Raising Your Own

[Plowboy]

Although I wouldn’t recommend it for beginners there is nothing like raising a good foal from birth. Right now we have a filly born in August of 2005. We harnessed her and drove her a little as a yearling and started her driving as a two year old. She hauled 2 loads of corn to the blower at our silo fill and stood like a statue as the blower roared. This winter we drove her on the breaking sled a few times but ice limited her education time. It was nice on Monday and I was off from work. I helped Dad finish chores and we decided to put her on the spreader with one of our geldings. She stood well as we loaded the spreader and drove to the field like a broke horse. I put the spreader in gear and it began to clatter. She perked up a little and went right to work leaning into the collar. When we got done we ate lunch and then ground drove her single for about 30 minutes and she went well. We will work her into every job this summer even in our six horse plow hitch sometimes. Her 10 month old brother appears to have the same laid back temperment so we should have a good level headed team of blacks in a couple years. It’s nice when they learn so quick but daily handling makes for an easy transition. I do like training the challenging one’s but it’s nice to have the good quiet, smart ones to do the more intricate jobs like cultivating.

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