Horse won’t plow, and how to "persuade" him

[bivol]

hi!

today i had the chance to talk to and old-timer about draft animals.
and he mentioned some horses wouldn’t want to go in furrow.
so i got a make-shift idea how to fix it: i take a sled, load it, and put it near the furrow. then i try to plow with a horse, and if he acts up, i hitch him to the sled and run him around the field (not the furrow). when he’s sufficiently tired from the heavy load, i put him back in the furrow without a load or with just a slight load, and let him pull. so he in a sense learns that the choice would be a (in the time) a light load in the furrow or a heavy one outside the same.
if i plowed with two horses, i’d hitch only the obstinate one to the sled, and the obedient one would just walk besides him in harness, to further the point. horses are smart, thew obstinate one should figure out quickly that in the furrow, his mate also works, while outside at the moment, only he pulls.
sorry if i bring something up lots of folks may already know, but i’m still learning.

am i on the right track here? i try to apply the “choice” policy here.

[TBigLug]

That sounds like it might work. When I was breaking my young filly to plow I would hook her to the forecart and ride around. Then I’d head out to the field and walk the other horse in the furrow for a while so she could see. Then, I’d let her walk in the furrow for a while (all this while still on the forecart). After a couple 5 or 6 times of doing that I hooked her to the plow and she worked like a champ. There was a couple young Percherons a friend had that would not pull the plow (never had a heavy load on) so we had two of us walk to the side and behind them and kind of proded them along like a couple oxen for a round or two until they figured out his scenario and theyve worked fine ever since.

As long as you keep it a positive scenario they usually catch on pretty fast.

[bivol]

the method with forecart is good! it simplifies breaking to plow if they are already (fore)cart broken.

so i guess it could also work with a cart instead of forecart?

did you hitch a load to the forecart to accustom her to pulling while in furrow?

about those percherons, when you prodded them, didn’t they want to bolt and jump out of furrow? figured that they likely would, but seems they were tame…

which reminds me, an animal bolts in most cases (80%) when pushed too hard, doesn’t understand what its driver wants, or simply (it or the driver) has a bad day. other 20% are character, i guess…

[TBigLug]

It would work with any cart that is stable enough to be driven with one wheel in the furrow. It helps if the tire is directly behind the horse so it doesn’t pull off to the side. Once I hitched my tire stack behind the forecart while we were in the furrow but that was it. All of her initial load pulling was on the stone boat. When we prodded the Percherons we just had two really thin branches. One guy on one side bahind a horse and me on the other. We didn’t beat them with the sticks just tapped on their rumps lightly so they could understand we wanted them to go forward. When they moves forward we stopped touching them altogether until they got that look int heir eyes like they wanted to stop again. Then brush them again with the stick and they kept on moving. Only once did one try to walk out of the furrow. Never tried to bolt. Amazing given they were pretty wild the day before on the wagon. I think they were late 2 or early 3. Worked good. We had a sum total of 250 years of experience among the 5 of us standing there. I’m the rookie with a mere 10 years or so. The rest of them (my grandpa and three of our friends) are all over 70 and have forgotten more than I may ever learn.

[bivol]

i thought you didn’t prod them along with force, horses don’t need that.

that with the tire in the furrow, i haven’t thought of that, good to know. ofcourse trickier if one trains a single horse, but it works OK for two…

thanks!:)

[Vand]

Hi There,

We usually have one Shire foal a year. For the past few years, when the baby is 3 years old, we start driving. Usually, they are hitched single and learn to ground drive, and then we hitch them with an older/experienced horse and they do all sorts of farm chores. When they are 4 years old, I take them plowing.

They always start out as my land horse (I use a 14″ walking plow) while the older/experienced horse goes in the furrow. They go plow neighbor’s fields, the garden, whatever and then we take them to several plowing competitions throughout the year. The exposure baby gets to the furrow that year is when we’re finishing out our land and by walking next to the furrow horse.

The following year, the experienced horse stays home and the baby (now 5) becomes the furrow horse while a new 4 year old is hitched with them as the land horse. Usually, I walk the new furrow horse next to the furrow for a few passes (just dragging the plow on it’s side) and then ask them to step over and get in the furrow. They usually step over it a few times and then figure out to walk inside. You may have to have a helper guide them down into the furrow the first few times. It takes several passes of just walking up and down the field with the team; but the new furrow horse learns his/her job fairly quickly. Every time I get my youngster in the furrow, I tell them, “get down in there.” Pretty soon, I pull my team up next to the furrow, tell the furrow-horse the command, and he/she automatically just steps in. It’s also a handy command for if they accidentally step out mid-row.

The biggest thing is to have a horse that is driving nicely before you take them plowing. We do a lot of driving on a training tire and just put miles on them. When the bottom of your tire is ripped to shreds and worn out, you’ve got broke horses. When plowing with youngsters, it’s important to give them breaks and keep them feeling good. I usually work them on the training tire for several weeks before plowing. It helps them build muscle and get used to a load before being asked to pull a plow. I’ve taken youngsters to plowing competitions for the past few years in our area and won every time.

[Author]

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