Horse Boots for a draft?

Those of you who have read this blog for a while know of Rachaels feet.  They are just weak,  and I have to have her in shoes to do any real work or rides.  Even the last trail ride I went on was too much for her to handle barefoot.  Shoes are great, but they are very expensive, and I'm not sure the holes from the nails is really helping.

There have been countless times in the past few years, where I'll get a spur of the moment request for a horse ride, or a wagon ride, or something of that sort that I will have to decline because I am not able to get shoes on Rachael in time.  When this happens, I always find myself thinking:  "I wish I had some boots for her that I could just slip on when I want to, but then take off to put her back out into the pasture.  I've done some reasearch before and found Easyboots (http://www.easycareinc.com/) and hoofwings (http://www.hoofwings.com/).  I am typically the type of person who wants to see a new product before I gamble on it.  I found that the easyboots come mostly in normal horse sizes, and the hoofwings are completely custom and pricey.  I've never been convinced enough to take the plunge though and buy them.

I got asked to give some wagon rides to some kids for their Prom on April 13th.  Once again, I don't have shoes on Rachael, so I was going to have to get my shoer out here and pay for that.  Once again my thoughts were turned to how nice it would be to have boots. 

I am a member of a "draftndrive" yahoo group.  There are some amazing teamsters in this group, and I've learned a lot from them.  I presented the boot question to them, and got some great feetback.  One of the other members (Karen Garriot of The Princess Carriage in Arkansas) told me that she uses Easyboots on her drafts that she drives with.  She even has a video to show  how easy it is to put on the easyboots (Link Here).  She also has a blog entry on this topic HERE.  This encouraged me, so I did some more looking.  I did some measuring, and figureing, and here's what I found.

Rachael where's a size 7 shoe on her fronts.  Her front hooves are 7 3/4" wide.  I looked at the Easyboots, and found 3 types that could work.  The plain Easyboot, the Easyboot Epic, and the Easyboot Boa.  Of those, the plain Easyboot and Easyboot Epic had 7 3/4" as their Max size.  The boa was the biggest.  I liked the way the boot worked, and decided that I was going to gamble and buy a pair of size 8 Easyboot Boa's.

Yesterday they arrived.  The pic below is what they look like.  I got a pair of boots, removable gators for each (to help keep sand/mud/water out of the boots for those type of situations), a mesh carrying bag, and the instructions.  I was thrilled, and very impressed with the quality of the boots.

Boa Easyboots, Gaiters, and Mesh carry bag.

I had a rather busy day, so it was dark when I went out to try them on Rachael.  I was surprised at how easy it was to slip them on.  They were easy to tighten, and Rachael didn't have a problem at all standing in them.  I then walked her around for 15 minutes to see how they did.  She had no problems, and those shoes stayed put right where they were supposed to, although, it did look kind of silly to see a horse with tennis shoes on.  :)  I'm sure that will grow on me though.

Woo Hoo!  It looks like I may have found a way to save myself money, AND make myself and Rachael available for spur of the moment horse rides.  I'm going to try to hitch up this weekend and work Rachael in the shoes.  If they do as well on the road as they did just walking around last night, then this will be a great thing for me.  I'll get some pictures of her in them so you can see them better.

Taking the wheels off my International Harvestor #9 mower

Y'all might remember that I acquired an IH #9 mower last year.  I haven't really touched it in 6 months (Blog Entry Here).  I tried a few times since then to pull the wheels off, but to no avail.  I only had a gear puller, and the wheels were just big enough that when I started to get it tight, one of the 3 arms would pop off.  This lead to it sitting for quite a while.

Yesterday I was at the local hardware store, and I asked them if they had anything like that.  The clerk informed me that they didn't, but then added "You could probably rent one from O'Reilly's."  Why had I never thought of this.  Brilliant.  I went right over to O'Reilly's Auto Parts, and rented a big puller.

