Working Rachel as part of a team

What a fabulous night!  I'll have to post more pictures later since my phone is not sending them to me in a timely manner.  My apologies up front for the low quality of the pictures as well.

So tonight I decided to take Rachel over to my friend Pats.  I got there, and spent the first few minutes looking at his awesome colts.  Pat has 3 colts this year, and they are all phenominal.  One particular colt, Ace, is amazing!  I also got to see Pats new tie stalls he has made for his girls.  They are awesome and I think I need to make some similar stalls for my girls.

First things first, we got to fit Rachel with a new collar.  A 24 inch collar fit her perfect, and since he didn't have any used ones, I got a brand new one for Rachel.  It fits her very well.  I harnessed her up next.  Pat and I determined that we were going to drive Rachel and his mare Cathy (a mare he bought last year from an Amish farm) as a team.  I ground drove Rachel a bit and worked the anxieties out of her and then we tied Rachel and Cathy next to each other at a fence,and began to harness them up and hook them together.  Rachel did fine with this.  As soon as Cathy's colt saw Rachel, he ran up to her and started clicking his teeth away.  This colt may be 2 months old, but he's definitley a boy.  Rachel was very annoyed with him.

After hooking the horses together, Pat tied Cathy's colt to her side with a halter.  Then we tried them out.  They worked so awesome together.  They made it look easy.  The colt was rather annoying (as colts can be) but after a bit he fell in line better and followed his momma. 

After good success in ground driving, we decided to try them out on a 2 wheeled cart.  It was very easy to hook up the cart, and after a few starts and stops to adjust tugs, we were doing great.  Rachel and Cathy were doing very nicely together.  It was a great thing to watch.

Pat and I took turns driving, and I have to say, it was awesome.  Rachel is a pro.  She handled this like she had done it a million times before.

What an amazing night!  Pat loaned me a double tree and yoke for use with my own team.  Now I have all the parts I need to work Pam and Rachel together.  Hooray for that!  Keep your eyes on this blog for some amazing pictures of the girls hitched together as a team for the first time.

(sorry for the crappy quality of the pictures tonight.  I sure didn't get any good ones.)
In the picture of the horses, Rachel is on the left; Cathy and her colt are on the right.  The other shot is me driving the horses.

Here is a video clip of Pat ground driving the girls.  Sorry again for the crappy quality.
Click here

Harnesses complete, small sled started.

No pictures yet, but I'll get some soon.

Harness restoration project = COMPLETE!!!  I ended up ordering all the miscellanious hardware parts I needed from shipshewana harness.  They had a great online inventory and were very good to work with.  I was impressed with the quality of the snaps and leather loops.  I would recommend them.

With the receipt of the package from them, it only took me 2 hours to finish all the harnesses.  This means that both breast straps are done, and I am ready to fit Pam with her harness.  The only thing I'm lacking, is a 24 inch collar.  This week I am going to try to head over to my friend Pats and make the purchase.  Once I get that collar, I'll harness both girls and post pictures.  Very exciting.  Pat also has a doubletree and yoke that I can use till I get my own.

Another thing I started this past week, was the construction of my first horse sled.  I have been wanting to make one for a while, but couldn't decide on how to build it.  On one hand, I wanted a big heavy one to break the team to, but I also wanted one lightweight enough that I could use it with a single horse.  My solution was to build 2 sleds.  I am halfway through building my first one which is the small lightweight one (4x5).  I'll post a blog on exactly what I build and show some pics of it in use, as well with the pro's and con's I find from it.  The second sled will be made out of 2 8 foot telephone poles and will be roughly 4x8.  The second one will be purely for the team, and will be a great aid in teaching them to pull, and also to appreciate a nice break and stand well with a "woah".

Rachel is doing well and I think the abscess has run it's course.  If all goes well, I'll be posting pictures of the girls within the next few days in their harnesses.  Very exciting!

One harness complete and in use!

Today I assembled one of the harnesses and fit it to Rachel.  She did pretty good while I took the time to adjust all the straps.  I think the pictures will show that she is a pretty good harness model.  Maybe I should sign her up at some modeling agency.  ;)

These bridles came with twisted snaffle type bits.  I usually like to use the liverpool straight bit for driving, but I figured I'd give these a try.  Rachel likes it a lot better, however, she's not as responsive with it.  She's not bad by any means, just not as light as I'm used to with her.  I think it will work well for the farm type application that these harnesses will be used for.

I should note that these harnesses are plain work harnesses.  I hope no one was expecting fancy spotted ones with how excited I've been about them.  :)  I am thrilled with them, and very glad to have them!!

After making sure everything fit, I did some ground driving with Rachel dragging the tire.  It was a nice night.  Now I just need to get a few parts so I can assemble the other harness, and I need to pick up another 24" collar from my friend Pat.  (If anyone in the NE Texas area is interested in where to buy collars, my friend Pat sells them out of his barn in Sulphur Springs TX, and he charges a VERY reasonable price.  Much cheaper than online, and you can take your horse and fit check so you know you're getting the right size.  Nothing like trying it on before you buy!!)

Pat also put me in touch with a Mule skinner north of Sulphur Springs who sells all kinds of hitch stuff.  I talked to him, and he says he has what I'm looking for as far as a yoke and double tree go.  I'm going to go and take a look.  I really like the idea of being able to see and handle a double tree and yoke before I commit to buy it.  This guys prices are basically what you can get online, only I don't have to pay shipping for picking them up, so in the end it's cheaper.

That's it for now.  What a night!

Only the bridles to go!

