Questions on Starting a Saddle horse to drive

[Anonymous]

I have a nice belgine mare sweet as pie and double broke. I was wanting a team but cant find a single horse to go with her but haven’t had any luck. I did however find a Horse sized harness to fit my good saddle horse. She is young easy to work with and very calm. I would like some advice on getting her going as half of my team. I have read alot about mismatch teams and don’t think its going to be a problem. Ive ground driven her singly but cant seem to get them to take off as a pair they just act confused. Any advice would be great.

Russ5099

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Russ, I have all ways been a fan of useing what you have. Many good days working a Percheron and a Halflinger. When you tried to start them together were you ground driving still, or something else? If you haven’t added anything else new except another horse you may just need to add a little more pressure. A change in voice, speaking her name and then the command to go, a little pressure from behind. Careful with the pressure from behind, we don’t want to swing anything so much you raise the level of excitement beyond what we wanted. Better to use a stick to reach out and give a little poke. A green horse can be very soft on the bit, be sure you are not inadvertently sending a signal to stay put at the same time you are asking them to go. An easy way to adjust the pressure slightly between two horses while ground driving is to adjust which one you stay behind. The pressure would be even if you were right in the middle. Walk behind a soft mouthed horse and you have given them a little slack compared to the other. Just some random thoughts – if any seem remotely applicable let us know. Good luck, Donn

[Anonymous]

Don thanks for the advice.

Horseman can be hard to come by any more unless yor into worthless fancy show saddle horses which I am not. But I’ll try walking behind her instead of in the middle. and yes I’m still ground driving thought that would be the way to go untill they started working well kinda figured the swinging douuble tree from an uneven start might be a problem. Thanks again.

Russ5099

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the advice. I’ll try it. Yes I’m still ground driving didn’t want to start somthing new with out being good at the other. Could you recomend any good books one the subject.

Russ5099

[Anonymous]

That sounds good to me I have a real lite wagon and a lite stone boat I use for moving brush and stuff. The girls are only mismatched in weight. My blegian is short and my Through breed/quarter horse cross is tall. I was worried about their ability to pull evenly. As far as just putting them to gether and going I was worried about getting ahead of my self. The one I’m traing to drive knows what a bit is and is far from crazy or I never would have started this. So in your opinion you think it would be ok to do that? That was my first thought when I decided to do this. Thanks again for the feed back. Also sorry to those of you I might have affended with my coment on show horses but I was wanting to have my Mare bred and was told by the ower of the stud I wanted to use that he would never bred his stud to a grade mare and I was alittle miffed at that moment I apoligize again. Thank you all for your help.

Russ5099

[J-L]

Russ, I think you’ll find it an easy job. I occasionally put a saddle horse in harness to work when I run short of horsepower. Usually the horses that are broke fairly decent under a saddle don’t have much problem going to work. I do find that it helps some of them to become better individuals.
The town water intake is on our ranch here and the guys who run the plant come here daily. The boss stopped me one day in the grocery store to visit and had to comment on how he watched me feed and haul hay etc, just about daily and hardly saw the same critters hooked up two weeks in a row. One day was a black and white paint horse and a blue roan mule, next week was a red and white paint horse and a black mule, then a black mule/sorrel mule, sorrel mule/sorrel mule, and so on and so on.
Being mismatched can happen even when both animals are the same size. The reverse is true also. One of my favorite matchups is my little 950 lb blue roan mule and a 1300 lb perch mule. They just work well together and match their gate well. If anything I have to get after the big mule to stay up with that little blue mule (who was a saddle mule for 4 years before I put a collar on her one day. In two days she was feeding cows for me.)
Watch your horse and go along as fast as he can tolerate it without a blowup. It usually comes to them fairly quick. Work what you have and have fun doing it.

[OldKat]

@J-L 8575 wrote:

Russ, I think you’ll find it an easy job. I occasionally put a saddle horse in harness to work when I run short of horsepower. Usually the horses that are broke fairly decent under a saddle don’t have much problem going to work. I do find that it helps some of them to become better individuals.
The town water intake is on our ranch here and the guys who run the plant come here daily. The boss stopped me one day in the grocery store to visit and had to comment on how he watched me feed and haul hay etc, just about daily and hardly saw the same critters hooked up two weeks in a row. One day was a black and white paint horse and a blue roan mule, next week was a red and white paint horse and a black mule, then a black mule/sorrel mule, sorrel mule/sorrel mule, and so on and so on.
Being mismatched can happen even when both animals are the same size. The reverse is true also. One of my favorite matchups is my little 950 lb blue roan mule and a 1300 lb perch mule. They just work well together and match their gate well. If anything I have to get after the big mule to stay up with that little blue mule (who was a saddle mule for 4 years before I put a collar on her one day. In two days she was feeding cows for me.)
Watch your horse and go along as fast as he can tolerate it without a blowup. It usually comes to them fairly quick. Work what you have and have fun doing it.

My daughters paint gelding seems like he is starting to recover from whatever it was that ailed him & I was wondering how he would work with my two mares. He is about a hand shorter and at his heaviest maybe 200 pounds lighter than the mares; right now maybe 300 pounds lighter. I have some harness that will fit him, so he is going into the rotation next as the mares are coming along really well. This stuff sure is fun isn’t it?

[Donn Hewes]

JL, I wish you were near by. Seems like we think a like. Here is a picture of a percheron and a halflinger with a spreader. Donn

[Anonymous]

I just cant belive how easy it is to discuss this stuff on line. When I lived in Colorado every body was into horses and their were always lots of other Cowboys around to ask questions and get help from. Here in Oklahoma its a hole differnt ball game. I know one other guy thats into hitching and he is pretty new to it too. My Grandpa has used horses on the farm since he was a kid growing up in the panhandle of Oklahoma, but he lives 4 hours away so he can’t be all that much help. I relly like being able to discuss the subject like this. Your advice has been great. The advice I’m geting seems to be to just hook her up and use her which is great but the harness I bought for her (for 25 bucks) at an auction was great but the collar is pretty bad I cleaned it up but it has a hole in it down low and I won’t put any weight on the harness till I get a new collar. Does any one have a 18 or 19 inch work collar their not using. A new one is 150 bucks and I would rather do business with some one from this group if any one is intrested. You can e-mail me at mmmlandandlivestock@gmail.com. if you have one.

Russ5099

[Rod44]

Donn – sure liked your picture.:) As I always say when I’m hooked up not too fancy or maybe just cobbled something together, “Well, I’m not taking them to the fair!!”

Sure wish more people would post pictures.

[J-L]

Donn, I do believe they look good enough together to spread manure! I like the team pictures you have with the mules and horses together. Now that is diversity.
I wanted so much to take a picture of my bobsled this winter. I came out of the barn and had 2 cow dogs, 1 moose beagle, 2 kids, and one goat on a load of hay. It was pulled by my little blue mule and and my big black one. Talk about a hodge podge set up.

[Donn Hewes]

Rod 44, I agree with you, more every day pictures. Unfortunately I am usually going out by my self; and I have a lot of pictures over the butt! My wife usually laughs at me if I ask her to take my picture again. Tested a new mowing machine today – great day with horses. Donn

[J-L]

I’ll try and send a picture of one of my mismatches here. If it comes through, it’s a pic my wife took when we came home from the hayfield and the kids didn’t want to walk the mile home after a hard day.

[Rod44]

Good one!!!!!!!!!!!:):)

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