According to my Lynn Miller Book (The Horsedrawn Mower Book), it said to never apply heat.  Just use a puller and apply lots of penetrating oil.  He states that eventually, it will give way (cited his worst case of taking 3 days of constant pressure and penetrating oil).  I got the new puller on it, and cranked it tight.  To my surprise, none of the arms popped off.  It got real tight in a hurry.  I had been applying PB Blaster generously to it, and decided to leave it tight with pressure, and do a few jobs around the house.

One trick I should state that I did, was to use a nut between the puller and the axle.  The puller has a fine point on it, and the axle center also has a bump on it.  I put a nut between them to keep the puller centered on the axle as I tightened it.  And it did get tight!!  The nut smashed completely flat because of all the pressure being put on it.

I tightened bit by bit, and the axle seemed determined to stay frozen in place like it has been for who knows how long.  Then, as I gave it a turn, a small *POP* sounded, and to my surprise, I could see that there was a line now between the axle and the hub.  IT MOVED!  WOO HOO!

Puller and a breaker bar with 19mm socket.

If you look close (click on the picture) you'll see a bit of a gap between the wheel and the body of the mower.  It's slowly coming off.

It was NOT easy going after that.  This hub was hanging on for all it was worth.  It took another 15 minutes of hard turns before the hub was finally freed from the axle.  I was so excited.  Hurray!  I finally removed the wheel.  When the hub popped off, I saw why the wheel wasn't clicking like it was supposed to.  Grease had hardened and had frozen the tines in place.  They had then glued themselves to the wheel.  One wheel down ... one to go.

The bare axle.  A sight I was glad to see.

Here's the inside view of the hub and tines.  Two tines were stuck to the wheel.

Here's the wheel.  A very gunked up surface.

Now, usually once you have success doing something once, it's a walk in the park next time ... right?  WRONG!!!  The second wheel was a PAIN IN THE ASS!!!  (yes ... that's 3 exclamation points)

It all started off good.  But as the new nut smashed itself into the axle, it moved towards the key that was protruding a bit.  As it got tighter, it slid more and more, till the threads were grinding on the wheel key.  It was Very difficult to turn.  I'm going to section this second wheel into 2 categories ... What I Should Have Done, and What I did.

WHAT I SHOULD HAVE DONE:

I should have lined things up right, and applied lots of pressure and lots of PB Blaster.  When it got so hard to turn the breaker bar that I couldn't turn it anymore, I should have stopped, and allowed time for the PB Blaster to get in there and do it's job.  I should have waited it out a bit more, and been patient.

WHAT I DID:

With one wheel off, my mind was set that wheel #2 was coming off too.  When I couldn't turn the pry bar anymore, I held the prybar still, and used my foot and hand to rotate the wheel.  This kept tightening the puller, but it was very hard to do.  I did this over and over.  Then I noticed something bad.  the puller's center threaded piece was bending under such extreme pressure.  it was slipping to the side.  It was getting dark, and I was not happy.

I pulled the puller off, only to find that the nut between the puller and the axle had been smashed into none existence.  This then flattened the center threaded part of the puller into a completely flat surface.  Also, the center bar had a slight bend to it now.  I took it into the garage, tightened it into the vice. and put a ratchet on it.  I applied grease to the threads, and began to loosen it, and tighten it.  This was hard work, but it bent the rod back straight (well, straight enough).  I went out and tried to put it on the wheel again, but the flat surface on the puller would not stay centered on the axle.  Back into the garage and the vice, and I used a grinder to put a point on it.  I then got another nut that was sized right, and tried again.

It was dark by this time, and my brain decided that there was probably a better way to turn the wheel where I didn't have to hand onto it.  I got an old piece of pipe and stuck it on the ratchet handle.  I then started turning the wheel with the center threaded part of the puller centered on the axle.  it got tight, and tighter, and tighter.  I noticed the nut was being smashed to smithereens again, but this time the puller stayed centered.  I got excited, thinking that I was making headway, but still no movement of the wheel.  Things got so tight that I thought that the puller itself was going to explode somehow.  I kept turning the wheel though (which was much easier than moving the breaker bar)

You can see the pipe on a ratchet and the puller on straight.