I just got done cleaning up the last strap on the set of team harnesses that I've been working on.  I'm so excited.  I still have the bridles to do, but the harnesses themselves are hung up to dry.  Once they dry, I can start re-assembling them.  I have a few pieces of hardware I need to buy, but it should be minimal.  Can't wait to start working both the girls together!!!

Also, I have been trying to find the best place to buy a yoke and a double tree.  So far, I've found that Big Black Horse has the best deal on them.  My options are wood, or metal.  I was going to go with metal, since it would last longer and I could leave it outside, however, then I realized that I will be using this on my wagon, and I've learned that metal tree's make a lot of noise when clanking on a wagon.  I'm going to buy a set of wood ones.  48" wide.  The last decision I need to make, is whether to stick with natural wood stain, or red painted.  My wagon is stained red, so the red may be cool, but you can't go wrong with the normal wood look.  Anyone have any opinions?

My friend Roger went to a draft sale in Missouri this weekend.  I had him look for a yoke and tree for me, and I found that the guys at that sale had their stuff marked up a ton!  Big Black Horse beat every price he got for me.  Kinda funny that harness and tack was marked way high, but horses were dirt cheap.  Roger told me that he watched perfectly broke/matched teams of belgians and percherons go for as little as 150 per horse.  I tell ya ... if you want to get a horse that is broke ... you really ought to hit up one of the draft horse auctions listed in the draft horse journal.  Great deals on wonderfully broke horses!!

That's it for now ... hopefully I'll have some pictures of both my mares in harness soon!  :)

My hoof stand

Here is the quickly thrown together hoof stand I made.  I threw this together in all of 15 minutes.  I think it's a tad too tall, so I will probably take 2 inches off it.  It works pretty good.  It would be better if there was a little more weight on the bottom of it, but I found that stepping on it while working takes care of that.  Also,  the landscape timber I used for the vertical part is awesome.  The rounded edges work very nice with a hoof.  If I ever find some carpet or some kind of cushion, I might wrap the top, but for now, it worked fine as is.

Supplies:
3 - 15" 2x4s
2 - ~6" 2x4s
1 - ~16" landscape timber
16 - 16 penny nails.

Abscess after 5 days

Here is a picture I took of the abscess tonight.  This is looking at the heel of her back left foot.  The area that blew out from the absess is in black, right near my finger.  There is an inch long area, and then the small black dot it blew too.  Just thought I would show what it is I'm dealing with.  I'm halfway through the recommended 2 a day soaks.  Rachel is becoming quite the spoiled horse.

Also ... just a note ... Farrier work is HARD WORK!!!  Rachel's hooves are growing too fast and they are about to split bad.  I bought a rasp so that I could try my hand at filing them down.  I built a stand out of wood to hold the hoof up and I gave it my best.  THAT IS HARD WORK!!!  I had to take a break after each hoof.  My nippers will be here next week, and those will make a great difference.  Since I don't have any, I had to file and file and file.  I think I successfully located a group of muscles that I don't have.  Hopefully I did enough to keep them from splitting.

How do you know when you've spent too much time with a horse?

The answer?  See the picture.  Last night while soaking Rachel's foot, I got bored, so I decided to see how I am at braiding.  Being a  manly man and all, with no daughters, I had an idea of how the mechanics of it work, but had never actually done it.  Not too shabby for a first time.  LOL.  Rachel seems to like it.  I think it's much cooler on her (temperature wise, and maybe cool looking too in some circles).  :)  Who knows how long I'll leave them in.

Hoof abscesses and ground driving

Things have been super busy at work for me, so I haven't had much time to play with the horses.  This has kind of been a blessing in disguise as far as Rachel goes.

A week ago I noticed that Rachel was limping on her rear left foot.  This is the same hoof that the farrier found an abscess in when he was out a month ago.  I picked the hoof out real good, but nothing seemed out of place.  Just for good measure, I had my vet out, and he looked it over as well.  The only soft part of the hoof we found turned out to be a section below where the old abscess used to be.  The vet took pliers and pinched and prodded everywhere, looking for any sign from Rachel that she was tender.  We didn't find anything.  I started giving her a few ounces of Bute a day, and watched her.  She was up and down for 4 days, then saturday she took a turn for the worse.

When I called her up, she could barely walk.  She would take one step, then rest, then another, and rest.  All the while, never putting any pressure on that hoof.  I slowly walked her into the pen closest to the house, and I once again picked our her hoof.  She didn't want me to touch it, but once again, I didn't find any part that was sensitive.  I called the vet and sunday he came out.  When I walked Rachel out for the vet to examine, we saw a good sign.  A big ol' abscess had blown out of the back of her hoof along the coronary band line.  It blew right on the very corner of the heel of the hoof.  That was why we couldn't locate it by squeezing anywhere.  The vet dug it out as much as she would let us, and then she got a good soak in an Epson salt and Betadine solution.

I have been soaking twice a day now.  She is already feeling better.  Today she was running around her pen, and was actually running away from me when I tried to snap the lead rope on her halter.  However, just like in all those old 80 horror movies, I used my psycho killer moves and just slowly walked after her till she wore herself out and stopped running.  :)

She is really a dream of a horse to work with.  She will let me hold her hoof however I need to and for as long as I need.  She will then also let me set her hoof in the bucket of solution and she'll leave it right where I put it.  You can see how this is working in the picture above.  I really can't say enough about what a sweetheart she is.  I'm hoping this heals up quick so I can begin working with her again.  I've been just brushing her and such since her foot has been bad.  If you look at the picture close, you can also see an issue I've been dealing with on her other hooves.  Hard to beleive I just had her trimmed a month ago.  I have her on a lots of nutrients, and so her hooves are growing at a very rapid pace.  I think I need to have my farrier come out every 3 weeks to file her hooves down so they don't crack like they have been.

