Sad Morning

Today we lost Duncan.  Duncan is my son's horse.  He was a 35 year old quarter horse.  He was fat and happy, and I cant' find anything un-natural that could've caused his death.  I'm thinking it was just his time to go.  It's been a somber morning.

Thank you Duncan, for taking such good care of my son.  You showed him the joys of horse ownership, and gave him a love of horseback riding.  We love you and will miss you greatly.  Thank you for being the best first horse any kid could ask for.  Wait for Riley on the other side ... he'll be anxious to ride you again. 

Hauling a wagon and horses with one truck

Tonight was my last night for wagon rides.  It was great.  We were super busy, and the girls definitely earned their oats tonight.  We did 6 trips tonight, which means the girls did over 7 miles of riding, with at least 10 people in the wagon per ride.  They did awesome and I am so proud of them.  Lots of people were loving on them!

So, tonight I didn't have my normal helpers with me.  Jacob went out of town today, and my wife was busy.  I was a one man show.  I'm used to doing things on my own, because at home it's how I have to do everything.  This time things were a bit different though.  I had to get my wagon home from the rides, as well as the horses, and I'd prefer to do it in one trip.  Good thing I had a hitch added to my trailer.

This first picture is of my setup.  Good ol' blue up front, running as well as ever;  the 16 foot gooseneck horse trailer next; followed by a 16 foot flat bed trailer to haul the wagon home.  I was actually able to go 60 MPH with this rig and it was really stable.  I'm sure I burned up a whole lot of diesel though. 

This second picture is of everything loaded up and heading home for the night.  Note that I even have lights on the 2nd trailer.  I centered the wagon weight over the axles on the 2nd trailer, and it would start to move around a bit at 45MPH, so I just took the service roads and kept it at a low speed.

SUCCESS!  I was able to haul both the horses and the wagon by myself, without inconveniencing anyone else.  I'm feeling pretty proud!

First weekend of wagon rides

Had an amazing weekend.  In Greenville, TX, there is a historic street called Park Street.  Every year almost all on the street decorates their houses up for the holidays, and they offer wagon rides.  I did this last year one night with Lily.  It's a really sweet gig for me.  They are insured for all the events, and they take the money for the rides, and load/unload the wagon.  I get to do the fun part, and just drive. 

This year I was invited to give rides both nights, both weekends (fri/sat last weekend, and this next fri/sat).  I have been very excited about this, and after the girls did so well in the parade, I was even more excited about it.  I was asked to haul as many people as possible, so I had decided to use the hay wagon that I hauled for the parade.  I figured I could get 12-14 people each load on that.

Friday night rolled around and we got hitched up and ready to go.  I had my helper, Jacob, with me, and I was also babysitting my son and his cousin.  Things got off without a problem.  I had two happy kiddo's happily bundled in the hay behind me, Jacob sitting beside me watching the horses, and me behind the lines.  The girls were stepping well, and not scared of any of the lights/carols/blow up displays/music.  They really didn't care about anything.  It was great.  They were easy to drive, and even broke into a trot occasionally.  I tell you, there is no prettier sight (my wife excluded), than a pair of Belgians trotting in step.  Simply gorgeous!!  The ride is about 1.25 miles long in all, and it takes about 30 minutes to get through it.

On the 4th lap, I started noticing Rachael.  She was wearing out.  When walking, Pam has a tendency to let Rachael step out and take the weight of the wagon.  When trotting, Pam takes the lead and pulls most of it.  I now have chains on the tree, so that once they reach the end of the chain, the single horse is pulling the entire wagon.  I could see Rachael perspiring pretty good, and by the end of the 4th lap, she was breathing heavy.  I gave them a 15 minute break when I got back, and it looked like I had one more ride to go to finish off the night. 

That last ride was Rachael's last.  She still gave me all she could (like any good horse), but during the second half, her back feet began to occasionally slip, and she started to wander just a tad from side to side.  We finished that ride, and then got the girls home quickly to an extra large portion of feed (1 big scoop sweet feed, 1 big scoop whole oats, 1 handful of horse minerals, and 1/4 bale of hay per horse).

The next day, I thought and thought.  Rachael went about 1 ride too many, and I intended not to let that happen again.  Instead of the 14 people I thought I would be hauling on the hay wagon, it was more like 10 due to how the hay was configured.  My red wagon easily hauls 8 people, and so I determined that it would be better on the horses, to haul my red wagon, rather than the big ol' hay wagon.  This meant a lot of stress on saturday.  I had to get my wagon there, move the garlands/lights/other Christmas decorations from the hay wagon to my red wagon, and be ready to haul people.  Jacob and I made it happen, and the result was wonderful.  The girls did another 5 rides and neither were wore out at the end.  It was much easier on the horses, and we didn't experience a surge in people waiting from the decision.  I was very happy about this.  Once again, the girls were a dream to ride, and we got to enchant many a young person with the beauty and majesty a draft horse gives.

