[wvhorsedoc]

A couple thoughts from someone that uses a lot of shafts; the forward end of the shafts should be located close to the point of the shoulder. Yours are several inches high so the shaft loops really need to be lowered. The point of draft ( where the tugs attach to the vehicle) is very high. The singletree should be lowered to a point where the tugs would make a straight line from the hames to the axle. Another method that might work well would be to change to rope and pulleys attached to the cart deck frame, and not use a singletree. There are numerous articles on the web showing pictures of this arrangement. Barb Lee has an excellent handbook about proper draft and cart balance and she is very willing to help people like us. It appears you have the balance of the harness well fitted. Hope this advice is of help with your driving!

[wvhorsedoc]

Billy, I changed to open bridles a couple years ago. Driving on back roads (gravel or dirt) here in WV, many are
straight up on one side and straight down on the other. When meeting oncoming traffic while in blinders they would often get a wheel over the brim on the low side of the road, which raised my “pucker factor” off the scale, which in turn could be felt by the horses. When I removed the blinkers I never had another problem as the horses could see how close they were, and we all were much more comfortable with the reduced anxiety. It only took a couple trips to have them driving open like they were born to it.

[wvhorsedoc]

I have used top rail for chain link fence to make shafts for my Haflingers. Use fork of old apple tree to put in slight curves to turn front 18 inches away from their shoulders. Shafts on buggy, small manure spreader, and work cart. No problem in 2 years…

[wvhorsedoc]

Juliana, I was having the same problem couple years ago including driving, trimming feet, harnessing, etc. Someone suggested I work them single and every time they started their little dance, put a 30+ lead rope on them and lunge them for 8 or 10 rounds, then go back to whatever I was doing. Keep cool and never seem upset about their dancing…Within a couple weeks they decided they really liked to stand still, and to this day they remember their lessons well. Hope this idea may help. I’m sorry I don’t remember who to give credit for helping me.

[wvhorsedoc]

Nice job Jason ! I retired from USDA on 1/1/2000 after 32 years service as a veterinarian in several USDA branches, as well as private practice. I retired because I felt USDA had forgotten their reason for being created in 1908 (just like the Dept of Energy). I openly opposed NAIS in 2000 and have not changed my opinion. I do not recall the specialty of Dr DeHaven, but would not be surprised if it was a dog and cat practice. How anyone with a brain could recomment such a crazy set of regulations is beyond me. Most federal agencies are now led by morans that have never tried to make a living by “working”. Our country has survived, not because of, but in spite of the so called permenant government employees. I’m amazed every day how our “leaders” are able to remain office. Where does it end?

[wvhorsedoc]

In practice, I generally had excellent results following Penn State Extension Service recommendations. First, leave 3 to 4 hours time between administering any solution containing baking soda and any solution containing milk products. Second, very yound calves cannot digest sucrose sugars (eg. table sugar etc.) which results in making the diarrhea worse if administered. A workable solution for most simple diarrhea’s is: 1 tsp low sodium salt, 2 tsp baking soda, 1 3/4 oz (1 packet) of fruit pectin, 1 can beef consomme all dissolved in 2 quarts warm water. Administer 1 pint per 10 pounds body weight divided into 3 or 4 times daily. Calves that have lost about 10% of their body weight really need a couple rounds of IV treatment to have a chance of survival. In extremely cold weather making a bed in a bath-tub might be considered. Hope my gems of wisdom help in this discussion. WVhorsedoc
P.S. My son that lives in Alaska laughs when I talk about cold weather…

[wvhorsedoc]

With the surplus of good horses available, unless you have a need for a particular blood-line I would hesitate to take on the responsibility of a stallion with my herd. In my practice I usually saw an individual that needed the boost that riding a stallion would do for their ego. I have always felt a “good” stallion makes for a “great” gelding. During the last 4-H horse show I attended I saw a teen-aged boy ride a young stallion into the holding pen where 30+ youngsters were warming up for the reining event. Within 5 minutes the stallion mounted a pony mare with a young girl aboard, kicked several geldings, and basically killed the rest of the reining class. IMHO it just isn’t worth it.