I got done with my Rachel time, and found that I still had plenty of daylight. I decided that Pam was going to get some attention. She seemed happy to come up for a brushing. Too bad it wasn't cuz of me. She just wanted to be near Rachel. :)

Next thing you know Pam has the harness on. Now here's the funny part. The second the harness came out and was getting put on Pam, Rachel started hollering from her pen. She got VERY vocal. I glanced over at her to see what the ruckus was, and she was just pacing the closest section of fence to us. I think she was jealous that Pam was in the harness. :)

So I started with just some ground driving. Pam did great at that and did it all in a trot. (I don't mind this, cuz it helps me stay in shape) :) After she got at ease, I decided to try hooking her up to something. I've never done this with Pam, so I knew it would be an experience.

Pam did awesome at standing still while I hooked up the single tree and the tractor tire. Then came the moment of truth. The first call for her to step up.

This is where I noticed the difference between a well broke horse like Lily or Rachel, and a green horse like Pam. With Lily and Rachel, they took to dragging a tire with no problems. It wasn't even a noteworthy event. They just went to work, and they acted the same dragging something, as they did not dragging something.

Pam ... was nothing like this. The minute she felt those tugs get tight, she stopped. Her head started going side to side to try and see what was going on. I used the lines to keep her straight forward though. It took some coaxing, but eventually, she stepped into it and started pulling the tire. After 4 or 5 steps she seemed to relax a bit. Then came time to turn.

As soon as she started to come around and the outside tug began rubbing on her leg she came unglued. I was ready for it, and kept her right where I wanted her, but she nearly started bucking. With some nice words I calmed her down and kept her going. Once we started going straight again, she calmed down again. Then I turned the other direction and once again, a rodeo almost broke out. I did the same thing as before though, and she made it through that other turn. I kept doing this and the more I did it, the easier she handled it.

Then I decided to let her hear some sounds. I drove her over my driveway. The second the tire hit the driveway, she once again came unglued. That noise really spooked her good, but with firm line control and nice words, she made it through it. Then I crossed it again, with the same results. I kept doing this over and over till she got more at ease. Then I had her walk directly down the road with the tire dragging in the gravel/dirt the whole way. She did not like this at all, but she knew that I was in control, so she did it.

I drove her around with that tire for about 45 minutes. It was great for a first time, and I'm really proud of her. She obeyed and did it my way, even though she didn't want to. Once again, she stood like a lady while I unhooked the single tree.

The thing that this experience really drove home to me was that Pam is not a safe horse for this kind of thing yet. She is very green, and very prone to spooking. Lily and Rachel pulled this same tire and didn't even seem to react to anything it did. Pam is very green, and this experience really reminded me that I should not rush her into things. Safety first! Without safety, nobody has a good time!!

Happy Horses in a green Texas!

Just got home from a weekend of camping.  I decided to let the girls onto a part of the property they haven't been on.  They were happy as can be at the green leaves and knee high grass available to them.  The picture of the single horse is Rachel.  She's doing very well and is very happy!  Gotta love spring in Texas!  All is good in my neck of the woods.  Just thought I'd share what I thought were some pretty pictures.

Quick Update

Things have been busy for the green teamster these days!  It's been awhile, so I figured I'd better do a quick update.

Had an awesome Easter wagon ride with my friends.  They were so captivated by it, that they wanted to go again.  This, to me, is the ultimate compliment.  I love it when other people find the enjoyment that I do from a wagon ride.  One of the things I enjoy the most is when my wife goes with me, and she sits up front with me.  I know that horses are NOT her thing, so when she participates, it's really cool.

My harnesses are in the same state as before.  I just need to finish scrubbing the speiders and tugs and I'll be done with the majority of the harnesses.  I need to buy some new yoke clips and hardware for the breast straps.  After I get that done, I'll just have to buy myself a yoke and a double-tree and I'll be set to have the horses drag stuff around.

Now for the mares.  They are ... well ... being mares.  I took Pam to be bred over at the Double M Warhorse Ranch in Terrell Texas.  (http://www.doublemwarhorseranch.com/)  Mark and Bev are good friends of mine, and I really like their stallion Vegas (see the website).  When I arrived with Pam, it turns out that Pam was ready to go.  I got to witness a pasture breed for the first time.  This really reaffirmed to me that I do not want to own a stallion.  Once those hormones get control, they are a bit crazy!  Vegas is a gentleman though, and was very nice and gentle, and even took her out for a nice bit of hay afterwards.  ;)

I was out of town all last week, and since I got back, the mares have let me know that they missed me.  When working with Pam, I tried lifting her rear hoof to clean it out.  She decided to be a butt, and flat out kick at me.  I tried over and over with the same results and I ended up leaving her tied for a few hours.  Then I went out and brushed her and turned her out.  Sometimes it's hard to remember that these are not reasoning animals.  I left her tied because I found myself getting angry, and I did not want to react poorly and do something I'd regret.  The next day at meal time, Rachel let me know she missed me by trying to kick me as I walked around her after feeding time.  Really?  Rachel?  We've been doing this for over a month now, same routine every day, and now she does this?  Needless to say, she went without food because I am the boss.  Quite a welcome back from those mares!  (sadly, I love mares, because of the dynamics like this in their moods.  To borrow a quote ... mares are like a box of chocolates ...)  :)

That's it for now.  As I get more done, I'll be sure to post about it.

