Working Rosie and Rita

I decided to take on a job for my good friend Bev.  Her mares Rosie and Rita are staying with me, and since they are already here, the decision was made for me to work them.  Bev told me that they were hitch trained, and that they really liked to work.  I figured it wouldn't be too difficult to brush them up.  The Texas Draft Horse and Mule Association (TDHMA) is having a field day on June 25th and the goal is to have these 2 mares ready for it.

Catching Rita was easy.  She's real lovable and walked right up to me.  She did not like to lead though.  It took me 10 minutes to get her to walk to my hitching post.  She would take a few steps and then just stop.  How I handle this is to just wrap the lead rope half way around my waist and lean on it.  I keep constant pressure on until she takes a step, then I release the pressure, keep walking, and praise her.  It works, but it can take a while when the horse is being stubborn.  Rita stood pretty good though while tied.  An occasional scrap of the ground with her front foot, but other than that, she was quiet and calm.

Catching Rosie was more like catching my mares when they don't want to be worked.  We did 10 minutes of her trotting away from me, and me just always walking towards her.  Once she stopped and let me halter her, she was easy to work with though.  She leads fine, and really seems to tune into what I am asking of her.  Standing tied though ... that was where she grew impatient.  Thank God for good lead ropes and rope halters!  :)


The girls were good for grooming, besides Rosie's occasional distaste at being tied.  They were also very good for me when I harnessed them up.  This took a bit of time because I was sizing their harnesses to them.  Rosie let me bridle her very easily, and Rita fought me a bit on it.  Once the bridles were on, they both sat there tonging their bits like they had no idea what it was.  This had me curious on how well they were going to do.

Rosie.  Looking really pretty in her harness.

Rosie and Rita.  These are the biggest horses I've ever worked by myself.

Next I led them each individually with all the harness on.  Always good to make sure that they are used to the noise the harness makes.  Rosie did great.  She would step off when I asked, and stop when I asked her to.  Like I said before, she seemed to know the drill and would tune into me to see what I wanted.  Rita, not so much.  She would step off okay, but did not want to stop.  She seemed more concerned with finding where Rosie was than on listening to me, so we did lots of circles.  Woah is not one of her strong suites.  And while dealing with her not wanting to listen, I could hear Rosie back at the trailer trying to become free.  Lots of bangs and trailer noise and I was hoping that she wasn't hurting herself, or my trailer.  When I got back, everything was in order.  I then let the girls stand with the gear on for 15-30 minutes.

At this point, I was wondering what I should do next.  They weren't showing me signs that they were completely hitch broke.  They were also showing signs of pent up energy though.  Part of my mind wondered if they just needed to get walking and that maybe they would relax and settle in and show me how good they could be.  I decided to try and drive them together and see if they resembled the team Bev told me they were.

I yoked them together, and then hitched their butts together using the new (and soooo awesome) trick that Pat showed me.  I got the lines put on, and then untied them from the trailer.  The minute I started giving commands, the trouble started.  I asked them to Gee up by putting a little pressure on the right line.  They both went into reverse and would not stop.  I was smacking their butts and giving commands but they did not listen.  after 10 feet or so, they backed into my wife's Dodge Durango.  (Sorry honey).  Once they couldn't back anymore, they actually listened and walked forward.

I had a good 100 feet of good driving.  They were walking side by side, and doing well.  Then I asked them to stop.  Rosie stopped fine, but Rita would not.  She kept moving.  This then got Rosie very nervous.  She wanted to stop because I asked, but then she didn't want to be drug by Rita.  Not a good combination.  Eventually I got her to stop.  But Rita did not want to stand.  I started off again, and did a lot of accordion work (one horse standing while the other takes too steps, then the horse in front stopping, while the horse behind started walking.

At this point, I decided that I should not be working these horses together, because neither has a clue what I was asking them to do.  I was putting them in a position to fail.  I tried to get them to turn to the left, but as soon as they felt pressure on the bit, Rita decided to go backwards.  Even with me on her butt she stepped back and rosie soon followed.  I could not get them to step up only when they backed into the treeline did they stop.  At this point, I was feeling like I had no control over them, so I decided to lead them back and not drive them.  This went well till we were about 10 feet away from the trailer, then Rita decided to stop and not walking anymore.  Soooo Annoying!!!  Rosie was trying to pull her and do as I asked, but Rita was determined to be a stubborn horse.