I have no pictures, but hopefully I'll get some soon.  It's hard getting a good picture at night.

So ... as always, if you don't learn anything from your experiences, you're not doing it right.  Here's my lessons from this weekend:

1)  As a teamster, I am responsible for the welfare of my horses.  Other people will want more and more and more from you, but it is up to you, to lay down the line as to what your horses can, and cannot do.  Sometimes it means telling people no, or going against their wishes, but you can't sway from the well being of your horses!

2)  Rachael is 16 years old.  Friday night really showed me that Rachael is older than Pam.  Rachael still has MANY good years ahead of her, but that night did remind me that she is getting up there, and that I need to particularly pay attention to her.  She's the kind of horse that would follow me till she collapsed, so it is up to me to make sure I stop her when she needs it.

3)  Different types of wagons serve different purposes.  A big heavy hay wagon, is great for a parade, or a single hay ride with a big load of people.  It is not good for a full night of ride after ride after ride.  This basically equates to 3 hours of straight walking, pulling the wagon.  For this, you want as light a wagon as possible, so that the horses are pulling people weight, not wagon weight.  (If that makes sense).

Not a bad weekend.  The girls ended up pulling the wagon for 6.25 miles in a 3 hour span of time each night.  I can't ask for more. 

Also ... I'm VERY glad that they both have shoes!  I could not do this without each horse having iron on their feet.

This next friday and saturday I'll be doing the same thing.  Looking forward to it.  So much fun!!

Pam has shoes!

So yesterday I had two good things happen.  1) I found a farrier that will shoe drafts, and 2) I found a farrier that was able to shoe Pam without stocks!!

When I got Pam, she would not let anyone lift her feet.  I’ve been working with her for the past year on this, and I am at the point now, where I can clean out each hoof for as long as I need.  She’s not a real witch about it, but after a few minutes, she does tire of it and her true mare self comes out.

The farrier is Oliver Jetton.  Oliver is amazing at his job.  He’s 60 years old, but he can still shoe a draft with no problems.  He brought a young apprentice with him and between the two of them, they did 4 shoes on a draft in 2 hours.  Pretty good!

Rachel went first.  She was pretty decent, and the most noteworthy event from her trimmings was when Oliver asked me if she was walking bad a month or two ago.  I said yes, and explained that she was walking really delicately on hard surfaces.  He showed me on her sole where bruises were.  He said it takes 2 months for a bruised sole to come to the surface where you can see it on the sole of a hoof.  So, it was kinda cool to see the areas where Rachael was sore.  He said it looked like the bruising was from walking on rocks.  Rachael’s hooves are growing out nicely, and she had a lot more sidewall to nail the shoes to this time around.

Next came Pam.  This was where I got worried.  I just told him I really wanted the fronts done and that I didn’t know how cooperative she would be for the rears.  Oliver had brought shoes with him that were already set up with Borium.  Oliver took over and trimmed up the first front hoof.  Pam was great for the trim, and then when they were notching the front of the hoof for the toe clip, she started to get a little intolerant.  This is where Oliver’s experience came in.  Before she got too antsy and we got too agitated with her, he stopped everything and got out a 2 foot long piece of small nylon rope that was hooked to a lead rope.  He then said that we were going to calm Pam down with it.  The young apprentice told me that I was going to be impressed by this trick.

Each end of the small rope had loops in it.  Oliver looped one rope around the halter on the right side, then he ran the other side through the halter on the other side.  Then with a sweeping motion of his hand, he pulled on the rope, and slid the rope so that it was running up between Pam’s upper gum and her upper lip.  He then stood there and pulled gently on the lead rope with that rope on it.  He then explained to me that up on the top of the gum between the lip and gum, are some endorphin glands, and that putting pressure on them causes endorphins to release into the horse, basically, tranquilizing the horse naturally.  I had never heard of this, and was a little skeptical.  I was soon corrected.

Five minutes later, Pam’s head began to droop and her eye lids began getting heavy.  Oliver and Dakota (the apprentice) got back to work and the next thing I knew, Pam was shoed.  I was very impressed and thought this was a very neat trick.  I took some pictures of it so that I could show y’all.  Look at Pam’s head and eyes in the pictures to see how relaxed she was feeling.

I was very impressed with Oliver.  He really knows his stuff, and his natural horsemanship ways are great.  He does not get mean with a horse, even when they are acting out.  He’s a true master of his trade and I’m very glad I found him as a farrier.  Oliver works out of Winsboro, which is the Sulphur Springs area.  I would recommend him to anyone.

Greenville Christmas Parade 2010

Friday night was the G-ville Christmas parade, and boy was it awesome.  I'm still in awe at how well it went.  I've found in life that it seems like very few things actually happen like you plan them.  When they do, it's definitely a time for celebration.  All my work this year, getting the girls ready, paid off big time on Friday night.