Horse Grooming

So this afternoon I tried something when grooming the horses and am VERY impressed.  Right now the horses are losing their winter coats, so it takes a lot of brushing.  Well due to my wife being a vet tech, we own 2 brushes for dogs called "The furminator".  These are expensive (35 bucks), and we love them for our dogs.  Our Great pyranees has such thick fur, and this brush works well.  I am aware that they have a furminator for horses.  It's the same as the dog one, only a bit wider.  Well the wife and I thought we would brush the horses and see how they look after the furminator was done with them.

Wow!  I now have enough hair to be considered carpet outside, and the horses look great.  I was really pleased with the results.  This brush did an excellent job.  You have to be light when using it, and not push it in hard because of how sharp the metal edges are.  It just removes all that winter coat.  Way awesome!  I'm not so sure it will work well on just a summer coat, but it worked amazing for helping shed that winter coat.  Attached are 2 pictures of the girls.  Both were done.  Rachel still has the halter on cuz tonight she's taking us on an Easter Wagon Ride!

Something else to remember Lily by

After we lost Lily, we went back to the vet clinic and took some hair and a hoof print from her.  Well a week ago, my wife pulled out her old craft paint and painted the hoof print.  I don't think it's the colors she would've preferred, but it's what she had that wasn't dried up.  I really like it, and it will hang on the wall at our place next to the other tribute I got.  I just figured I would share what it looks like.

Restoring an old harness, Step 2

For the past 2 weeks, I've been slowly working on the leather pieces of the harnesses.  It's a little daunting to see all the leather and know that I need to scrub all of it.  Since I broke the harness completely down, I decided to just work a few pieces at a time.  So here's how I'm going it:

First, I put a dirty piece of the harness in my work area.  Looking at the picture you can see how I'm doing this.  I have a towel laid down.  Before I begin working the leather, I take a wire brush, and brush all the hardware.  I have a wire wheel on the drill that works very well for this.  There are some spots that just need a hand wire brush though.  Once the hardware is shiny, I lay the leather down, and get ready for scrubbing.

I'm using saddle soap and a plastic bristle brush to scrub the leather.  You can see in the picture the pink block of saddle soap, and the red handled brush (3 pack of brushes for a few bucks from Tractor Supply).  First I scrub the saddle soap block, then I dip the tips of the brush in water, then I scrub the leather.  This works pretty good.  I get a good lather.  I have found that it's kind of hard to see how clean it's getting because of the lather, but if I really question it, I have a sponge that I can just use to wipe the suds away.

After srubbing all the leather, I use the sponge/scrubber to go over the leather a final time.  This removes all excess saddle soap.  Then the leather gets laid out to dry.

The parts in the picture to the left have all been scrubbed and are clean.  What you see there are all the hame straps, lazy straps, and crupper billets.  I also have the cruppers done, and the actual lazy strap tug loops.  The leather is in great shape, and it's much nicer now to touch it.  There are some straps that are still a tad sticky/gummy, but they are much better than they were.

I was going to apply a thin layer of neetsfoot oil to the leather once it was dry, but I'm second guessing that now.  The leather seems to be pretty oily already, so I'm wondering if it would be a good idea to add more oil to it.  I may just bypass that step and down the road apply more if needed.

I've also got the Hames almost done.  They are painted black now, and the leather strap loops have been scrubbed.  They look pretty good.

I have some Brasso that I am going to apply to all brass parts (both the hame balls, and the buckles and hardware for the rest of the harness).  I'm hoping that a layer of protection on the brass, will help it to keep from getting that green crud building up on it from the horse sweat.

Tonight I took the speiders and back saddles and scrubbed the hardware on those.  I still need to do the leather, but all the rings and hardware is clean.  I also took apart the breast straps tonight.  That was rough.  The bolts holding the hardware together was completely rusted, and I had to drill one of the bolts to get it out.  The center snaps are completely pored and rusty, so I may just buy some new ones.  I also need to buy some new snaps that snap onto the lower hame rings.  Seeing how rusted and bad these were, really drove home the fact for me that if you have a harness, occasionally take the bolts out and put them back in.  Do what you can to keep those things from seizing up!

Things are getting closer.  Can't wait till I have enough of the leather done to start assembling it again.  It's going to look really good!

Changes to my wagon

Give me a nice sunny day, with nothing to do, and I'm a happy camper!  First I finally fixed the trailer brakes on the goosneck trailer (which ended up being broken wires in the actual brakes), and then I worked on my wagon.  Check out the pictures to see what I did.  First I added a new drivers seat.  This is a bench seat out of a 2004 Ford van.  I attached it with chains and it worked really good.  It is much softer than the 2x12 I used to sit on, so I'm really excited about it.  Next, I decided that it was time to add some benches to the back of the wagon.  This went pretty quick.  I'm pretty happy with the results too.  The wagon is filthy and needs a good washing.  After I do that, I'm going to stain all the parts that are not stained.  Then the wagon will look really nice.  I also worked on the brakes.  I'm halfway done with the fabrication.  The brakes now sit in the correct spot, held up by a spring.  So now I just have to fabricate the actual lever that is going to push the pads down on the tires.

I also worked on my harnesses, but I'll add another blog entry for that.

More Pictures of the wagon ride

My sister in law just posted more pictures of the wagon ride.  You can see some new additions to the wagon (including safety chains!).

A wagon ride

So yesterday I had family in town.  We went for a wagon ride in the morning, and my sister-in-law took this picture that I liked a lot.  This is me and my sweetheart.

A farm horse

So the wife invited 3 of her siblings over this weekend.  That meant today I had to do some outside stuff to get ready for them.  I had 2 tasks ... get the big tree that had come down this winter to the burn pile, and then move my mobile chicken coop to a new location.  Both of these jobs are very simple to do with a truck and chain, however, since the ground is so soft, I would have been an idiot to try and do these tasks with a truck.

