Forum Replies Created
- AuthorPosts
Vand
ParticipantOur horses go to lots of events and plowing competitions. Whenever we’re out in public, we use a stud chain over the nose. Most of our horses will walk on a loose line and do wonderfully, but we’ve had the occasional youngster who is so excited by all the new surroundings that they forget to pay attention to their handler. It’s always good to have that safety mechanism to give them a little “pop” and make sure they’re paying attention to what they’re supposed to be doing (ie: walking nicely with you to the watering hole).
And as others have said, our reactions and excitement are absolutely felt by the horses and they react or get excited in turn.
ParticipantThere’s a lot of standing water in certain areas on our farm and the horses walk through it just fine. It seems like you’d just want to create a standing water area and practice driving through it with your team. You might need an assistant the first couple of times to help encourage them to step into the water (don’t go really deep at first–maybe just 3-4 inches of water); but I’m sure they eventually take to it with no problems.
ParticipantI don’t know about logging, although, I’m sure they’d do fine; but a friend of mine uses a halflinger team for plowing. They’re built like little tanks and do a great job for her. One word of warning though, halflingers are smart little buggars–as pony-types tend to be. If you aren’t a confident teamster, hook up with someone who is because they’ll take advantage of you. 😮
ParticipantCountry Mouse–
Yes, it is possible she’s just getting bored and wants to do something that’s harder for her; but you’re right in that she needs to learn self-control and if you want a well-rounded horse, she needs to be able to do all different kinds of work (light and heavy).
I would be interested to know what kind of bit you’re using–if only because if she’s getting bored and pushing through the bit, it may take a different style of bit to keep her from doing that. If she learns that she can’t push through the bit when she gets her “naughty-pants” on, she should eventually figure out that she has to behave, no matter what kind of work she’s doing.
Still, there are those horses who like to work hard and aren’t really cut out for certain kinds of work. True, they should still do it and behave themselves; but they may definitely have a preference. We have one mare who loves farm work (plowing, skidding, harrowing, mowing); but hate-hate-hates the show ring. She has been shown and she does fine; but she’s miserable the whole time. Does that make sense? Basically, your mare needs to learn to do the light work and behave while doing it; but eventually, if you want to get a pony for the smaller jobs, it might make everyone happier.
Hope that helps.
ParticipantHi Jac–It wouldn’t be a bad idea to get his teeth checked.
If there’s nothing wrong with his mouth, he might just be one of those big-necked strong horses who likes to tuck his chin and go. If his teeth aren’t the problem, you might consider adding an overcheck bit. By tucking his head down and to the side, he’s basically getting behind the bit and doing what ever he wants (ie: jogging). You don’t need to have it super-tight, just enough to tip his chin back up and keep his head centered and in-contact with the bit. It may not solve the jogging problem completely; but it will keep him from tucking that chin and ignoring the bit.
We have one horse who kind of jogs in place when we’re working. The only thing that solves this issue is a wet collar (eventually, she gets tired enough to stop goofing off). She’s a good horse otherwise and her momma was the same way.
Good luck.
December 8, 2009 at 9:33 pm in reply to: Tragedy!!!Includes discussion of dramatic experiences, and blinders vs. open bridles #55752ParticipantTBigLug,
That’s fantastic that your mare has no apparent lasting effects from the incident. I’m always amazed at how resilient animals are. Usually, we’re more traumatized than they are!
ParticipantOur horses are taught to stand at a very young age. We don’t take it for granted of course, especially in a situation (shows, plow matches) where there are a lot of people around; but at home, they’re made to stand on a regular basis.
One of the main chores we do is spread manure (with 16 horses, there’s plenty of it). Usually, we start with a full manure spreader. Hook the team to it, they spread it, then park them by the barn, jump on the tractor, dump another load into the manure spreader, they spread it again. They usually end up doing 4-5 loads this way. All the while, the tractor is running back and forth around them. It’s a good think when they’ve been worked this way from a young age and will just stand around as long as we need them too.
ParticipantI know what you mean. Not too many 28 year old women would rather spend the day behind a walking plow and team than go shopping. Friends to do draft horse stuff with are in short supply everywhere I think.
ParticipantI beat us up on that parking lot at PCC 3 yrs then decided I had better things to do that weekend.
Never have made it to the park. Would just be watching now anyway.
Well, if you don’t have anything better to do the 1st weekend in May, come down to Champoeg to watch. We usually have a pretty good turn-out. This last year we had 18 teams plowing.
ParticipantNice shoe Aaron! We also hand-build our shoes from farm plates to show shoes. We start with about the same amount of steel as well.
ParticipantI hope that ground is better than the plowing at PCC Rock Creek.
Yes Joel! The ground is much better than PCC. We do the plowing the first weekend of May, usually work the ground down and plant the 2nd day and harvest (all horse-drawn equipment) some time in July. This is all done at Champoeg State Park in Newberg, OR. We have some other plowing events throughout the year; but that’s the big one that is hosted by our club.
See more pictures of our club plowing events at:http://www.odhba.org/Site/Home.html
Go to Photo Albums.
ParticipantVand that is sure pretty country you’re in. Tell me about the team you have on the walking plow there. They look to be youngsters. Also what are you guys going to grow in your plowed ground in all these pictures?
The grey Shire mare (Sadie) was about 11 in that picture. She’s been there, done that. She’s started too many colts to count and is an excellent furrow-horse. She likes to work. The black filly (Emma) was coming 4 at the time. She’s also a Shire and one of the babies from our stud. Also likes to work (although she’s a furrow horse now)
That ground was being plowed for oats and is a project we’re involved in at a national park in our area (Willamette Valley in Oregon). It was pretty wet that year; but the ground there is really nice. I’m using my great-grandfather-in-law’s John Deere plow from the 1920’s and my harness (dad found it at an antique store and we’ve restored it…it’s about 80 years old).
I try to take a new colt plowing every fall. We usually start in November or December (driving new colts with our older/experienced horses) and then go plowing starting in February through about May. We have a few competitions and some just plowing for friends and neighbors. I have fun with it and I think it’s one of the best jobs a young horse can do.
ParticipantI love, love, love plowing with the walking plow. Wouldn’t have it any other way. Beautiful pictures. Sounds like you had a near-perfect day.
I take some of our “kids” plowing every winter and spring. It’s a great way to spend the day.
ParticipantIf you have access to a Mac, use a .Mac account. It’s $100/year for more server space than most of us could ever use. You can use the iWeb software to create the sites and it is super easy to use. You will need to buy your domain name through a different company (like GoDaddy); but for $100 a year, you can’t beat it. I’ve found the people at Apple super-easy to work with and very helpful.
I have two sites that I’ve done with this software. One for our farm and one for our draft club.
ParticipantRod, my dad has restored several plows and we always start by taking a sander or grinder to the share and knocking the largest pieces of rust off. When you start to see some shine coming through, take the sander or grinder and move in the direction that the soil would move over the share until you have a shiny surface. When you’re done, you can spray it with WD-40 if you plan to use it soon or coat it in grease if you plan on storing it for several months. Come Spring, you just wipe off the grease and go plowing!
I agree with Vicki, the horizontal holes you are describing allow you to adjust the size of the furrow.
- AuthorPosts