[wvhorsedoc]

Carl, Is the breeching on the D-ring harnesses your own design? To a novice it looks like a combination of two different types of breeching. Your video clips are great. Thanks for sharing. Doc

[wvhorsedoc]

Tyler, I am using a twin size bed spring with a couple fence post wired on top to add weight. Been using it monthly for a couple years with little sign of wear. Just an idea…

[wvhorsedoc]

🙂@sickle hocks 26561 wrote:

Screwed up yesterday and had a runaway. I don’t really know the history of the team, they drove ok when I saw them but had terrible ground manners, but I could afford them. The guy who trained them couldn’t really walk anymore, so I think the real hand trained them on the driving and his help did the rest of the work. Not a lot of foundation. Holes.
“Hats”…

5 year old. When he got here…He is the lowest in pecking order. Nervous disposition, inclined to shy and spook. Disrespectful and pushy, almost aggressive, on the ground. Stiff. Head in sky for haltering / bridling. Very poor with foot handling and stuff around his hocks, especially right hind. Spooky about dragging things. Unwilling to yield to person, and tended to get angry when asked to yield…very reluctant to accept leadership. Bolted when being led a few times but I held him and got his head around.

After a few weeks…Yields nicely on ground, and will drop head even when nervous. Can hold all four feet, haven’t got right hind relaxed enough to trim yet. Still nervous at start of sessions, but settles down. Will look to me for guidance when he gets panicky. Not aggressive and pushy anymore. Drops head for halter, still takes time to get head down for bridle. Has an excellent ‘whoa’ just off the voice (in round pen).

“Doc”…

4 year old. When he got here….He is the boss horse. Much less nervous. Also much less pushy and aggressive. Stiff. Head in sky even worse than the other for for bridle or halter. Quicker than ‘Hats’ to be submissive, less angry when asked to yield. Bad bolt when leading. He surprised me the first time and got away from me.

After a few weeks…yields, polite on ground, more reluctant to drop head for me while leading (although will bow nicely in round pen). Pretty good with feet. He bolted a second time on lead and blew me over…he got hung up in brush and stood while I untangled, led him straight to round pen and worked on ‘whoa’. I don’t like having to use it and I’ll get flamed here for mentioning it but I put him in a war bridle for that session of ‘whoa’ work right after the bolt. Asked with voice, insisted with bridle, released immediately on the stop. Got him stopping nicely off just the voice and a bit of body movement. Led back out in paddock, he tried the bolt seven or eight times and actually bolted through the war bridle and got away once (but was unsuccessful the last times he tried) He is being lead everywhere in the war bridle right now but it is just hanging there with no pressure, just in case he tries to pull the bolt again, which he hasn’t for a week or so.

As a team…ground driving well in round pen. Excellent whoa off voice. Pulling stone boat around round pen, turns in both directions. A little excited at times but pretty good.

I screwed up. Drove them out of round pen into paddock. Runaway. I came off the stoneboat. Cross checks through hame rings. I know I should have had a preventer. They ran a few hundred yards maybe. Stopped in corner of fence. Said whoa. Unhitched. They were shaky but stood ok. Led back to round pen. Ran stoneboat back with truck. Ground drove right away. Hitched up. Drove stone boat around round pen until it was boring. Led them around the paddock in harness. Quit.

Now what?? I’m sorry I’m just not sure which horse started the bolt, I suspect Doc though, but Hats would panic when things got scary. I think I’m dealing with some chronic issues, but I’m not entirely sure. Anyway, I’m going to go out and hitch and drive them around the pen now a bunch at minimum.

Not expecting any answers, but maybe some insights or thoughts if you got em…I’m pretty much in the non resistance training camp, but when it gets to this i start thinking about the targeted and precise use of w’s and things like that…(flame away..) Can I ever trust these guys?

thanks
ps i’ve mentioned some pretty hard stuff here but i am also working slowly and gently and building trust and confidence so don’t think i’m a brute, ok?

As far as using a war bridle, all the “experts” use the theory; use as little force as possible, but as much as necessary to safely get a proper response. Sounds like you are doing things very well; keep it up…Doc

[wvhorsedoc]

😮 As a very green teenager in the mid 40’s my summer job was to ride the mules dragging shocks of hay to the pole. One day the owner was a man short so they talked me into raking hay with a dump rake (wasn’t hard to convince me as I thought that made me equal to the older men). On the outside round of the meadow the rake pulled a large bumble bee nest out of the ground. When those bumble bees settled in on those mules things went crazy! The mules went to bucking and racing which caused the rake to hook a wheel on a fence post, which in turn snapped the tongue off at the attachment to the rake. Since my only other job with the mules was to plow up potatoes, the only way I knew how to hold the reins was over one shoulder and under the other arm. You can imagine what happened when the tongue broke off the rake. First thing I remember was my nose plowing a furrow across that meadow. When I finally got untangled all I remember was seeing several farm hands laughing so hard they couldn’t even talk. Took days to get over the bruised ego!

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