Well I happen to have a horse named Rachel who seems to be good as gold, so I decided to let her show me how she fares as a farm horse.  Within 30 minutes I had her brushed and all harnessed up.  This horse amazes me the more I use her.  Today, when I was sliding the collar over her head, I just kind of had the lead rope hanging and not tied to anything.  She was standing perfectly still.  My friend Roger has horses that will stand perfectly while they get harnessed up and he doesn't have to tie them.  So I decided to test Rachel on this.  She did perfectly.  The minute the collar was on, she fell right in line knowing what was to come.  She even opened her mouth in anticipation of the bit, which was a first time I've ever had that.

So with her all harnessed up, we did a few laps just ground driving to get her in the right mindset.  She did great, so I drove her over to where the tree was waiting.  I had already chained the tree, and hooked up the single tree, so I just had to drive her over, and hook up the tugs to the single-tree.  So I did that, she backed right up to where I wanted her, and with a single woah, she stood, cocked one rear heal and settled in as if to say, "alright ... lets do this".  It didn't take long to hook things up.  I honestly think that when Rachel hears the tugs move, she freezes and won't move at all.  It's really nice!

I gave her an "easy up" and she leaned into the collar and tried to move it.  She got a few inches and stopped.  This tree was pretty heavy.  I told her to step up and this time she put her all into it and next thing I know, this tree was a moving.  My chainsaw died a while back, so I am dragging this tree with all the limbs still on it.  As I was pulling it through the gate to get to the burn pile, the branches got stuck.  I kept asking Rachel to pull, and she did.  Finally I started moving her from side to side as she pulled, and as she did this, the tree broke free of both sides of the gate, and we were gold after that.  Rachel did so awesome.  To get to my burn pile from there, I had to do a 90 degree turn with the tree.  Rachel had no problem coming around 90 degrees while the tree stayed stationary.  It was pretty beautiful to watch.  Next thing I knew, the tree was in the burn pile, Rachel was standing like a lady, and I was unhooking the chain.  She was so calm and laid back that I was pretty shocked.

I kept the single tree and chain hooked up to her and drove her over to the chicken coop.  This coop is 8x4x8 and is on skids.  This was going to be a bit more interesting.  In order to hook up the chain, I had to put down the reins, and get on my belly to feed the chain down through the skids.  Rachel had been doing so well, and there was no where really she could go if she decided to go, so I trusted her.  I backed her up where I needed her, and gave her a woah.  I then got busy wrapping the chain through the coop.  What a girl.  She didn't even flinch.  So awesome.

This coop hasn't been moved for a year, and boy did it show.  It took Rachel 4-5 tries to get the coop actually moving.  It was stuck pretty good.  I tell ya ... I always think it is amazing to sit there, giving the command for her to move, and listen as the collar and harness begin to crackle and pop as all that power is transferred down the tugs and causes something big and heavy to move.  Once she got it moving, she had no problem keeping it going.  To get the coop where I needed it, it had to move 270 degrees.  Basically, the shape of a paperclip to some extent.  I knew that once again, this was going to require some precise movements and a mastery of coming around to go the path I wanted.  Rachel didn't disappoint, and did all I asked of her.

After that, the single tree was unhooked, and I drove Rachel to be unharnessed.  She walked really slow back.  I think she's a lot like me ... she can do anything I ask her once, but after that, she's pretty tired.  :)  I really have to work her more to get her muscles back up into wagon pulling shape.  I've got big plans for my team, including haying my pasture. 

It's so awesome to be able to do stuff using a horse.  Like I said, this was stuff that could've been done with a truck, had the ground been dry, but I was able to do it even with wet ground thanks to the same methods used long ago.  Having a functional farm horse is an amazing thing, and I think the fact that not everyone can do it now days, makes it feel even more special to me.

Restoring an old harness, Step 1

2 months ago, a friend offered me a set of leather team harnesses.  They were complete, and the leather is very pliable, but very dirty.  This set was used for her team, and they upgraded to bio harnesses, leaving these old dirty leather ones to sit.  A deal was made, and the harnesses arrived at my place.

I wish I had a before picture of the harnesses, but I don't have one.  The leather is very soft and pliable.  There are no stress cracks, and the only problem with the harness is that it is very dirty.  The brass buckles have a lot of green build up, and the leather itself will get your hands quite dirty from handling it.  Now that I have Pam and Rachel working okay, I need to get this team harness up and functional.  I decided that I am going to clean it very thoroughly by taking it completely apart, cleaning the hardware, and cleaning the leather.

Today I broke the harnesses down.  I unhooked all the harness pieces that were hooked with conways, and I unhooked the tugs from the hames.  So now everything is separate.

 This is the spieders and backsaddles broken down.

 This is the cruppers, belly bands, holdback straps, Brichons, and tug holders.

 These are the tugs, and the bridles are in the back.

THE HAMES:  I unhooked everything possible from the hames.  I even took a drill bit, and drilled out the rivets that were holding pieces of leather that were between the tugs and the horse's shoulder.  After that I took a wire brush to all of the loose paint.  I also wire brushed around each part that sticks out from the hame.  I wanted to remove all debris, so that I can repaint them.  I am going to tape all the rings and brass balls, and apply a fresh coat of black rustoleum paint.  I'm still torn between flat black, or shiny black.  Since this is going to be a set of work harnesses, and not fancy parade harnesses, I may just go with flat.

The hames are in really good shape.  They didn't take too much to get ready.





