with out lines

[Donn Hewes]

Now, this video is just a lttle fun we were having with our mare Connie; not something we make a habit of. One of the great things about logging with the single horse is the chance to advance a little training. While the training benefits; with lines in place, are obvious for a green teamster or green horse, you can also try some new things with a well broke horse. First I asked her to bring a log straight toward me. Then she easily stopped. Next we practiced walking down the trail and stopping with me walking different distances in front of her. Of course her knowing that everything off the trail would be pretty bad going, helped a lot! This was a nice way to work on a verbal whoa. Fun, but lines, and working behind your horse are still the way.

• This topic was modified 9 years, 8 months ago by Donn Hewes.

[JaredWoodcock]

From My experience some horses work really well this way. It does limit what you can do a bit and can sometimes turn into bad habits, like following you when you want to walk behind them to hitch up…

Nice Video

[Donn Hewes]

I just started in front of her as a starting point. I think if it was something I really wanted to pursue I would gradually move to different angles, front, side and behind, while asking her to do different things. It is one of those things I have always thought would be fun to play with but never take the time. She did pull a log out of deep snow with me about 20′ in front of her. The secret was positioning myself close to where she wanted to go anyway and in the one place that prevented her from short cutting my plan. It was just few minutes and just for fun. I think I will keep doing it just like that. If nothing else it is a good chance to reinforce your verbal whoa.

[Jay]

I work with my horses to stop, start, and turn by voice much of the time while driving regularly with lines. So I will at times just ask for the motion without touching the lines. I have then taken this a step further when gathering sap and asked them to “come up” and “whoa” on the known trail. There have been times when I didn’t have to touch the lines for the whole route. It’s mostly an extention of the way I drive most of the time. Jay

[Brad Johnson]

I also use no line driving from time to time, relying on voice only. On really steep ground when working on the ground, this is a great way to work. When the snow is deep it is much easier to walk in front and have the horse follow rather than having the single horse pull you up the hill thru the snow. I find that it works really well, saving me some energy and saving the horse the strain of having me tugging on the lines as I struggle to keep up walking behind.
-Brad

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