Feeling Their Oats

[Does’ Leap]

I pulled some firewood for the first time in six weeks. I have been recovering from an appendectomy so have only worked my horses lightly on a couple of occasions during that time. They were like team Budweiser headed to the horse pull – high stepping and full of piss and vinegar (one horse especially). They were worked regularly before my surgery usually every other day to every three days with me cutting on the off days. They were quiet as can be, even a little dopey at times.

When we first got this team as 6 year-olds, we saw more of this behavior and it really used to bother me. Yesterday, I bitted down the one really amped up horse (we use lever bits). This horse was jigging in his own spot (not moving ahead) and I wanted him to feel the “correction” more than the other horse. I did a combination of making them walk without jigging (through line correction) and letting them trot back to the hitch depending on how I was feeling. My attitude was “you want to move, o.k move, but only when I say so.” Even with these antics, they stood perfectly. I believe that this behavior was not nervousness, but an expression of their pent up energy (I have seen the nervous jigging before). Interestingly, the more amped up horse has been ridden daily by my wife who is training him in dressage. I know after a few days of work, they will be back to where they were.

So here’s the question: how do you interpret this type of behavior in your horses (I assume most have seen a variation of what I’ve just described) and what is your reaction to it?

George

[Carl Russell]

Just as you have.

I usually take advantage of that energy to get a little extra done. If you maintain your directive and working cadence, they will begin to manage their energy more efficiently.

Carl

[mitchmaine]

the amish like a horse with a little kick. they are usualy still going at the end of the day. anyway, how are you feeling? six weeks to heal up from an appendix? they must have beat you up pretty bad. hope you are well. best wishes, mitch

[Donn Hewes]

I try to ignore their attitude and correct them when they are out of place. I have one horse out of five that is like that regularly (I have had others in the past). I try to make sure she is hooked up as frequently as I can, because I think it helps her to keep up that routine. When I am working with her I am interested in her and thinking about making her better. She is a highly responsive horse and all ways will get after anything I ask. Some of those horses quite the behavior as soon as they work a little. Others, like mine unfortunately, will continue until they wear them selves out. She is sweaty and breathing hard before everyone else, and in a long haymaking afternoon she gets wasted before anyone else. I have been driving her for two years waiting to see if she grows out of it.

Yesterday I was driving two other mares together to skid a few logs. They haven’t been hooked together much and the pregnant mare has not worked much this winter. What a quite and perfect team. What fun that is. To make a long story short the little Belgian mare is for sale. she is just started under saddle and will make some one a great little horse.

[jac]

Im glad to hear you guys have this too.. I have one gelding that has tested my patience for 6yrs now.. not too bad on the way out but boy does he try it on when he knows its home time.. so much so that if I head for our driveway he joggs and if I pass the gate he imediatly slows to a walk, I did that 3 times one day to prove a point. he does usually settle but he gets into a real lather and I feel as if I’m working him too hard but his team mate hardly breaks sweat!!. My two mares are perfect and a joy to work.
John

[Charlie B]

I have a pair of Shire geldings that are full brothers, 4 and 5 this year. With regular use they operate completely and smoothly off of voice commands. I trust them to listen and respond to my commands at all times. Two weeks ago I was pulling in logs from the woodlot, my wife could see that I was trotting them up to the house and back to the woodlot, time after time. When I went to the house she wanted to know why I made them exert so much for so long. Well they were feeling their oats and wanted to move out, so after of a couple of minutes of trying to make them move at my pace, I instead worked them at their pace. After a couple hours in the woods the listened for my commands and had no problem slowing down. At know time were they going to run off, and they would stand quietly to hook up but they wanted to moveout at a long trot. My idea is I give the commands and they respond, my horses don’t make the decisions but sometimes I have to alter the work so that they think it was my decision. Everytime we handle our horse we are teaching them something—hopefully we are teaching them something good.

[Does’ Leap]

Glad to hear my approach to this behavior confirmed. Yes Mitch, 6 weeks to recover according to my doctor. I have been milking and doing chores for the past 4-5 weeks, but no lifting over 10 lbs. The doctor who removed the appendix has already repaired 1 hernia of mine (1 of 3!) and told me to go some place else if I herniated my appendicitis incisions.:eek: Anyway, I am back at it.

