running to the end

[bendube]

Kevin- I think we miss a word sometimes- we’re “working ON the boys” not just working them. Its pretty incredible how quickly someone can train an animal to do the wrong things when they are “working them, not training them.”

Carl- I understand what you’re saying. Sometimes I do think I’m “tricking” them which I agree is not the way to find improvement. On the other hand, we only get to end a session once, and if the perfect time to do that comes at a spot that is inconvenient or odd for the working process, then, depending on the day and the conditions, I might have to take that opportunity.

Based on the last few sessions, I’d definitely recommend fall plowing as a great time to start with a team and/or teamster that hasn’t plowed before- no hurry, 5 months of weathering ahead to smooth the field out for harrowing, and the planting season still far away out, of sight, out of mind. Makes it much easier to keep the team as the real focus.

Makes me want to revise something that Wendell Berry wrote (I don’t have the text in front of me, so I’m paraphrasing): The three greatest crops are the mind of the farmer, the condition of the soil and the trust of the team. If a farmer achieves a crop, by belittling himself, degrading her soil, or confusing his team, she has gained nothing, and must start again next year, diminished.

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