I finally got her to move by throwing the end of the lead rope back to whip her butt, while still staying in front and in control.  Not as easy as it sounds.  I would have just unhitched them from each other, but I was alone, and did not trust them to stand while I unhitched them.  We finally got back and I tied them, and then I let them stand for 30 minutes more.  At this point though, they both stood well and relaxed.  Rosie was sweating pretty good from the stress of trying to move Rita.

SO ... that was our first day.  Definitely not how I had hoped it would go.  Lessons were learned though.  These horses need to be worked individually with a horse who knows what is going on first.  I also learned that when training a horse, I need to start from scratch and go through the normal routines I have figured out first.  I cannot just trust what people tell me and try to go on that.  Always start with the basics and work up to where you want to be.

My arms were beat after that.  I'm going to start hitching them individually with Rachael and dragging a sled.  They need work, and they need to figure out what I'm asking them to do.  Rachael is a great horse to team them up with for that.  Hopefully we see some success.  I certainly have my work cut out for me if I'm going to meet our goal (field day on June 25th). 

Paris, TX. Antique Tractor Show

I had an amazing day last saturday. The Antique Tractor Club in Paris, TX held an event. They had all kinds of antique tractors there, and the also had some demonstrations. One of the new things they did this year, was get in touch with my good pal Roger Barnes to see about some horse drawn stuff. One of the tractor guys had a hay rake, a sickle mower, a cultivator, and a hay bale loader. Roger took on the task of getting some teamsters to show up with their teams to use the equipment. The teams were supposed to cut some wheat, and rake it as part of a demonstration. And then pretty much do anything we felt like trying. He had also planned on riding a wagon around for a bit and give free rides to any of the kids or adults that wanted them. Roger gave me a call, and I could not turn it down.

Roger driving Shelby's Clydesdales

Roger's 3 abreast.  All horses are 18+ hands.

There were 4 teamsters there. Roger was there, with his 3 biggest horses. He worked them as a 3 up on his big hay wagon, and then worked a pair of them as needed. I met a teamster friend of Roger's named Shelby. He brought a team of clydesdales. They were 3 1/2 years old, and knew how to work. Good training on those horses! My good buddy Pat Chase was there, and due to AI scheduling, he was only able to bring one of his mares. He ended up bringing his mare Dolly, and his yearling gelding. Lastly, there was me. I brought my 3 belgians. I planned on working Rachael and Pam on the wagons, but if we got to do field work, I wanted to try and work Nellie in there, just for the experience. I also should mention that my teamster friend Jerry was there without any horses. He was there with his daughters and it was great to see him. He was always willing to be an extra set of hands and his presence was awesome.

Unfortunately, it rained really good the night before. We arrived and found that the wheat field was a swampy mess. Sadly, it meant that we would not be cutting any wheat. This really bummed me out at first, because I was REALLY looking forward to trying that sickle mower. A sickle mower is next on my list of things to acquire, so I was really wanting to give it a go.

I arrived a bit late, and started getting my horses ready. Pat was there, and I hurried to get Rachael ready for him. I let Pat borrow Rachael to team up with Dolly since he couldn't bring both his girls. They got hitched up to Rogers new logging forecart that he made, and they worked really well together. This was also a great experience for Ace, Pat's yearling gelding. Ace had to stand there. He complained and made a fuss at times, but it was a great experience for him to be there. Also, if I might add, he is going to be an AMAZING boy! he's probably close to 16 hands tall as a yearling. He looks fabulous and I look forward to seeing him become a hitch horse with Pat.

Pat had limited time to be there. He had another event he needed to get to, so by the time I had my other two horses ready, Pat had to go. Rachael and Dolly worked really well together. I wished him well, and he hit the road.

At that time, I hitched up to Roger's Wagonette. I then drove around with Rachael and Pam and we spent 2 hours giving wagon rides. It was a lot of fun. I really enjoy giving wagon rides, especially to kids. The wagon rides came to an end around noon. Thats when all the antique tractors fired up and we did a small parade.

This is me and my wife giving wagon rides.