 

TUG HARDWARE:  The hardware that held the tugs to the hames is really rusted.  They used to be painted, but a lot of use has worn them a bit.  I decided that I was going to wire brush each part, including the spacers and bolts.  The picture to the right is half-way through that process.  The parts on the left are done, the parts on the right are not done.  Of the parts not done, the top one shows the side that was on the outside, and the bottom shows the side that was right against the leather.  The top one is not black, it is rusted.  The picture isn't very clear.

After I finished up with those parts, I decided to keep going and wire brushed all the conways and the snaps that were on the hold back straps.  It was really nice to get all these pieces done.

And ... the results for the night.  Most the hardware has been brushed and is shiny.  The picture below shows it.  (I should note that the yellow hue in the pictures is from my energy efficient work lights.  They sure don't help with pictures.)

 As I get ready to work the leather, I have a lot of questions and need to research this more.  It seems everyone has their own idea for the best way to clean up leather.  I feel like I should wash each piece with soapy water to clean it, but I know that will make the leather dry out when the wet leather dries.  I have a bar of saddle soap, and wanted to use that, but it seems to me that the leather is way to dirty to just do that.  The only think that I think I'm sure of is that I'll be using neetsfoot oil after it is all clean.  If anyone has any tips on this, please let me know.  I'm not much of a leather pro, and I'd hate for my ignorance to do something detrimental to these harnesses.

The Good, The Bad, and the Awesome!

The Good:

I harnessed up Rachel today, and drug an old tractor tire behind her.  This is the setup I use to make sure a horse knows how to move with weight on the tugs (including turning circles wide enough and not stepping over the tugs with her rear feet).

Rachel did awesome.  She is such a pro.  She responded to everything I asked her to do.  I even had her come around 180 degrees with the tire staying in place ( with me holding the chain up and tension on it) and she did it.

After dragging the tire around for quite a bit, I took her back up to the house and tied her for a nice break









The Bad:

No picture for this one.  After tieing Rachel, I saddled up Pam, and went for a ride.  Pam was doing pretty well.  She's still very green, and sometimes I have to use a lot of pressure to keep her head where I want it.  I'm thinking about changing her to a liverpool bit instead of the snaffle so I can get more bite on the bit.

We rode for at least 30 minutes, and then, out of the blue, for no reason that I know of, it happened.  Rachel suddenly decided to trot.  I have stopped her plenty and she's always done just fine.  Well when she started to trot, and I put on the brakes, Pam decided that she was going to override the brakes.

She sucked her chin to her chest and lept out into full on bucking.  Both rear legs were kicking out.  She headed in a straight line just bucking as she went.  Thank goodness for my australian saddle (love those wings!) and a mind that stays cool under pressure.  Even though she was bucking I kept talking calmly and trying to encourage her to stop.  After 100 yards of bucking (it seemed like an eternity) she finally started trotting, and then walked.  She then stopped for me and was fine.  I pet her really good on her shoulders for stopping and I tried to keep composed with all the adrenaline that was surging through my body.  I kept thinking that it couldn't end like that, so I did a few more laps with her, and then we called it a day.  I took all the tack off her, and put her away.  My legs were still shaking as I walked.  I haven't checked, but I'm sure I left a crease in the center of the saddle.  :)

The Awesome:

I chilled out for a few minutes, and then decided that since Rachel did so well at pulling the tire, I should really test her.  I would've loved to have tried her on a training cart, but since I don't have one, I used what I have.  :)

Rachel is SOOOO awesome!  She did an incredible job.  She was pretty tired, so I didn't do too much with her.  I went for a few quick laps, and then my wife and son hopped on and we went for a wagon ride.  We just kept it short and went around our whole pasture.  Rachel responded awesomely, and even backed the wagon up for me at the end so I could put it away.  She's amazing.

After such a great day, I brushed her out good, and gave her a more than healthy serving of her food.  I also decided that the girls earned a day in the pasture, so I turned them both out to eat the green grass that is growing right now.  They were in heaven.

I Love my horses!  They are incredible.  What an awesome day!

Rachel Drives!!!

This afternoon was awesome!  I got home with plenty of time to kill, and decided that I would work the horses.  Rachel needs to gain a bit of muscle, and I want to see what she remembers from her old hitch training, so it seemed logical that ground driving her was the best thing to do.  So that is just what I did.

She harnessed up with no problem, and even let me slide the collar over her head instead of unhooking the clasp.  I was very happy about that.  When the lines got hooked up to the bit, she started getting a bit antsy.  She wanted to start walking off, but the lead rope was keeping her in place.  Once I was ready, I unhooked her lead rope, walked behind her, and we were off.

When I told her to "Step up", she sprung into a canter.  Her feet were lifting well, and I jogged behind her keeping the tension on the lines.  She responded VERY lightly to the lines.  I was really excited about this.

I walked her in a few circles, and then stopped her.  She really struggled at standing still.  She kept throwing her head, and wanting to get moving again.

After 15 minutes, she settled in nicely, and I was just enjoying myself driving her.  She was incredibley responsive.  The slightest pressure on either line would get her to move, and towards the end of our session, she was stopping on the whoa command before I really put any pressure on the lines.

Like Lily, Rachel had someone who loved her enough to put some time into her training.  She seemed to remember what to do, and after 40 minutes of driving, she was acting like a pro.  Thanks so much to whoever trained her!

I wore her out after 45 minutes of driving.  Her head was getting pretty low towards the end (which is when my wife took the pictures).  This was a great day!  Rachel got a good work out, and I got to see her perform in harness.

This really exctied me, because I had counted myself out this year for all the major parades.  I'm almost thinking that I may not be down for as long as I thought.

Up next, drive her while dragging the tractor tire behind her.  Once I'm comfortable with her doing that, then I'll head to my friend Rogers, and make use of his 2 wheeled training cart.  If that goes well, I'll have to dust off my wagon, and get working her with a real wagon.

