Getting ready for the Christmas season

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Horse Hay raking

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

 

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

A great day of driving!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My wagon has been updated!!

I’m so excited that I had to share.  A few weeks back, I took my wagon to my friend Rogers for some work.  I needed some brakes fabricated for it, and a team pole made so that I could have both my girls pull the wagon.  I got the call and some pictures last night letting me know that it’s done.  Roger took it out with a team of hafflingers to test it out and it is working great.  I am so excited!  I can’t wait to go pick it up.  Hopefully I’ll do that this weekend.  Enjoy!

 

 

My first Wedding, Driving A Horse

So this past Saturday was a huge day.  I provided a horse and carriage for my friends wedding.  I'd never done this, so I really got exposed to all that goes into this kind of event.  I had my wife and son along as help, and it was greatly appreciated.  Also, my wife decided that she was going to let my son be the photographer, so most of the shots are from him.

Saturday morning was spent making Rachael pretty.  She got a nice bath, and I even applied a nice coat of show shine to her.  Her hair was flowing magnificently!  :)  I used clippers to trim her beard and nose hairs/whiskers.  I also trimmed her bridle path short.  She was looking really nice.  Want proof?  Queue the first picture:


Riley picking some small leaves off Rachael

I unloaded Rachael and tied her to the trailer.  Riley then started brushing her, and getting her ready for me to harness.  While he did that, I unloaded the carriage from the trailer.

Attaching the shafts to the carriage

Once the carriage was ready to go, I turned my attention back to Rachel.  Time to get her harness on.  This went fast, and in no time, she was ready to go.

Harnessing the horse, with the help of my son

Putting the bridle on Rachael, with a view of the carriage

Rachael, ready to get some pictures taken of her

The carriage.  Loaned to me by my good friend Roger.  It's very nice!

Once Rachael was ready, the bride came over, and they took pictures with Rachael.  The bride even got brave, and wanted to sit on Rachael.  Rachael did not object to this.  A normal horse may spook to a woman wearing a dress puffed up the size of a small car, but not a draft horse. :)  Rachael did very good.  She was very laid back today, which I was very grateful for.  (the night before at the practice, she was pretty antsy, so I was happy she was being easy).

Once the bride had all the pictures she wanted, it was time for me to work the wiggles out of Rachael.  I hooked her up, and off we went.  We drove about 15 minutes down the road, and I had her in a nice trot.  She comes to work so easy, that it makes me very grateful for her.  We turned around, and then headed back.  The way back was a gentle rise the whole way, which put a nice load on Rachael.  When we got back to the wedding, she was more than willing to stand.

I'd like to take a moment to say how AWESOME Rachael did with shoes.  She was a different horse.  She wasn't timid on the road, or cautious.  She stepped out real nice, just like she does in the field.  I'm very grateful to my friend Cody for taking on the job, and helping me out.  Also, I noticed that shoes with drilltech applied to them do not make a clip clop sound on the road.  You can actually hear that drilltech grinding into the road.  No chance of slippage on these things! 

After a nice ride down the road, its time to begin the process of waiting

One back to the wedding, I tied her to a tree, and I changed into my wedding duds.  This was a country wedding, so I dressed for the occasion; white shirt, and black wranglers.

Me and Rachael, in my wedding clothes.

Once I was changed, then came the next part.  WAITING.  We stood in that one spot and waited, for 30 minutes.  I wasn't really excited about this, but, I figure you gotta roll with the punches on this kind of stuff.  Wedding was supposed to start at 4PM, I was supposed to be there to pick up the bride at 3:55PM.  I actually picked up the bride at 4:30PM.  Good thing Rachael didn't mind standing.

Still waiting.  :)

After the wait, we finally got the wedding on the go.  The bride came out, and she, her father, and her son hopped in the carriage.  Then we headed off to the wedding.  It was a nice peaceful drive there.

This wedding was set up in the middle of a 5 acre field.  In the center of the field, was a single, HUGE, pecan tree.  The hitching post, and all chairs were set up in the shade of the tree.  It was beautiful.  We drove out to the place, and it was so pretty.



Waiting during the ceremony

 I dropped the bride off, and then, once she had exited the carriage, I hopped down, and held Rachael's lead rope.