 This is where draft horses just impress me. Here I am with my mares, old tractors firing and sputtering all around them, and they never even batted an eyelash. They were so laid back, and relaxed, that it made me really proud. Rachael and Pam are my dream team. They do so many things perfectly. I could not ask for a better team than I have. They are also healthy and gorgeous to boot. Can't beat that. We got to finish off the parade and listen to all the kids ooh and aahhh over the big "clydesdales" ;) (to non-horse people, every big horse is a clydesdale).

After that, it was time to give the girls a break. I pulled them up to the back of my trailer and tied them. They were happy to get a nice breather. My wife and I then walked around and checked out all the things that were going on.

We got to witness the thresher machine and hay baler run. I've never seen anything like it. Both of these machines were powered by an antique tractor, that sat 30-40 feet away. A 8 inch wide belt went from the machine to the tractor, and this was what powered the device. The thresher took a big wagon full of wheat, and turned it into a gunny sack half full of wheat kernels, and all the leftover was spit on the ground. The leftovers were then fed into the baler, and after an hour of baling, 3 1/2 bales of hay were produced. It really made me appreciate how nice we have it now. Just knowing that 1 hour of that work would only feed my horses for 1 day really made me appreciate technology and all it does for us today.

After that we went and got some homemade icecream, and while we ate that, we watched a sawmill demonstration. There was a big metal frame with a big ol' saw blade in it. This machine was powered by an antique tractor some 40 feet away. A log was placed on the machine, and then the machine would make passes down the saw blade, cutting planks off the tree. It was really neat to watch.

After this I went and looked at all the horse drawn equipment. There was a cultivator, and a john deer hay rake. Most of my attention was focused on the IH #9 Regular gear mower. It looked soo neat. This was the first time I'd been close enough to touch one, so I took my time looking it over and figuring out how it worked. About that time Roger came over and asked if I wanted him to see if we could try it out. The ground was really muddy and boggy, but I said I would love that. They owner said that we could feel free to use it, but that we could not cut any of the wheat that was there. We agreed and went to getting hooked up.

Here I am, hitched to a sickle mower.

We ran into a problem getting my double tree hooked up to the mower. The thru-bolt was just barely too short to accommodate my pioneer double tree. We tried and tried, and eventually just decided to see if we could make it work. That was when I went and got the horses and we hitched them up.

Fixing the evener ... again.

I have to take a moment and brag some more on my horses. On this day, every time I hitched them to something, they backed up perfectly to their position. This was new. Normally they don't like to back up to things, and I end up pulling the wagon up to them. Today was different, and it was awesome ... not to mention, you look a lot better in public when your horses do this without a problem. :) Also, when I said "Whoa", my horses stopped. They would then cock a foot and just stand still. I am sooo grateful to have horses that do this. I attribute it to working the horses on the farm. Making them actually work hard (not just pulling a wheeled wagon) makes them appreciate the breaks!

Rearview of the mower in work

I loved mowing. It was so much fun. I figured the mower out and how to work it. My horses didn't even flinch when I fired it up. It was very fun. The evener kept popping off though. This is where my horses standing so good was very much appreciated. I had to stop several times to fix the evener. I finally just chained it around the mower and we kept moving. At one point, I was standing there, with my head 6 inches from the rear feet of the horses, and I realized that I am so very lucky to have a good team. I was also very lucky to have a good friend in Jerry who was acting as my header.

The only downsides to the mower, were 1) We didn't get to really cut any tall grass. I did get to run through some patches that were a little long, so I did get to watch it work, but it would have been more of an experience to actually cut the wheat. Maybe next time! :) 2) The mower was set up for mules. This meant that the yoke was too close to the eveners. My girls were smacking the double tree with the backs of their legs as they walked. They didn't let it get to them, but it wasn't ideal. I stopped after 15 minutes when I noticed the red paint from the trees on their legs.

Running the mower

Another shot

Overall ... it was AWESOME! I gotta get me one of these. I am thinking I need the IH #9 High Gear mower though. I will mostly be cutting coastal bermuda, which is very thick. I think the high gear will handle this much better. Gotta keep my eyes peeled.

Roger with the rake, and me with the mower

A better shot of the rake set up

While I was mowing, Roger hooked his logging cart to the hay rake, and he and the owner of the items raked a bunch of wheat that had been cut the day before. It was really cool.




