just got startled by something new. Luckily I’ve never gotten hurt but after learning some tricks I feel more confident about what to do in these situations. I’ve turned into somewhat of a thrill seeker and like working with the rank one’s sometimes. A good friend of ours just missed out on a good team of runaways a couple weeks back but my time is short this time of year anyway. There will be bloopers and mishaps and bad days along the way but alot more good days will be mixed in and if you stick with it the bad days won’t be so bad and eventually you won’t even think about things and just react naturally. You both are well on your way and have great potential. Stick with it and things will get easier and better. Good Luck!

[Plowboy]

Those clippings may or may not be OK. A friend of hours lost a good horse to Choke from eating lawn clippings. The short grass balls up in the throat when they are able to eat it from a pile. This doesn’t happen when grazing because they bite, chew then swallow regular amounts and it doesn’t ball up. Be carefull!

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Trevor John Decker is his name. I won’t stand in his way if he likes Percheron mules or Suffolk horses. In fact I’m a little partial to both. In fact Jason if we ever need to find young stock and can’t find good stout Percherons don’t be suprised if we give you a call some summer to look over your foal crop. Trevor has my darker skin and has brownish hair right now but his hair could change. He looks like a carbon copy of my first baby picture right now with lighter hair. He might be long legged like his mom and we can’t tell if he has her blue eyes yet or not. We are both relieved that the delivery went well and he is healthy and active.

[Plowboy]

5-25-09 at 3:36am our boy got here. 8lbs of raw muscle and 21 inches tall. He kicks his feet and waves his arms and picked his own head up 15 minutes after birth. He’s a rugged little guy and looks like he’s got the hands of a horseman. Before we know it he’ll be pulling the lines on a big hitch with Me and his Grandpa!

[Plowboy]

Jen, Good work at giving Peanut a park! Looks like you might be turning a little “Old School” :). I suggested more work for a horse in an early thread and several folks degraded my suggestion but I know from EXPERIENCE that it does work especially if you can’t work them every day or at least several times a week. Resistance is a great tool. When you get them standing good the rest of the horses you train will stand quicker working with one that will stand. Our first team we trained ourselves with help from friends and it took a while to get them standing well but once we did the rest we trained with them stood well quicker because they were relaxed standing next to their calm herdmate that didn’t want to move until asked. Great Job

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It’s still in the early planning stages so far but I’ll keep you posted. We probably would use a disc or disc + spring tooth harrow. I think 20 might be hard to manuever with a moldboard plow. In any practical situation I think one man working more than 12 would be too much but it would be fun to try once.

[Plowboy]

Old Kat, I hope you get to do it someday. It is gratifying to drive a big hitch especially when you’ve raised and trained most of them yourself. We had a 12 planned for this year but time and horse constraints wouldn’t allow it but next year looks good at this point. We have 8 of our own but one of our friends bought the hitch gear at an auction for a 20 so that may happen at some point. I’m not sure if it would be practical but it would be an achievement and something that may be a once in a lifetime thing. My friends/mentors that want to do these things are getting older every year so we might be busy the next few years.

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