I should take a minute to brag on Rachael.  I was very nervous to see what her reaction would be to the crowd.  I figured when they all stood for the bride, she may spook a little.  To my surprise, this didn't bother her at all.  She really didn't care one bit.  She stood like a lady, and was very well behaved (besides relieving her bladder during the ring ceremony)  LOL.  The only time she got a little cautious, was when the applause came right after the wedding.  She wasn't too sure about that.  I had to keep reassuring her that it was okay.  She didn't spook enough to move the carriage though.  Her head was as high as it can get, and she was looking at the crowd as they cheered.

We loaded up the happy couple, and we went for a loop around the pasture.  It was awesome.  I then brought them back to the crowd.  Instead of having a reception where they stand in a line to greet everyone, they dismissed the audience by row, greeting each person who came.  I thought this was kind of a cool idea, and saved the couple from standing in a boring line during the reception.

The next thing on my list, was to load up the happy couple, and take them up and give them a grand entrance to the reception.  They neglected to tell me there would be 45 minutes of picture taking between that time though.  I passed the time by talking with people who came to admire the horse.  Lots of kids came over, and loved all over Rachael.  One of my favorite parts about doing this kind of stuff is letting kids pet the horse.  They are so excited, and just have this look of awe.  I love it.

After the pictures were done, I loaded up the happy couple, and away we went.  I dropped them off at the reception, to some more applause, and then I headed to my trailer.

In no time at all, everything was unhitched, and loaded back onto/into the trailers.

This was a very cool experience.  I really had a good time.  All the preparations I took paid off big time.  Rachael is awesome in shoes, and she performed perfectly.  I wouldn't mind doing more of these!  I'll try to post some actual pictures of us driving if I get some from the bride and groom.  As you can tell, my 7 year old photographer kind of crapped out on me.  Guess I should've given him a bag of skittles or something.  :)

Speaking of my camera man, something funny happened at the wedding.  At the reception, a friend noted the margarita machine, and tells my son that they are serving "slushies".  So my son gets all excited and he seriously started burning the sugar from it before it even entered his body.  We then, had to be the mean parents, and try to explain to him that he couldn't have one of those adult "slushies".  The following picture is the aftermath.  LOL

Wedding Practice

Here's a picture taken tonight at the wedding rehearsal.  Tomorrow should be fun!

Rachael Gets Shoes

The blog today is going to be a bit different.  Instead of a formal write up, I'm just going to do a picture story.  Enjoy!

Here is the front left hoof, before anything was done.

Starting off, trimming the feet.  See how bad the sidewalls are?

Cody, shaping the first shoe

Both feet after the trip, before the shoes.

Cody burned on the shoes.  This is him fitting the front right after this was done.

Nailing the first shoe on.

Cody had to really do some work because of all the sidewall that was missing.

Fitting the front left shoe.

Once the shoes were nailed on, he fletched the nails (bent the ends downward)

Front feet finished

Cody shaping the rear shoes

A great shot of burning the shoe on.  That smoke stinks!

Fitting the rear left shoe

Rear left with the shoe on

Fitting the rear right

Final step of filing down the hoof and nails.

Got my drilltech shoes for Rachael

I got my new shoes for Rachael in the mail today.  I chatted with Bob Skelding (the wagonteamster) about the shoes he uses.  He recommended drilltech shoes, and referred me to Graber Steel & Fab.  THey are in Oden, IN and took my credit card over the phone and shipped UPS.  I'm very happy with them.  Now I just need to get these shoes nailed onto Rachael.

Here's a pic of the size 7 fronts.  The Drilltech is the stuff that is welded onto the toe and heel.  Very good traction, and very long life!

More pics from last saturday

Roger sent me some great pics from last saturday, so I figured I'd share them.  Thanks Roger!

Also ... does anyone know a good farrier that shoes drafts in NE Texas?  Looking for someone who's good and knows their way with a draft hoof, not just someone who can tack on a shoe.  All help is appreciated.

Do you think this boy is having a good time?

He had to take some pretty big steps to keep up.

Me and my team.

Driving 3 up

Jerry driving 3 up.

Jerry kept them pretty straight.