George

[Carl Russell]

So a bit more time to fill in some of the details about my earlier comments. I also have, and have had horses act like this. Some more than others. More often it happens like you describe, after some time off… a week or two. Usually when they are worked at least a few days a week they don’t waste their time like that.

The thing that I insist on though is not trotting back to the woods. A quick-paced walk is fine. I like them to act like they have extra energy, because they usually do, and as I said before, I want to use it. But a running horse is not a working horse in my mind, and I will let them burn the energy when loaded, but they need to walk back into the woods. I do this by insisting through bit pressure, tight until they walk, then release… sometimes over and over until they realize that it is no different than any other day, and they need to obey.

It is actually a great thing when you can have a horse demonstrate that level of pent-up energy, because I love working with them so that they learn to keep it, but to use it for my own benefit. It is a lot easier, and more effective to help an energetic horse manage its exertion, then it is to try to get a mellow horse to become explosive. This is especially related to heavy work.

Carl

[Does’ Leap]

Carl:

Thanks for your more in-depth comments. Oddly, I regularly have them trot down the well established portion of my logging road part way back to the next hitch. This when they have good energy and usually earlier in the day. I just like trotting. I like how the horses move, the speed, and the cardio training it gives them. I have been working on a collected, even trot with minimal line pressure. Trotting in this case is not to dissipate energy as the horses are calm and collected, more just cause I like it and the horses do well. What do you all think?

George

[Carl Russell]

That seems fine to me. I understand what you mean as an exercise. That is definitely different than letting them trot because they are full of it.

Mine usually get a pretty good cardio workout when they are headed out of the woods loaded.

I prefer a brisk and even walk, or even a casual walk back to the woods. Just my speed.

Carl

[Gabe Ayers]

I prefer a slow casual walk back into the woods too. When they are really working that becomes a rest period, where the slow patient return is at a pace that allows them to recover from the effort of coming out with a good load. When you are really working them that seems a natural way of going that they adapt in response to the situation and energy needed for the loaded task.

All horses are fresh when the first few steps start, particularly if they are not worked regularly at the same task and routine. A stout conditioned pair may be fresh in a different way than a less experienced and less worked pair who are not sure what is going to happen next. There is a subtle difference between horses that are just game and high headed and a team that feels good to come out of the barn and move out a bit.

The liking to see them trot reminds me of a fellow many years ago that said the same thing to me once while we were very young and I was actually making crops with my horses and he was playing with his.

Eventually the trotting horses became running horses and he lost them a couple of times to runaways and he gave up and gave the horses away. He was a rich fellow that was just a hobbyist at best and he didn’t stick with working horses very long. Having been at this now for 40 years or so I have certainly seen allot of people come to this culture and the highest percentage actually don’t stay. It is a fad for them and they don’t actually work them very much in the woods or on the farm.

I don’t think our horseman here (George) fits that description, and I am not picking at him, in fact I am glad he is telling of his experiences. But I would suggest that the teamster has a role of not only giving guidance to where the horses actually go but how fast or at what pace they get there.

There is such a marked difference between horses that go to work everyday for the economic gain that results from their work and horses that just work occasionally for the enjoyment of working them. The two things are often one, but the difference of choosing animals as the power source, that are actually doing the work as a way of making a living adds a quality of function that tempers every aspect of the horse and horseman relationship.

Keep working them George, glad you are enjoying it. Sounds like your horses like working too.

~

[jac]

Hi guys.. that gelding I mentioned in yesterdays post that was always jogging … well after I posted that him and me went ground driving again. Had been doing that for a week and yesterday I went past our woodlot and on the way home I steadied him up and we went into the wood..Now I got this horse as a 3yr old and have no reason to think he did any forestry before, my black horse has done timber work but not the bay. Anyway he settled down immediatly on entering the wood. I quietly drove him through and around some trees, backed him up a few times and even talked him over a log.. transformed horse!!.Drove him home and he was settled.. So today him and me set off again into the wood and this time I stood him up in front of an ash log about 10ft long and 12″dia… small stuff but I wanted to try. He stood perfectly while I hooked him up and spoke to him and he gently eased that log into motion and we set off for the road at a steady calm pace??!! That was one horse that I would never before have tried in the wood but in no small way thanks to you guys he now has another job to do other than wagon work at parades:) having said that some of it could be the dentists work paying dividends now as he realises he doesnt have to clamp down on the bit..he was the one with the hooks if you remember.. anyway thanks again for all your imput and another result for a really great web site.
John

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