Another view of the setup that got it to pop

Then ... it happened.  a big *POP* and the hub moved.  WOO HOO!  Oh man was I excited to hear that.  From there, I just kept turning the wheel.  It would get tighter, and tighter, and then ... *pop* ... it would give a little more.  It did that over and over until the hub was freed.  It was another 15 minutes of turning from the first pop till the hub was freed.  I was so glad to have the second wheel off.

On the second hub, one of the springs had broken completely in half.  As with the other side, the tines were stuck in place with 50 year old grease.  

These wheels were seriously stuck on this mower.  I'm very glad to have them off.  Now I can clean the surfaces all up, and get it back together.  Maybe there's a chance I could use it this year.  :)

Hooray!  Wheels are both off!!

Here's the wheels.  Now I can get them cleaned up and painted.

Here are the hubs and tines.  Gotta get these all cleaned up as well.

Now that this is done, hopefully I'll start working on this more frequently.  There is definitely a grin on this face.  :)



IH #9 Mower Page

Working Buck

The weather here has been FABULOUS!  60s with sunshine.  I'm in heaven.  Today was so nice that I was inspired to leave work early and spend some time working Buck.

If you recall, Buck is not trained to saddle or hitch yet.  He's 3 1/2, so its high time he learned.  I have finally realized that if I want to get out and enjoy some trail rides with my saddle club, I need to get Buck in shape so that I can ride him.

*DISCLAIMER*  - I am not someone who is good at breaking horses for saddle.  I have limited experience in working a horse that is hitch trained into saddle, but I've never started from scratch right into the saddle before.  The money I was going to use to send Buck to a professional, was gobbled up by a driveway project that is underway.  I decided that I'd do what I can.  I am crossing my fingers and hoping that I don't screw Buck up by trying this on my own.

Buck is an easy horse to catch.  He seems to like human interaction, so getting him in halter and ready to work is not a problem at all.  This is a great thing.  I tied Buck to a tree near the house, and started brushing and cleaning him.  It's shedding season right now, so I spent a lot of time just watching each stroke of the brush take off a layer of hair.  Buck seemed to love the attention, and was leaning his neck into each stroke.

Once cleaned up I did a few flexing exercises with him.  I basically had him flexing his neck on both sides and bringing his head to his shoulder.  He did well, and he seemed to switch into training mode right away.

After he did well there, I brought out the saddle.  Buck didn't seem to care about it.  I let him sniff the saddle blanket and he didn't care as I started rubbing down his neck with it.  I worked it into position on his back and he cocked a foot and was licking his lips.  I was very happy with this.  The saddle was a non-event as well.  He just stood there and let me throw it on his back.  It was nice!!  I left the girth very loose, and I rubbed it all over his belly as I attached it to see if he had any objections to that feeling.  No problems.

Saddle on.  Woo Hoo.

Once he was standing easy  I decided to tighten it up some.  Buck is my smallest horse, and so I had to get a hole punch and add some new holes to each of the straps.  The saddle I use is an Australian saddle, so it has 2 straps on each side of the saddle that must be adjusted.  I tightened it all up, then took buck on a nice stroll around the place so he could get used to feeling the saddle with a tight girth while he walks.  No problems from him here.

Buck didn't mind the saddle with a tight girth at all.

After this, I took turns on each side rocking the saddle side to side, and putting weight on the saddle, and stirrups.  We had to do this a bit while I corrected Buck and made him stand still when I did it.  His instinct was to move away from the weight.  With a good amount of praise, he soon figured out what I wanted and did it.

At this point, I decided it was time to introduce the bit.  I had a normal horse sized bridle I wanted to use for Buck, but I have learned that, just like his mother, even though he is 16 hands, he has a HUGE head.  I ended up having to use my big nylon bridle for him.  I put it on and he tonged it like crazy.  I then adjusted the sides so that I had a wrinkle or two on the sides of his mouth and he stopped tonguing it.  He just stood there.  I left him tied with it for 10 minutes or so, and he just stood there.  I was impressed.