One great thing about this day, was that my wife came with me. The horses aren't her thing, but she was a trooper and came along. Because of this, I have some awesome video clips and pictures of us working the horses. Enjoy!

6 Horses and herd dynamics

Not too much has been going on, but I figured I'd drop a line about a few things.

First off, this next Saturday I will be having FUN!  The Antique Tractor Club in Paris, TX is hosting an event for old time farming.  There will be antique tractor events, but also horse drawn stuff too.  It will be all day, in Paris, TX at the Civic Center.  There should be 4-6 teamsters there with teams of horses.  There should be plows, disks, a mower, wagons, sleds, and other horse implements.  It's basically going to be a day of teamsters having fun and trying things out.  I'm really excited about it.  I'll have my 3 Belgians there and am looking forward to trying the sickle mower out (since that is next on my list of things to purchase).

I honestly think Rachael and Pam want to get pulling something.  The past few days, when I'm out in the pasture, they walk up to me, side by side, (on the correct sides) and put their heads in my belly.  I think they are trying to tell me that they want those harnesses on them and to be heading down the road.  :)

The only other thing going on right now is the fact that I am horse sitting.  My good friend Bev asked me to take some horses for a week.  Bev has done wonderful things for me, so I happily agreed.  This added 2 big and beautiful Belgians to my pasture.

A little history:  My mares Pam and Nellie spent a month and a half down in Bev's herd, so they are already familiar.  Rachael was my only worry on how she gets along with them.  This pair is Bev's Belgian team, and they are beautiful mares.  Here's a picture to prove it.

Rosie and Rita

When they first got here, they ran right up with my Belgians and everyone was just fine.  Bev's horses fell in love with the long grass and went to eating right away.  I was quite surprised that they group got together so fast.  I figured that there would be the usual sorting out of the pecking order, but it didn't seem like that happened right away.

All the horses together

Now ... just to refresh your minds ... the Alpha of my horses is Nellie.  Rachael is a lead mare and those two fought it out with Nellie being the victor.  Rosie and Rita are half sisters, and always side by side.  At Bev's, they are the dominant mares.  Rosie is the alpha, with Rita in her back pocket and sometimes doing her dirty work for her.  At first here, Nellie ruled all.  Rosie and Rita bowed to her and stayed clear.

Then 3 days passed.  :)  Now that Rosie and Rita are more comfortable, it's been awesome watching the herd dynamics transform.  At feeding time yesterday, I got to witness Rosie take the alpha role from Nellie.  Nellie was finishing off a bowl of food (left overs after Nellie ran off the horse the food was intended for).  I watched as Rosie ran right in and she just had this aura about her that screamed "I am the boss".  Nellie felt it too, she turned, squealed, and I thought she was going to give Rosie a big kick.  Instead, Nellie did a small half kick and ran away.  Rosie took the lead without even lifting a hoof.  It was awesome to watch.

Well, now things have taken a different turn.  Rachael (my mare, still angry at losing the alpha role to Nellie), decided she was going to put Rosie and Rita in line, and she did.  They both bow to her.

So now ... feeding time is like a circus.  It's hilarious to watch.  Nellie will run off Pam or Whinny, then Rosie runs off Nellie, then Rachael runs off Rosie.  A few minutes later, Nellie will come and run off Rachael.  It's a giant circle.  Needless to say, you hear lots of hoof stomping and squeals when it's dinner time.  Things are great while all have their food, but the minute one of those 3 is done with theirs, they head off to take someone else's.  It's pretty interesting to watch.

Here's a picture of feeding time this mornig.  Rachael and nearest the camera.  Nellie is off in the back ground, mad at the world, and Rosie/Rita and right there side by side eating the last of the remaining food.  Oh yeah, and Whinny is in the mix too, just trying to stay out of the way of all these huge draft horses.  ;)

Feeding time is ending.

Awesome Saturday Part 3: Into the ditch

I finally had a mishap behind the lines.  I've been extremely lucky, and a lot of that is because I try to do everything in my power to consider safety.  Well, sometimes things just happen.

