We have sweat under the collar!

[OldKat]

@Donn Hewes 7533 wrote:

Hi Jen, i think peanut looked great the other day by the way. Nice and relaxed, nose into the barn. Perfect.

I started to type when I came back from the call but the computer timed me out. I use “come Gee” and “come Haw”. i usually use the horses name that is on the side I am going to. with a team of Andy and Kelly I would say “Andy come haw” or “Kelly come gee”, but I know this is one of the commands that a lot of different people use slightly different commands for. I only use a side pass when I have tongue or shafts. I really force my self to make a clear distinction between a tight turn and a side pass.

I just realized I can drive a fire engine to a fire and carry on a conversation and eat a sandwich at the same time; but I have been doing that a few days a week for twenty years. Wish I had been driving horses the whole time. In contrast I know that if I am talking to anyone while harnessing I NEED to double check everything. Just too easy to miss something while talking or teaching. Keep up the good work. Donn

I have been getting my wife to go with me to harness the horses up (per an off line suggestion from Donn). The VERY first time she went with me we were yapping away while I was putting the harness on. When I snapped the lines on I somehow managed to snap the left line to the halter ring instead of the bit ring. I just happened to notice when I gave everything a quick once over, but I realized it sure would be easy to screw up if you are not TOTALLY focused on what you are doing.

[Ed Thayer]

@jenjudkins 7550 wrote:

That would be awesome, Ed! I would love it! We’re pretty close…just up route 10 from you on the Grantham side of Springfield.

Jen,

Send me a PM with your phone number and I will make arangements with you to run it up this week.

Ed

[Carl Russell]

jenjudkins;7528 wrote:

Carl, I didn’t mean adding ‘chatter’ to the horse.:p I agree that this is counter productive and dilutes communication. I meant stopping to speak to a neighbor or to some other person nearby. Its hard to believe there is a situation where you wouldn’t at least occasionally need to speak words that should mean nothing to your horse.

Oh yeh, I agree, it’s just that in my mind it has more to do with how I condition the horse to listening to me for commands when working, versus when I speak to another person. I will speak to other people, even while working the horse, but the verbal command to the horse is always accompanied by physical guidance through bit and lines.

I will stop the horses to jabber with friends who are working with me, or neighbors, but the horses are stopped, with slack lines and not waiting for a command from me.

I don’t tend to use driving my horse as a social occasion. I will talk with folks when they ride, but I’m generally poor company. A case in point was a couple of weeks ago I took the horses for a jaunt down the road to pick Tuli up from a play date at a neighbors. As we headed back down the drive I made brief query about how her day was, and that after we got them back to the main road I would let her drive. Now this is a twelve year old who thinks about horses 24-7, but she just said “Awesome”, and focused on the horses, like I was. We stood side by side silent except for a few short corrective comments on my part. It was one of those parental moments when I was both proud and humiliated, because she is so much more focused than I was at that age she is soon going to make me look like a novice.

Carl

[jen judkins]

@near horse 7549 wrote:

Hey all,

I was gone all weekend to a horse & mule plowing event in central WA state and my horses – Red and Ranger – got some serious sweat under the collar and lots of other places mostly harrowing plowed ground –

Geoff, Was this your first plowing event? I can feel the excitement in your post…gives me goosebumps! Great job! Why do they call it a plowing ‘bee’?

[Plowboy]

Jen, We use Warnercrest Harness shop in Masonville New York. Vince Warner is a good family friend. I did not disclose him because I figured it would be too far for you. He advertises in Rural Heritage Magazine in the business card section. There are also several Amish shops within driving distance of our house but we have forged a solid relationship with Vince and Anne Warner. Our horses sport many used leather harnesses and one nylon but any replacement parts, new bridles, lines and one new team harness are all Warnercrest products. I’m not sure how practiced he is with D-Ring style harness but he makes all types in all materials Leather, Nylon and Bio. Many times if we need something we can talk through it over the phone and he will make it immediately and have it ready when we get there or he will bring it over to us if he wants to B.S. with Dad. If you are going to work horses it is important to have a good relationship with a harness shop and equipment dealer. We are fortunate to have both in place. Next time some one mumbles about there harness shop speak up and ask for an address and phone number and go check them out on a rainy Saturday and look at their products. Good Luck.

[near horse]

Jen,

It was my first time w/ my own horses at one of these events – although technically I’m not sure if this qualifies as a “plowing bee” in that it wasn’t a competition and no judging was involved (except ribbing from other participants). People call them plowing days, old time farming days, and horse and mule days. Yes, it was exciting to finally get around to “tickling worms”. I’ve done wagon rides, sleigh rides and such and they are also fun with the community aspect to them. But this just seems different. And in our neck of the woods, the opportunity to gather with other teamsters and do some plowing and primary tillage work is pretty limited – 3 or 4 times in 1 month and then nothing.

Can’t help with why a plowing bee is called a bee. Or a quilting bee, threshing bee, sewing bee…. Maybe it’s just a gathering or swarm of like minded folks.

BTW – Red and Ranger are in the photo album referenced by “grey”. They are about the 40th photo down the page – 2 Belgians one w/ a blaze the other not. Right after a picture of Fjords if I remember right. Not the flashiest pair nor as stout as some of those Percheron beasts but they are my team.

[Robert MoonShadow]

You’ve got a couple of good-looking animals there, Geoff – even if their ears are too short!! :p

[Gabe Ayers]

Just a few short comments on this good thread. As with Carl’s comment we use a combination of signals to connect with the horses. The way we get the horses to always start together is through a series of connections starting with contact or taking up the slack and feeling the horses in hand, which means – Attention, then following the subtle contact, not enough to make the back up but to have them in hand we speak “come up” to start them and then release the pressure a little to allow them to move forward. This use of voice and contact command release simultaneously is a multiple signal system to the horses and makes it a sure thing through this series. It is subtle and requires some quiet calming whoas some times while moving the lines around getting to the point of contact/command/release.

Now, anyone that saw our last segment on Rural Heritage RFD (probably not many since it aired a midnight and 5:00 am) we had the opportunity to show the horses operating by remote control or just voice only. This is not a trick horse show or anything of the sort, just the fact that the horse do learn the signals by voice only and often in the woods working alone we use their intelligence and willingness to please to move them around without touching the lines by repeating the five basic commands of come up, whoa, gee, haw and back. They will do all these things upon request particularly when we are alone in the woods and no other conversation is taking place. We don’t talk to the horses much when working alone and they definitely know the difference between casual conversation with another human. I think this is because we have trained them that line contact means “I want your attention please” and no contact means the ultimate reward of rest… multiple signals to start increases safety.

However they do get blurred sometimes and last Saturday when at the landing and talking with some visitors to our open woods day event I was standing behind the team after unhooking a log and chatting with the folks.
During the conversation I said the words “come up” in a sentence about coming up to visit the folks forest soon and the younger horse that has his ears back paying close attention started to walk off. Of course a quiet whoa stopped him, but it is amazing how much they can pick up certain words out of a conversation. In fact – we often, when talking around them actually spell out the words so they don’t hear them in their amazing obedient ways. So far they haven’t figured out how to spell…. yet – thankfully…

So just thought I would add that to the stories on this thread.

That was a lovely looking gathering in Washington State, what nice land (soil) and beautiful work animals. They were all busy as bee’s alright and happy with their work.

[Author]

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