Getting ready for the Christmas season

Well ... it's been a while, so I figured I would give an update on how things are going at my place.

The biggest thing of note, would be Pam's feet.  I have learned that 10 miles on a horse with good barefoot hooves is too much.  For a few days after my last 10 mile trip, Pam acted really sore on her front feet.  I think by the end of that trip, I had bruised her frogs on the front.  She was very very tender for a week after the ride, and at one point, she was walking with noticeable pain in every step.  Add to that, that my water line decided to leak near their pen, so they are walking in mud frequently.  I have had to be vigilent with keeping feet clean to keep thrush from happening.

I had a farrier come out 2 days ago for a trim on Pam and my 30+ year old Quarter Horse.  Ummmm ... yeah.  It's pretty apparent when someone has no clue how to work with draft horses.  He did an A+ job on the quarter horse, but when he turned his attention to Pam, he acted shy and timid.  Pam picked up this right away and gave him hell.  I ended up having to help him hold her rear feet up with the use of a rope.  He almost left without finishing the job.  I don't think I'll have him back out.  Finding a farrier who is willing to do drafts is turning out to be quite a task.

Rachel's feet are doing awesome.  The shoes are doing exactly what I wanted.  They have stayed on very good, and her hooves are looking great.  She's had them for 6 weeks now, and soon I'll need to get her re-shod.  Guess I better start searching for a farrier to do that too.  ;)

Christmas season is on me, and that means I've been really busy getting ready for the Greenville Christmas parade.  I am very happy with my team, and think they are going to do very well.  The wagon I am pulling in the parade is a big 7' by 16' hay wagon.  My friend Pat is letting me borrow this wagon.  I brought it home yesterday, and went to work tigthtening up all nuts/bolts/screws/nails.  This wagon has been sitting in a field for a bit, so I snugged everything up nice.  The team pole that came with it was 8 1/2 feet long.  I knew just from looking at it at home, that it was too short to work with a draft.

Today was my day to try the team with the wagon.  I hitched them up, and saw that my fears were true.  The team pole was too short.  What this means, is that when the horses were walking forward, the yoke was pulling back on the front of them, and when I was stopping, the tree's were right up on their legs.  Pam did not like this too much, and got a little prancy with her feet.

Now I had a job to do.  I needed a longer team pole.  I thought of what I could do, and decided to see if my team pole from my wagon might by chance happen to fit.  By looking at it, it looked like it would put the horses 3 foot further in front of the wagon then I wanted, but it seemed like it was my only option.  I started to hook it up, and to my surprise, my entire team pole slid right inside the square tubing on the wagon.  Awesome!  I just drilled a hole in it, so that I could secure it properly, and hitched up the girls.  Away we went, on a short mile ride just to make sure they were fine with the noises and weight of this new hay wagon.  It went great.  I was on the freeway service road for 100 or so feet, and someone pulled over and was taking pictures of me and my son with a really nice (big) camera.  We smiled and waved and felt like celebrities.  :)

It looks like we're ready to go.  Next friday night will be the Greenville night parade, and the two weekends after that, I will be doing wagon rides on Park Street in Greenville. 

After seeing what the road did to Pams feet, I have decided to order some boots for her.  I am going to get some just for the front feet.  I am actively searching right now.  Pam's front feet measure ~8" x 8".  I'm having trouble finding a boot that will even fit.  Wish me luck.

Horse Hay raking

So my good friend Pat had his daughter take some video of him raking his hay field with the horses.  She just posted it to youtube, so I thought I would share the link.  They did a great job.  Next time Pat and I are going to try running 3 or 4 abreast and dragging two of those hay rakes. 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QVbd7cZ3Mo

A great day of driving!!

This has been a very busy week.  I have been working frantically to get a few last minute touches done on the wagon.  After a week of detective work, I finally found seals for the hubs on the wagon, and this morning at 6AM, I got up and went to work repacking the bearings, putting in new seals, and putting the wheels back on the wagon.  I also got a pioneer wooden double tree and yoke that I put on the wagon too.  They look great and I'm very happy with them.