Great times here!  I've got a great team, and they are coming along nicely.  I can't be more satisfied right now!!

Playing with Rachel's baby

Last night I spent some more time with Rachel.  I really really like this mare.  The more I get to know her, the more she impresses me.  As I walked into her stall, she gently walked over to me and lowered her head right to the perfect height for me to put on her halter.  It was awesome.  I've never had a horse that would do that before.  I've had them stand still, but never lower their head to make life easy.

 

I brushed Rachel out real good, and the wife and I were assessing Rachel's pregnancy.  I've had my doubts lately about how soon Rachel is going to foal, and so I had my wife (who is a vet tech for a small animal clinic in town) out to help me in assessing the situation.  As I brushed her all over, I noticed a bit of movement on Rachel’s right side, in the soft area between her ribs and her rear leg.  I put my hand there, and there was distinct movement, that I could not dismiss as gas or normal digestive movement.  My wife and I both held our hands on this area and felt the baby moving around.  It was really cool!  I started pressing in on that area, and the little foal seemed to push back.  I pressed again and the area didn't budge at all, as if trying to resist my pushing.  Then suddenly the foal moved and disappeared completely from that spot.  A few seconds later the movement came back to that area.

 

So Rachel is bred.  I have no idea when to expect the baby.  She isn't bagging at all, but I've read and heard that that isn't necessary a guarantee that she won't foal soon.  I guess only time will tell.  In the meantime, I'll just keep working her and getting her in shape.

 

One other cool thing to note today is the change in Pam.  Pam used to be this normal horse, who liked other horses and didn't want any  human interaction at all.  Well last night as we were focusing so much time and attention on Rachel, Pam was right there, longing for attention.  If we came within her heads reach of the fence line, she would reach out and gently nuzzle us.  She seems to love the affection that comes from humans now.  It's awesome to see this horse transform like this.  I even caught a glimpse of her nuzzling Rachel.  These two girls are kept in different stalls, but I think they are already pretty good friends.  It's awesome to have 2 sweet girls like I have.  How did I get so lucky?

Rachel In Harness

Well, today was an amazingly beautiful day.  On days like today, I can't help but work the horses!  (especially after all the rain and mud we've had this year).

So today, Pam and I did our thing.  She once again let me lift her feet and clean them out without the use of the rope I've been using for training.  She did awesome.  I was going to saddle her up and ride, but I have some plans for later, and I decided that I wanted to spend more time with Rachel today.  So Pam got put away, but she wasn't sad at all, cuz we had a whole bag of apples that were on the downhill side of their life.  Rachel didn't want any, so Pam got all of them.  She was very very happy about that.

So Rachel got some real nice one on one time.  I really like her!!  She is so easy to work, and so laid back.  She is a lot like Lily in that I can do anything to her without her even caring.  She even surpasses Lily in that she will let me also mess with her ears and mouth (Lily was protective of those areas).  Rachel is filling out nicely, and I think I've been able to give her more nutrients than her baby is taking.  She isn't bagging yet, so I'm not expecting a baby anytime soon.

After all the brushing, I decided to put the harness on her and see how she took to it.  I decided to put the bridle on first, since I was pretty sure she was going to need to get use to the straight liverpool bit that I use.  It took some work to get her to take the bit, but we got there.  I then let her stand for 15 minutes while she kept shaking her head trying to get the halter off.  She didn't complain at all about the rest of the harness.  She stood like a lady (aside from the occasional head shake) and let me adjust everything to her.

After that, I spend 30 minutes just walking her around my property.  She didn't react at all to all the metal parts moving and clanging together.  I decided to keep todays lesson simple, and end it at that.  Maybe next time I'll hook the lines up and work on ground driving her.

I did stop for a second, and ran in the house and got a camera.  So here she is.  Rachel in harness.

Introducing ... Rachel.

Introducing the newest member of the 3A Ranch.  This is Rachel.  I got her from a friend who has a private rescue organization here in greenville, tx.  (http://www.wrights3wranch.com) 

I really like Rachel.  She is about 10 years old.  She is a papered Belgian.  She stands over 17 hands.  She is bred to Kim's stallion (for information on Ben, Kim's registered Belgian stallion, go to her website which is listed above).  I am guessing that Rachel will foal in the next month.

Rachel is really sweet natured with me, and reminds me a lot of Lily.  She walked right up to me to put the halter on, and then she trailered without a problem.  Once I got her home, she had to stand tied for 1 1/2 hours while I got her stall (which will also be a foaling stall) ready.  To my surprise, she stood like a perfect lady.  No pawing or other bad habits or anxieties were shown.  I was very impressed with her.  I was told that she was green broke on hitch a few years ago, so I'll have to see what she remembers.

It didn't take long for Pam to come over and check out her new friend.  They snorted at each other (which is the horse way of saying "...hey...") and Rachel let out a few squeals occasionally.  For those of you who don't know, a lead mare will express her dominance by squealing at another mare when kicking or biting is not an available option.  It doesn't sound like a good way to say "I'm in charge", but it works great for horses.

Besides being totally happy with how awesome Rachel is, I saw these two girls together, and realized what a close match they are.  Rachel is a bit taller than Pam, and Pam is wider than Rachel.  But they look pretty close to each other in size.  Looking at those two together got me real excited about the team in the making I have.  It's gonna take a lot of work to get there, but I'm excited to do it.  I think Rachel is going to fit in real nicely here at the ranch.

Gordyville USA

Last week I went to The Mid-American draft horse sale in Gifford Illinois (aka Gordyville).  My friend Pat called and asked me if I wanted to attend with him.  Upon learning more, I found out that this sale is pretty much the best of the best in Percherons and Belgians.  I was excited to go and see what the best horses look like.  I pulled some strings, got work off, and went up with my friend Pat.