Driving 2 and 3 up in Paris, TX

Saturday was awesome!  At our house, the bottom had fallen out of the clouds, and it was raining hard.  However, up in Paris, TX, at Rogers house, it was nice and overcast with no mud.  So Riley and I loaded up the horses, and headed up to Rogers.  I had only one goal ... drive the girls on the road from Rogers wagonette.  I really wanted to see how Pam did on the road.  I wanted to see how she handled road trash, passing cars, and all that kind of stuff.

We got to Rogers, and soon after, some good friends, Jerry and Sheila Brandon and their 2 girls, showed up.  Jerry bought a horse from Roger a while back, and he joined the yahoo group I belong to.  I met he and his family for the first time when they came to my driving clinic back in July.  They are good people and I really enjoy them.  (also, a big thank you to them for all the pictures and video that are on the blog today)

Rachael and Pam did awesome!

Fist item of business, hitch up my team.  We hitched up and hit the road.  The girls did well, however, I noticed that Rachel wasn't getting into the pull at all.  She was hanging back, and letting Pam do all the work.  This was pretty uncharacteristic of Rachael.  We rode for about a mile out on the roads, and soon it looked to me like Rachael was not walking normal on her front feet.  We got back to Rogers, and I checked her feet.  Rachel's sidewalls have all chipped, and she is basically walking on the soles and frogs of her feet.  This is why she'll pull her heart out in the dirt field, but is very tender on hard surfaces.  I am going to have to get an expert draft farrier to possibly put shoes on her.  Her sidewalls just are not strong and need to grow out.  Not the news I wanted, but still, I accomplished my goal.  Pam did great, and didn't spook at all on the road.  I'm very pleased with her.

I tell ya, you get 3 teamsters together, and you can't help but have a fun time.  Roger, Jerry, and I had a ball just talking horses, and deciding what we were going to do.  Good times for sure!  I have pictures of the day that I'll post.  I'll just say a few words about working Rogers horses, then you can just follow the pictures.

After we worked my girls, I tied them, and then we decided to work some of Rogers new horses.  Last week, Roger went to a draft sale in Missouri, and came home with 3 new belgians; a team of geldings and a mare.  Roger has a gelding named Jack, that is a true 19 hand Belgian.  Bud, one of the geldings he bought, is about 18-2/3 hands.  Roger had a glimmer in his eye that Jack and Bud were going to be team mates.  We decided that the rest of the day we'd work towards that.

Introducing Jack(19 hands) and Bud(18-2/3 hands) to each other.  We ground drove them individually, right next to each other.  They did great.

Now, Jack and Bud had not been around each other very long, and thus they were none to nice to each other.  We decided to try ground driving each horse next to each other to see how they'd act when working.  True to their laid back, work nature, once working, these horses didn't mind being next to each other at all.  Soon they had been ground driven, and then hitched up to the wagonette.  Next thing we knew, we were on the road, driving this team of behemoths.  It was awesome.  They're a really good match.

Ground driving Jack and Bud as a team.

Bud on the left, Jack on the right.

One highlight of my day, was letting my son drive this team of ~19 hand horses.  Riley decided he wanted to give it a go.  We were so impressed with the horses and their work manners, that we let him at it.  There's a great picture of my 6 year old boy driving these gentle giants.

My son, ground driving for the first time.  Of course it would have to be the biggest horses around.  :)

We also had some fun driving 3 up using the other gelding Roger bought.  Great times for sure.  Enjoy the video of that.  If you pay attention, Roger shows off his skills.  He did a 3 point turn with the 3 up and we were all very impressed with his ability to command and control horses.  I watch guys like Roger, and Pat drive horses, and I can't help but be so impressed.  They just have a way with the horses, and they get them to do exactly what they want.  I want to be like that!

Enjoy the pictures and video!

Jack, Bud, Ryan, and Rog driving

Tim driving 3 up

Jerry taking his turn driving 3 up

Jerry did real good!

(Remember ... you can click on the pictures to see a bigger view of the picture)

Driving 3 up was awesome.  We did it with one set of team lines, and a single set of driving lines for the left most horse.  This was the first time I'd ever driven with 2 sets of lines.  I did okay.  It's definitley not an easy thing to keep all the tension right.  So much fun!  Also, the ground seemed to shake when each of these big horses stepped at the same time.  Very cool!