So today I had one objective.  Go and visit my friend Jodi with the horses.  Jodi is a fellow teamster and our boys play together.  Jodi lives 5.2 miles away from me.  The plan was:  Drive to Jodi's, let the boy have some fun with his friend, then drive home.  I figured it would take me almost 2 hours to travel the 5 miles.  Today I also had a friend coming along.  A 15 year old young man I go to church with is going to start riding with me and be my header for the parades and wagon rides I have coming this holiday season.  His name is Jacob, and he has a real love of horses.  Today was to be his first day going out with me.

Hitching was easy and went well.  Pam is really getting good at it.  I can now hold her feet up and clean them for as long as I want.  It's awesome to think that this is the same horse who just 6 months ago wouldn't let me lift her feet at all.  She also is letting me put the collar over her head much easier now.  It's nice!  Rachel was the pro that she always is. 

We hitched up, and hit the road.  Heading out to Jodi's, I let the horses walk most the way.  I was concerned about wearing the horses out and still needing them for the return trip.  I ended up trotting them over ditch overpasses and around corners.  I wanted to make sure I stayed out of the way of cars.  The road I was on has a speed limit of 65MPH, so I did my best to keep there from being any confrontations with cars.  Mission accomplished!

I got to Jodi's in just under 2 hours.  I unhitched the girls, and tied them.  Jodi's husband Paul is awesome!  He helped me to put some welds on the brake skids so that it gives better braking.  He also educated me on farm stuff.  He told me that my wagon is made on a Case running gear.  Also ... the wheels that I've had a hard time finding rims for, happen to be farm implement rims, not automotive rims.  Paul gave me an extra he had.  Paul and Jodi are very good people!  I am very blessed to have them as friends.  I really have a good time shooting the bull with Paul.

At 4PM, I decided I needed to hit the road.  I wanted to make sure I was off the road by nightfall.  So off we went.  I tell ya ... when you know you don't need to save the horses for a return trip, things go much quicker.  The horses seemed very willing to move, and we trotted a lot.  We got home in an hour.  Not too shabby!  Got the girls unhitched and out of their harnesses and gave them a very hearty meal with an extra flake of hay each for a job well done.

Things were great.  The horses were very well behaved.  The only thing that made Pam nervous was other horses.  Any time horses in neighboring fields would run up, she would get all prancy and light footed.  It was great though and I get more and more confidence in the team the more we do.  When I got home, I let Jacob drive the last half mile.  He did pretty good, and learned right away how important proper line tension is.  :)  (the picture attached is Me and Jacob in the wagon)

So ... what did I learn today?  Well ... I learned how important having chains from each side of your evener to the wagon are.  Due to Rachael stepping out more than Pam, My new pole got a little bent and twisted.  Pam would hand back, and Rachael would get a foot in front, and the yoke would put tension on the pole.  If you have chains attached from each side of the evener, it keeps the horses from getting too far out in front of the other horse.  I need to get some of those!  :)

Gotta love days like today.  Sunshine, cool breeze, wide open spaces, and the sound of horse hooves on the road.  It was a great day!

Using the team on the road, and pictures from the past.

I had such a great weekend!!  Last Friday night, I went up to Roger's place and picked up my wagon.  Roger made some modifications to the wagon for me.  When I saw his work in person, I was in awe.  Roger has such a talent at creating things with metal.  The way he engineered my brakes was perfect.  I'm so happy with his work.

I bet you can guess what I did Saturday.  :)  I went out on the road with the girls.  Roger spaced the team pole perfectly.  It was easy to hook up the girls and then I hit the road.  I ended up driving 5 miles, which took 1 1/2 hours.  Anyone Traveling east on I-30 past Campbell probably saw me.  It was a great day and I'm sure you could see my grin from miles around.

I will probably use both the girls in the Greenville Christmas parade.  To make sure I do this without a problem, I'm going to see about getting a header to ride with me.  His job will basically be to be ready to jump out of the wagon, and grab Pam's lead rope, if required.  Rachael is bomb proof, but I'm cautious with Pam.  I had a hard time predicting her behavior in stuff and am going to make sure that I do everything I can to ensure safety.

A friend sent me some pictures this weekend.  This past summer, I went on a pioneer handcart trek re-creation with my church.  I was a horse wrangler and helped take care of all the horses being used.  They also used me as an Indian chief in one of the skits they did.

One evening, a bunch of us horse people went swimming with the horses.  This was the first time for me and Rachael, but she did great.  Enjoy the pics!