Here he is with the bridle on.

Now is when the real work started.  I hooked up my 15 foot long lead rope, grabbed my carrot stick (training stick) and we went out in the open.  I started some basic desensitizing stuff, and he was loosey goosey.  Didn't get excited about anything.  I started to lunge him.

Buck has been lunged a tiny bit, so he kind of understands what I'm asking, but I learned a few things today using the carrot stick.  Buck was VERY sensitive to my position of that stick.  He wasn't scared of it, but the closer it was to him, the faster he ran away from it.  It took me a bit to realize this, and to keep the stick back so he'd stay relaxed and just do what I was asking.  I struggled at first with him always wanting to stop in the same position, but we worked through that.  Every time I lunge a horse at my house that doesn't know how, I think of how awesome it must be to have a round pen.  Sometimes my arm gets worn out from all the pressure I have to keep on to keep the horse moving in a circle around me.

Buck stood very well after all that lunging.

It was now that I worked on the saddle again.  I shook it, and put weight in the stirrups on either side till Buck stopped worrying about it.  Then, I did it.  I got up on him.  He was OK with it.  His ears were back and he was very unsure about why I was on his back, but once he heard me reassuring him, and rubbing his neck, he calmed right back down.  I sat on him for a while, making sure that he was OK with it. 

I tell ya, when sitting on him, I just wanted to grab those reigns and head off on a ride.  I had to keep reminding myself that at this point, Buck does not know what the lines are for, and that a ride like that may do more harm to him and me than good.  :)  After I sat on him a bit, I started to get on and off on either side of him.  At first he was a little hesitant.  In fact, the next time I hopped in the saddle he started pacing side to side before I could get my feet in the stirrups.  It's amazing how you can be scared, but project a completely calm and reassuring voice to the horse.  I got on and off both sides a dozen or so times.  (my legs feel it!)

After that, I decided to see how he feels the bit.  I untied him and walked out into the open.  with the slightest pressure on the left side of the bit, he will flex his head all the way to his shoulder.  NICE!  I wish that was true for the right side.  When I applied pressure to the right side only, he threw his head back and got all nervous.  I worked little by little, releasing pressure as soon as he moved it a little and following that with praise.  It worked a bit, but I couldn't get him to ever give all of his head to me on the right side.  (it was at this point that I was very glad I didn't just try to ride ol Buck off into the sunset)  :)

Mr. Buck!  Very pleased with him.

I ended our training on this note.  He was happy to get the bridle and saddle removed, and once again loved the brushing of his neck.

I tell ya ... I'm not as confident and brave as I used to be a few years back.  Funny how the more you are around horses the more you realize and respect their power.  2 years ago, I would have had no fear of Buck at all and tried riding him the first day.  I'm a little more conscious now of the power these horses have.  I have no problem taking it slow.  I just hope I'm doing things right and am not going to mess Buck up somehow.

Great day!  So happy I took the day off and spent it with Buck.  He's going to be an awesome saddle horse!!! 

February update: Nellie gets her teeth floated.

The days are getting longer, and the temps are going up. I LOVE this time of year. It's the time of year when one can catch Horse Fever. After a summer full of drought and miserable heat, followed by a wet and muddy winter, all it takes is one nice day with a horse, the the fire begins to burn bright again. Once burning, the desire to work the horses returns, and begins to consume the mind. This is one fever I actually enjoy catching.


A few weeks back, I worked Nellie by herself. We just did some ground work and aside from a semi-rough start, it was a great night.

I suppose I should elaborate on the rough start in hopes that it may help someone else. I had Nellie all harnessed up and ready to go. Typically I just unhook the lead line, and start driving the horse out to pasture from where I have them tied. The wife was out, and I asked her to unclip the lead line. She did so, and Nellie decided she wanted to step backwards instead of forwards. I applied the commands and pressure, and this made her side step. We have a 15 year old Golden Retriever who was out laying near us. She is getting quite deaf and blind, and the horse was heading right for her. My wife, in an attempt to get the dog to move, clapped her hands loud and yelled. I'm sure you horse people out there are shaking your heads and smiling at this point. The horse jumped and tried to spin around. I kept her head straight, but her butt smashed right into the wife's Dodge Durango. Whoops! That's the 2nd butt print that my horses have put in her car.

