Winter Gathering Updated

[Does’ Leap]

Fairwinds Farms organized a winter gathering at our farm in Bakersfield, VT this Saturday. There were about 20 folks from around Vermont and New Hampshire. The day started in the round pen where Kristan and I showed some of the things we have been doing with our 5 year old bay geldings. Then Bekah Murchison (Fairwinds) did some masterful demonstrations of her techniques. This was followed by lunch and then a logging demonstration with our Forrest logging arch. Discussion included approaching the log, when to give the boys a rest, and harness fit. For those of you tuned into the twisted wire snaffle discussion, the strong consensus was not to go to the wire snaffle.

George

[Plowboy]

Nice looking bays! If I were to venture a guess your right hand horse is the one hogging on the bit. He just has that look and head carriage but if their broke as good as you say once you get through that quirk you should have an excellent team for the next 15-20 years. Good luck with them. I love the looks of a good bay but having Percherons we always hated the thought of breeding to a Belgian because of some of their undesirable qualities like feet. Anyone breeding a Belgian mare could only be doing themselves a favor breeding to a good work stock Percheron. Ok Jason or if you have one available a Suffolk Punch. Just kidding ! One of my dearest mentors used to say, ” Belgians are OK and Percherons are good but if you cross the two you’ve really got something “.

[Does’ Leap]

Plowboy:

Oddly enough it is the other horse that is more aggressive on the bit. From the picture, it looks like the opposite. Are all Belgian / Percheron crosses bays or do they vary in color? How common is the cross?

[Plowboy]

I can’t say from experience but for the most part this cross will produce a bay. It is possible to get a roan, a black, chesnut, buckskin or anything else in the spectrum depending what is in the mix with the dam and sires heritage. The old timers say that bay is the most common with a Percheron x Belgian. I would say it is not uncommon for these two breeds to be crossed because there are some bays around although there is a rare string of bay full blood Percherons scattered around the country. Availability of local Stallions may be a factor especially among the Amish. If they want to breed a good mare and a neighbor has a good stallion often times they may not be the same breed. I would also like to say that given the current horse market horses should only be purposely bred with intense thought given to what offspring you might get. If raising to sell make sure they will be saleable before you breed the mares. If raising to replace your own or friends stock then raise them, train them and work them. I know right now you have geldings but there are too many folks out there breeding inferior stock. Just because you have a mare it does not mean she should raise colts and just because you have a stallion it doesn’t mean he should be allowed to sire colts. Sorry to get off on a tangent but I see the horse market right now and it makes me sick to see the market flooded with run of the mill foals or culls resulting from breeding for a foal crop instead of quality. If you ever want to raise some bays find a nice mare and breed her to a good stallion and you should raise nice foals. If you want to get another pair of bays to work you should be able to find them around the country. Good Luck with them you have a sharp looking team!

[Author]

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