We were just walking down the road, and then it happened.  In one horrible sweep, Rachael took away my ability to use my left line.  As she was walking, she lowered her head as low as the check would allow, and then she raised it up quickly and swung her head to the right.  Well, when she dropped her head, her cross-check line went under the end of the pole, and so when she raised her head and swung it out, it pulled hard on the cross-check line and pulled the cross-check buckle through the ring of the spreader. 

I saw it instantly, and pulled on the left line to try and pull the buckle back through, but it would not come.  It jammed in the ring, which basically kept me from being able to put any pressure on the left bit of either horse.  BAD!

I started saying Woah and I pulled on both lines, hoping I could get a little pressure on that left side of the bit, but I couldn't.  What ended up happening, was the girls turned right.  They ended up stepping down into a ditch, but then stopped before going up the other side.  I handed my son the lines and told him to to keep them tight and I jumped off and quickly grabbed lead lines.  Whew.  I then fixed the lines, and led Pam to the left, out of the ditch.  Rachael followed perfectly, and only one wheel dipped into it as we straightened out.

So ... this leads to a question that I am pursuing now.  How do you keep this from happening???  What trick is there to keep the buckle from sucking all the way through those spreading rings?  I'll post anything I learn.  This seems like it would be a common problem and that there would be a solution for it.  If anyone knows, please feel free to post a comment here and let me know.

Awesome Saturday Part 2: Driving with my son

I was really excited to work Pam and Rachael again.  Pam has had 5 months off since I last drove her.  She got really fat and lazy spending a month and a half down with Vegas (Belgian stallion standing at the double M warhorse ranch).  She hitched up fine.  This was her first time being fitted with her new biothane harness, so it took me about 15 minutes to adjust everything and make sure things were fitting correctly.

I love Pat's place.  He has everything you need for training purposes, and also has extra wagons.  I can just haul horses over to his place, and still haul a wagon down the road.  It works really nice.  Pat and his wife are as good as gold and I am very lucky to have them as friends.  I always have a fun time when I'm over there.

We hitched up to a 16 or so foot long hay trailer.  That went well, and they stepped off with no problems.  When I asked them to stop, they showed their skills, and stood like ladies.  I tell you, having a team that will stay put when you stop is such an awesome thing!  Pat got hitched up, and we were off.

Rachael, Pam, and the boy, all ready to go

Pat backing his team away from the fence to get heading on the ride

I really love Pat's mare Dolly.  She's so pretty!

The first 20 minutes of this ride were not so nice.  Pam decided to show me how rusty she had gotten.  Every little thing she spotted made her stop, and cautiously walk.  Meanwhile Rachael is stepping out strong and ready to move that wagon down the road.  On the road we started on, semi's were hauling crepe feed to some nearby dairies.  One of the trucks was awesome and came to a complete standstill to let us pass.  Pam was an idiot, and completely froze like a deer in headlights.  It took a swift smack on the rear to snap her out of it.  This was not the same horse that pulled for christmas wagon rides last year.  ;)

At this same time, I had another problem.  when going down a hill, the tree was right on the horses heels.  Each step had them kicking the tree.  This caused one of Rachaels tugs to come off completely.  Luckily, I have a great team and I stopped and fixed it with no issues.  This made me realize that the pole on this wagon needed to be about 6 inches longer than it was.  I didn't want to continue the ride like this, so I stopped and fixed it.  I pulled the yoke ring in front of the pole bolt that is supposed to keep it from slipping off the end of the pole.  I then took the tie strap from Rachaels harness and used it to secure the yoke ring to that bolt on the pole.  This gave me 4 more inches on the pole.  This was acceptable.

After this, it was smooth sailing.  Soon Pam had returned to her element and was acting like the girl I remembered.

Then ... an awesome thing happened.  My son took interest.  I could see him watching my hands, so I started talking to him about what I was doing, and asked if he wanted to try.  He did ground drive a 3 up at my friend rogers house once a few months back, but this was on a wagon.  He took over, and after a few tips, he was on his way.  He ended up driving for 45 minutes.  He did very well.  I had to talk to the horses for him.  They didn't respond well to his voice, but once they heard me, they did just like they should.  Having him drive, let me actually stand up and take a bunch of pictures.  It was nice!

I love driving down these county roads.  Very peaceful

Pat and his awesome team

My son working on his line tension

 

Another shot of my son with the lines

 

We couldn't have asked for a better day

I had one issue arise, which I'll discuss in the Part 3 of the blog.  We ended up getting back to Pats, and we all got to relax a bit.  It was a great day, and I had a wonderful time.

