[Simple Living]

Well folks I guess it really makes a difference what your soil type and horses are. I am no expert by any means, but a 12″ bottom with 2 Haflingers here in NW Ohio is not an issue. Brigle, here is a link to the Henry County Draft Horse and Mule Club. http://www.hcdhc.org/Site/Welcome.html . Many folks in the area willing to help you get going, this is a very laid back club that has alot of fun events in the area. Also for any of you ney sayers, here is a link to some of the Club plowing this past spring. And yes they plowed like this most of the day, and these Haflingers are not used daily. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlsgbRmnV6Y I’m not trying to start an argument here, only trying to show that other areas of the country can be worked easyer than others.

Gordon

p.s.
this is not my video, I would never have put horrible music like that on it! LOL

[Simple Living]

Just outside of Delta. What a small world we live in.

Gordon

[Simple Living]

I can’t help you on the plow, but welcome to DAP. In what part of Ohio do you live? I also have some Haflingers and live in NW Ohio.

Gordon

[Simple Living]

Merry Christmas to you and your family as well Mark, enjoy the day!

[Simple Living]

That is true Kevin, but let me tell you from exp. Be careful how you stradle the hot wire if your charger is good. I have seen mine jump an arc of around 2inches. When I last tested it, it was metering out around 10,000volts.
OUCH!

Gordon

[Simple Living]

My fence has 4 strands starting about a foot off the ground and 12-14″ apart from there. The top strand and the bottom 2 strands are “hot” , the 2nd from the top is connected directly to the ground rods. With this pattern, even if the horse is not grounded, he will get zapped when he makes contact with the fence. This also works for long runs of fence if the ground is dry and the current fades. All you have to do is install ground rods out along the run and your ground is restored! I think I have some drawings of this. I will try to find and post them.

Ok, I can’t find the page I was looking for. This is a Manual for Electrobraid fencing and makes the most sence of any I have looked at. Everyone with and Electric fence should read this and think about how their system is set up. Somewhere around page 23 or so it talks about the extra ground strand with a diagram on page 25 for areas with heavy snow. Hope it helps!

http://www.electrobraid.com/download/EBManual.pdf

Gordon

[Simple Living]

I have to say your enthusiasm is refreshing. I wish all young men had your drive toward a positive hobby/enterprise. As to horse facilities, clean dry and out of the wind is about all they need. I live in NW Ohio and my Haflingers would rather stand out in the snow than in the barn (they can go in and out on their own). Breed selection I will leave to others, as we all have opinions on that subject. One thing I will say, get a reliable teamster to help you assess any team you are looking at. Your first team, be it horse or other, will teach you more than almost any other. It is best to play to win. If you have to wait a little while to save up the money it will be worth the wait, don’t settle on a team just because of price. Other than that, learn all you can and above all else, be safe and have fun!!

Gordon

[Simple Living]

Here is a video that I found while watching other videos. Pay close attention to the line of draft on the plow at about 3:30. I wish I was able to show them how to correct it. They would get alot more work out of that team in a day/year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFq_FsyS_fM&feature=related

Gordon

[Simple Living]

Robert, I know just what you are talking about. Just tell everyone that YOU trained them to do everything, because who are they going to tell !! And even if they did, who is going to believe a talking donkey!

Gordon

[Simple Living]

Ok I’m going to try to post a couple things here. This was a topic from early this year as well. Some really good info here

http://www.draftanimalpower.com/showthread.php?t=1360

And if I may I will paste the little bit that I did back then. It has to do with how to choose correct evener size when using a plow. I hope this helps.

This is taken from Sam Moore’s book “Implements for Farming with Horses and Mules, a Modern All-In-One Manual” It is a bit pricey but I have learned a wealth of knoledge,well worth the price.

“The center of power of a 2 horse team is a line from a point exactly midway between the inside hame hooks to the center clevis of the evener. The center of draft of a 14″ two-horse walking plow is about 2″ in from the landside and directly under the middle of the plow beam. The distance from the center of draft to the edge of the furrow wall is thus 14″ minus 2″, or 12”. The furrow horse walkes in the middle of the furrow, so his singletree clevis will be 7″ from the furrow wall. The distance then, from the center of draft, or the middle of the evener to the singletree clevis is 19″, calling for a 38″ evener.

For a 12″plow, the center of draft is approximately 10 1/2″ from the furrow wall plus 6″ to the center of the furrow, or 16 1/2″. Thus, a 33″ evener should be used on a 12″ plow.”

There is a lot more information on plowing and such in the book. I find it easy to read and if you have some basic knowledge of machines and physics, you can translate the information for your needs. Hope this helps and not clouds the issue.

Gordon

[Simple Living]

But what about a Festivus for the rest of us! ?? LOL Happy Holidays to one and all! From this family to my pixalated family!

Gordon

[Simple Living]

I pulled this from a post of mine on another board with a simalar topic. I believe at one time the Coggins test did help to reduce the cases of EIA. That being said this is still how I feel.

“Shots, Hooves, and deworming I do. Coggins test isn’t worth the paper its printed on. I just wish that people (mostly regulatory/lawmakers) would learn that. For those who don’t know, your horse can be infected 30 seconds after the blood is drawn, so how can a test like that be good for 6 or 12 months. Same goes for traveling health papers, Vet looks at horse today and says it will be healty for 30days????? How does that work?”

Gordon

[Simple Living]

Jean,

Is that a Pioneer set of shafts on the single tedder? Great pics by the way. Looked like a great day to be out working with the horses. But then again what day isn’t.

Gordon

[Simple Living]

Welcome Kari ! You will enjoy it in this neck of the woods. Your thoughts and humor will fit right in.

Gordon

[Simple Living]

Dear Bumpus…….

Never mind….

I never liked talking to the wall anyways…….

Have a nice day.

[Author]

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