New Horse; Includes discussion of Conditioning

[jen judkins]

Over the holidays I adopted a new Percheron from Ohio. He has some stifle issues, but after what I went through with Reno, I am not worried, lol. Hoping to team him with Reno, once I sort out his hind end issues.

Anyway, when I submitted my adoption application (which btw took 3 hours), I received an email stating logging was strictly prohibited (both for professional and personal purposes) as well as sleigh rides for other than personal purposes. Since I know possession is 9/10th of the law I let it go, knowing I was the perfect home for this horse. In 5 years, the horse is mine free and clear, as long as the rescue is happy with the way I have cared for him.

I looked over the adoption contract today and was surprised to find no mention of logging or any other activity in it, either positive or negative.

So my plan is to evaluate the horse for soundness and start working with him in harness. I suspect that skidding wood would be an excellent way to build some hindquarter muscling as well as build a solid partnership. I can’t see any reason not to proceed with my plan. For those of you who are in the rescue mode….can you see a problem with this? I don’t log for a living, nor for firewood even. Thoughts, insights???

[jen judkins]

Forgot to post a photo

[Rod]

@jenjudkins 23437 wrote:

So my plan is to evaluate the horse for soundness and start working with him in harness. I suspect that skidding wood would be an excellent way to build some hindquarter muscling as well as build a solid partnership… I don’t log for a living, nor for firewood even. Thoughts, insights???

Sounds like exercise to me, if you dragged a concrete block instead would that make you a contractor?

[dominiquer60]

If you hop a horse over a log does that make him a full fledged jumper, nope. If you drag a stick for training and therapy I don’t think it makes him a logging horse either. Go for it I would vouch for you.

Erika

[Anonymous]

What rescue organization is he coming from if I may ask. I am interested in rescues myself instead of buying one but every org. I have scoped want like 6-8000 dollars a horse so that sounds like a sale not rescue plus I know rescues aint free. Nice horse though.

[Mac]

Jen:
Thats a fine looking animal you’ve got. I hope he works out well for you. That grey is my favorite, my oldest one is that same color, except he bleaches out in the summer to a lighter grey. And here’s my input: if you want to drag logs, or pull a sled, or a plow, or a Mac truck for that matter, I’d do it if I wanted to, and wouldn’t much care what anybody else thought. He’s yours to enjoy, same as mine are mine to enjoy. Have fun and good Luck!
Mac

[mitchmaine]

hi jen,
i think if you have a written or verbal agreement with someone about how you treat their horse once they give its care over to you, you are bound to the agreement by accepting the horse.
i have an old mare, and am looking for someone who will give her a good home. so i’m on the other side of that coin, so to speak. she worked her butt off for me without any complaint, so i think its my part of the deal to find a safe place for her.

mitch

[jen judkins]

@mitchmaine 23464 wrote:

i think if you have a written or verbal agreement with someone about how you treat their horse once they give its care over to you, you are bound to the agreement by accepting the horse.

The thing is Mitch is that it is NOT in the written contract. One of the girls at the rescue told me that over the phone (and I assumed it was in the contract). The horse is only 6 years old.

[Carl Russell]

If you have any trouble with them, Jen, just say the word, you will have a lot of folks who will vouch for you.

What you will be doing with him will be only good for him. There has got to be some understanding in the agreement that recognizes that you have a lot of experience and judgment in the field of rehab and applying animal power. Your discretion should not be encumbered by some generalization of an over-concerned administrator.

Good luck, Carl

[lancek]

AS I said on face book contract or not if the intended use for the horse is what the horse was bred for then it should be allowed if it is done in the proper manner ! Its like trying too say that a quarter horse should in no way be used too heard cattle, people that want too help these animals should be commended but demanding that you only use the animal in the way they see fit is not something that should be allowed . If the animal is sound and taken care of in the proper way that is the only thing they should be concerned with ! And no offence Jen but the farm that this horse came from has had problems in the past with this sort of thing so there is a history of them getting over zellas. Jen as I stated before I would use that horse any way I see fit you take sound care of your animals and that horse is lucky too have a owner like you! And we as a community we need too address this issue of being abusers and being inhumane because we use our horses in the occupation that we are in!

[Mac]

Carl,
Thank you for saying that in a better way than I could’ve. I am positive that she knows exactly what she’s doing with this or any horse. I just don’t like it when some people who don’t know anything about horses and working try to tell us that do how to use those horses. No one has done this yet, at least on this board, but it’s happened to me before, and I haven’t forgotten it.
Good luck Jen, and have fun with him.
Mac

[Andy Carson]

As far as conditioning, I have always used a weighted sled. I like that the pull is predictable and can easily be made aerobic or anaerobic by simply adding or subtracting weight, the weights also make it easy to track progress. I am a very inexperienced logger, so twitching logs for me involves alot of ground driving, several minutes of fussing with rigging, a couple minutes of walking around and thinking about the path I will take, a relatively short period of heavy pulling, followed by more fussing with rigging and ground driving. I am sure the periods of pulling are good workouts, but to a novice (and maybe even to an expert) there is alot of standing around too. A sled can be pulled for hours with the right load, and I was always more interested in long slow workouts in prep for farm-type work.

PS. Congratulations on your new horse!

[jen judkins]

He’s from Frog Pond Draft Horse Rescue in Cambridge, OH. What have you heard, Tim?

[XLmules]

I worked for many rescues in FL and was a Police Officer there as well….if it is not in the written contract, I am with you and others…..is not binding. I can understand their hopes that someone will not over work one of their animals, but the short turn around in their approval – did they do a farm visit by any chance? – makes me wonder about anything that they said verbally……Pulling a ground sled or a log or two would be good for that very handsome boy and I am sure that you are like we are….my horses, mules and Jackstock get better care than I give myself:-)

[lancek]

Jen all I heard rather read was that they had been in a couple of law suits trying to get horses back and that they were over zelus in there pursuit of these law suits and didn’t win ! I also know that they had been red flagged by Microsoft for having some sort of bad tracking cookies but i think they fixed that !

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