The girls relaxing after a nice 3-4 hour drive

Awesome Saturday Part 1: Nellie drives!

Yesterday I had planned on spending the day over at my friend Pat's house.  He has a few fields of wheat/oats/rye that he is going to cut.  We're going to use the horses to rake it, and haul it.  Due to the recent storm activity, he didn't get to cut last week.  We decided to still have a day of horse fun though.

It's been a while since I really had a good work session with Nellie.  This kind of eats at me.  She's got a ton of potential, and is just needing me to spend some time working her.  I decided that I was going to take all 3 horses over to Pat's.  This way I could work Nellie first, then Pat and I planned on going for a wagon ride in the country where Pat lives.

Got all the horses loaded without any problems.  I arrived at Pat's at around 9:30 or so.  It took me a half hour or so to get all the horses harness up.  Pam took the longest.  She was wearing her new biothane harness for the first time, so I had to adjust everything to make sure it fit her right.  I love these harnesses so much.  So pretty, and so much lighter than the leather ones.  They also don't make your hand completely dirty when you touch them.  Biothane is the stuff!

Nellie in a nylon harness, ready to be worked with

If y'all recall, I've worked Nellie once under harness.  That time she let me put the harness and bridle on with no problem.  She chewed at the bit once it was in, but she was very laid back at the harnessing process.  I ground drove her that time.  It took me about 10 minutes or so to teach her to step off right.  Eventually we did a few good loops though.

Once at Pats, we talked it over, and decided to hitch she and Rachael together.  This was the same way I trained Pam, and it worked very well.  Everything went well, and I learned a new trick complements of Pat.  When ground driving a team for the first time, it's nice to hook their rear ends together.  This keeps them from "Y"ing out.  In the past, I have used a trailer tie between the inside breeching rings on each horse.  This worked fine, but if they really tried to separate, it can pull hard and slide the spieder down and the breeching on the opposite sides up.  Well, Pat showed me the coolest trick.  I took a picture of it just to show it off.  Basically, you take the outside tug on each horse, bring it up under the breeching strap, and then hook the horses tugs together.  This is so simple, and so awesome.  Using the tugs for this, eliminates the chance that the spieder is going to get drug into center.  It was a cool little trick.  Thanks Pat!

Rachael on the left, Nellie on the right, rear end hooked together with tugs!  Awesome trick!

I was completely surprised and blown away by Nellie.  It took us a few starts and stops to make sure she understood how to step off and stop, but she took to the bit pressure right away.  I drove them around, starting and stopping in some giant figure 8s.  I could not believe how well Nellie was doing.

Nellie and Rachael ground driving

Rachael and Nellie.  This is what all teamster POV pictures look like. :)

That's me with the lines in hand.

After a bit of that, Pat and I discussed how well things went, and decided to hook them both up to the sled.  Now ... normally, I always pull a tire behind a horse before hooking them up to anything.  When that tug rubs on the rear leg it can give the horse quite a spook if they aren't used to it.  Rachael and Nellie worked so well together, AND Nellie showed no signs of being scared of anything touching her (as demonstrated by letting us harness her with no complaints); so we decided it was doable.

They were all hitched up, and I told them to step off, and they did.  It was soooo awesome.  Nellie acted like she'd been there and done it before.  I was so happy for her.  She and rachael pulled really evenly, and it was great.  I drove them for quite a while on the sled.  It was just so much fun to see Nellie, with all her hair, doing what she was bred to do.  She looked fabulous in my nylon harness, and she moved so well.

Nellie and Rachael on the sled.  My son rode along.

Stepping off.

Working well!

After I unhitched her, she got to continue her tying lessons.  I tied her up to the side of my trailer fully harnessed.  Normally I will take the bridles off, but for her I didn't.  I want her to get used to a bit in her mouth, so I kept her bridle on while she stood.  We then got the other horses and went for a wagon ride for about 3-4 hours.  It was really good practice for her to stand while we left.  I think I'm going to take her with me over there and do this same thing every time.  It just worked out wonderfully.

This was the end of the day, after the wagon ride when I finally removed her bridle.