I arrived at the parade route right as the sun was setting.  I was one of the first there, and it was nice to get the trailer backed in before the sun went down.  I then unloaded the girls, and tied them to the trailer.  Then the beautification started.  I had a few hours to kill before we needed to get going, so I took my time and brushed each horse very thoroughly.  I also put a little show sheen in their manes and tails to really make all that flaxen hair look pretty.

Following that, on went the harnesses.  It was after dark, and I had forgotten my flashlight, so it was kind of interesting doing it by light of the lights inside the trailer.  It's a good thing I am very familiar with each setting on the harnesses.  I had no problem getting things set where they needed to be.

In hitching, with regards to bridles, I make it a point to only put on bridles when I have to.  I know lots of people just always put them on and leave them on the entire time the horse is hitched.  I guess I view it as an extension of my arm and hands.  For me, it is used for input to the horse, to tell it what I want done.  While a horse is tied, with nothing to do, I leave them off since I obviously don't want them to do anything.  I know the horses feel more comfortable with this, and due to horses being predatory animals, they are a little more at ease being able to see all around.  Just my 2 pennies on that.

I also put out the hay bags and the horses sat there, all pretty, happily munching on hay.

My wife showed up with the wagon, and I helped get that all set up with the team pole and everything.  At this point, I saw what turned out to be the only other wagon in the parade.  A guy had a great looking set of sorrell mules that were matched well.  These mules were pulling a small, 4 rubber wheeled wagon.  This wagon was then hitched to a grain cart that had been modified as a people mover with benches on the inside.  It was a real long hitch, and the mules definitely had their work cut out for them.

Within the hour, the staff of Turtle Creek Veterinary Medical Center had showed up.  We had lots of happy kids all dressed up, and employee's with their dogs.  The wagon was definitely bustling with activity at this point.

The wagon full of Turtle Creek Veterinary Medical Center staff, family, and dogs

My gorgeous wife and our Great Pyrenees.

I got the bridles on the girls, and did a few laps ground driving with them and then tried to back the girls up to the wagon.  Due to the hustle and bustle on the wagon (kids and lights everywhere), the girls refused to back up.  Instead, they would each turn in, and kick their rear ends out away from each other.  They flat out refused to back up even after the 3rd try.  This meant we had to pull the wagon up to the horses, which wasn't a problem.

Rachael and Pam, with me on the lines

After that, we walked the horses to our waiting spot ... and waited.  One thing you do a lot of in parades, is waiting.  I had my header, Jacob with me at this point, and I had planned on him standing holding Pam's lead rope.  I had anticipated that Pam might need a little help behaving while standing.  He stood next to me, and we sat there, just waiting.  I was in awe at how relaxed the horses were.  They didn't seem to care about any of the stuff around them.  They were calm, and not antsy to get moving or anything.  This really surprised me.  Especially when this "laid back" attitude continued after the parade started getting under way.  The flashing lights of police and emergency vehicles, the loud christmas songs playing, the loud cars, 4-wheelers, and tractors all did nothing to alarm the horses.  I was truly surprised by this.  (AND VERY PROUD!!)

Waiting to get the okay to go.

Rachael on my right, Pam on my left.  So proud of them!!

Once all the motorized floats had gone, it was time for the horses.  We made our way down the road and it was smooth sailing.  The girls didn't step a single foot out of place.  It was easy driving, and I was grinning ear to ear.  This was fun driving.  The stress levels were as low as could be for this kind of situation, and it truly was a delight driving them.  I love watching the kids, gaze at these horses and just smile.  On a side note ... I only heard 2 people yell how nice my "clydesdales" are.  LOL.  When I hear this now, I just smile and appreciate their well meant compliments.  :)  I did hear one guy yell how nice my Belgians were.  I definitely gave him a "Thank You" and a wave.

Me and Jacob

After the parade, we unhitched, loaded up, and got on down the road without any problems.  Once again, this was truly an amazing night.  No problems at all, and lots of good/fun times.  This is what it's all about.  Like I said in the beginning of this post, it's so awesome to see your plans work out.  For the past 6 months, all the work I've been doing, was to solidify my team into a safe team that I could use for public use.  The girls showed me in this parade that they can be trusted to listen to me in adverse situations.

The next two weekends I will be giving wagon rides at Park Street in Greenville Texas on Friday and Saturday nights.  If anyone is in the area and would like a nice hay ride, come on by.  We'll glady haul you down the road and I'll probably talk your ear off while we do.  :)

Parade Practice

Tonight I took the girls to down town Greenville, and we practiced for the parade tomorrow night.  I haven't driven the girls at night, or in the middle of town, so I figured I'd better be safe then sorry.  I've also only pulled the big hay wagon one time with them, so some more miles in front of that would be nice too.

I LOVE draft horses!  These girls didn't even bat an eye at anything.  They stepped around a few manhole covers, and Pam did a tiny side step away from a Christmas tree that was close to her, but that was it.  They were calm and fun to drive!  I got some pictures.  They're a bit blurry, sorry.  Tomorrow night will be the parade.  I'm excited to do this with a team for the first time.