                Pat and I left Wednesday morning at around 9AM.  It was a 12 hour drive to get there.  Much of this was  new terrain for me to cover.  We headed  east through Texarkana and then on up to Little Rock Arkansas.  From there we continued up into Missouri and then into Illinois.  The highlight of the drive up was crossing the mighty Mississippi river.  I have never seen it before, and it truly is marvelous.  I had no idea that it was as wide as it is.  It was awesome to see.

I absolutely love road trips.  There’s something awesome about seeing this great land with your own eyes.  Cruise control set 5 over the limit, sunflower seeds, and Dr. pepper make for good driving.  The hours passed quickly and eventually we arrived at the hotel, and hit the sack.  Sleep came easy after spending the entire day on the road.

The next day we got prepared for the day at the sale.  The temps were in the teens outside.  The sun was out, but I had forgotten what an icy wind really felt like.  Texas sure has spoiled me.

The sale was in a giant indoor building.  The layout consisted of stalls up and down both sides of the building.  The center portion was divided in half.  The front half was arranged with bleachers and this is where the auction would take place.  The second half was the hitching area.  This is where horses were hitched to wagons either single or as a team so that potential bidders could see them work.  There was also a second building that had some vendors and shops.

I was blown away with this experience.  Pat and I began looking at the horses in the stalls, and looking in our sale guide to see the details on each horse.  Pat is amazing at knowing bloodlines.  Walking around with him was a very educational thing for me.  Pat knew which sires were good, and what they were good for.  He also knew which mares were good.  It was awesome to hear him talk about all this stuff.  It was completely new to me, so it was like drinking from a fire hose at first.  J

When I saw my first Belgian worked in the hitching area, I was floored.  This was the first time I had ever seen the high stepping action that the high dollar horses do.  It was so cool looking.  Basically, the front hooves, come all the way up to their shoulders when they trot if the horse does it right.  VERY PRETTY!  Both Percherons and Belgians are desired to do this.

In order to make this somewhat shorter, I’m going to give some bullets and put my thoughts on it.  I could probably write a novel with how much I observed and learned.

·         The Amish:         This was the first time I’ve ever seen the Amish people.  This sale was about 90% Amish, so it was definitely out of the norm for me.  If I had to stereotype, I would say that they are a short, healthy group.  It didn’t look like many of the men were even 6 foot tall.  What they lacked in height, they made up for in other area’s though.  I didn’t see a single overweight Amish person.  They were all very fit, and very healthy.  I would also have to say that these people are masters of horsemanship.  Watching them work them was awesome.  They make it look easy.  The conversations I had with a few of them were very pleasant.  I really enjoyed being exposed to them for the first time and seeing what wonderful people they are.

·         The horses:        It was amazing to see so many top notch horses in one place.  All of these horses were amazing.  The ones with the good leg action, size, and bloodlines went for a lot of money.  (I saw a Percheron gelding go for 32K, and a Belgian mare go for 16.5K)  It was interesting to see what traits were desirable and which were not.  To my surprise, there were many there that were quite affordable.  Some of the mares (which were better looking that most I’ve ever seen) went for a thousand dollars.  That floored me.  Most draft rescues I have seen, want 1500 or so for their horses, and then you might get a horse who is overcoming some health issue, with no papers, and only 30 days training.  These horses at the sale were all extremely well trained, and had good papers to boot.  I guess a person might get warm fuzzies from knowing they rescued a horse from somewhere, but I get warm fuzzies knowing I have a top notch mare that is trained and papered.

 

·         America’s farmland:       It was incredible to see the land in Illinois.  Pat explained that all the farmland I saw was usually filled with corn in the normal season.  The land stretched for miles and miles, and was dotted with farmhouses, and silo’s for storage.  It was quite a sight.  Pat also taught me about the history of farming in this region, and explained many of the outbuilding on each farm to me.  It was very cool!

·         A friends horse:               My wonderful friend Pam had a horse that she bred selling at the sale.  Pam was at the sale and I got to meet her for the first time ever.  What a wonderful friend I found thanks to my yahoo horse group.  This horse, Cassie, was 3-4  years old, and Pam sold her at 6 months old.  The current owner had her trained amazing, and was selling her.  I got to watch her pull a cart, and wow was she good.  She had really good leg action, wonderful conformation, and a cute little white spot on her rear end.  Pam was beaming with pride.  It really says something about your breeding program when you have a horse that gets sold at Gordyville.  This is not the kind of sale that average, non-papered horses go to.  Cassie was superb and looked wonderful at the sale.  Congrats Pam on helping to bring a wonderful mare into this world.

·         Show me the money:    One amazing thing I noticed, is the gap in pricing between Percherons and Belgians.  Just looking at Geldings.  The average price for a Percheron gelding at this sale was ~7000.  Contrast that to a Belgian gelding that averaged at ~5000.  Almost all the Percherons were pure black.  I kind of got the feeling that if you want to be into draft horses for the money, Percherons is where the money is.  LOL.

The sale was simply amazing and I would love to make it a habit to go there every year.  It’s a lot of fun to see beautiful horses and hang out with wonderful horse owners.  This trip was awesome and taught me a whole lot of stuff I didn’t know.  Thanks for asking me to go Pat!  I could not have had a better time with a better friend.  Thank you so much!

I took some video clips at the sale.  Sorry, no sound.  Click the link to see the video.

A short clip of Cassie hitched to a cart
A long clip of Cassie hitched to a cart
A clip of Cassie being sold at the auction