After that, things went well. She was a little rough, but was willing to do as I asked. I noticed that occasionally when apply pressure on the line, she would really shake her head, and jump a bit. I thought this was odd and wondered if she might have some wolf teeth or something.

Also, ever since Nellie's bout with colic, she's been a different horse. She thinned up a bunch, and she has a bit of a bulge at the base of her esophagus. She eats fine, and isn't acting in pain. She's just a bit more sluggish in the pasture. I've kept an eye on her, and can't see anything that really concerns me. But this, combined with the bit behavior prompted me to take her to the Vet and get her teeth floated. She's never had it done, so I figure it may be a good thing to do.

Monday night a good friend of mine named Ann came over. She helped me as I groomed all the horses. I tell ya, grooming 5 horses takes a lot more time then you might think. We even worked Buck a bit on ground work, and she showed me some neat tricks. We also worked Whinnie a bit. She's doing well. She's a docile little thing, but she submits 100% to you when she knows you're in charge. Such a sweet little thing. I also did some trailer loading with Nellie to make sure she didn't develop any hatred of the trailer since our last rides to the vet when she was suffering from that bout of colic.

It was Monday night where the Horse Fever really caught. It was a blast to be out working the horses. I had a great time spending time with them. Buck is going to be my riding horse this year. He's such a smart thing. It's going to be a great year! (speaking of Buck ... HAPPY Birthday!! Buck is now 4 years old)

Oh yeah ... I got a new (used) truck last week.  I now have a 2002 F-350 to haul the trailer.  LOVE IT!!!

Tuesday morning I went and had Nellie's teeth floated. I use Dr. Kimberlan of Greenville TX. He is AMAZING at his job. Equine Dentistry is his thing, and he is a master of it. Nellie did really well at walking into the stock, and just not getting nervous about the new surroundings. She had some really sharp points at the front of her pre-molars, but otherwise looked pretty good. Dr. Kimberlan noted that those points on the pre-molars could have been causing discomfort on the bit, but he couldn't be sure. He also said that we shouldn't be alarmed by the growth on her neck. He said her poop looks completely normal, and she's acting fine, so we didn't have anything to really worry about. It was a good trip.

Nellie in the stock.

This is Nellie on drugs.  She could barely hold her head up.  We walked quite a bit till she woke up.

I've always loved Nellie's eyes.  She really has a kind eye.  Also, all her hair is thick, including her eyelashes.

Woo Hoo for horse fever! Time to get out in the pasture more!

2011 Christmas Wagon Rides

Wow … I’ve been putting off this blog post for quite a while. Maybe I should have made a New Years Resolution to “not procrastinate”.  At any rate, I’m getting it to you now, so that’s what matters.


For 2011 Christmas Season, I once again did wagon rides for the Park Street Historical Society in Greenville, TX. I did rides 4 nights (Friday and Saturday night for 2 weeks). I had a great time and once again, I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to get my horses out in Greenville and share them with other people. I love my horses immensely, and it’s just a great feeling to see others (especially children) in awe and amazement at how big, and how well mannered they are. I had my helper, Jacob, with me again this year and he was awesome company to have.  Jacob is a real sharp young man, very sober and very solemn.  I love having him help me with the horses, because its one of the few times I see him actually smiling.

This is Jacob.  I can't believe I caught him smiling.

The first night of rides didn’t go so well. When I went to hitch up the horses, I noticed one of the wagon tires was flat. I thought that was odd, and we found an air compressor and filled it up. We loaded up the wagon, and down the road we went. After a block, I heard a rhythmic lug sound from the back of the wagon. I looked back, and the tire was pretty much flat. A block later, and the whole wagon was rocking as the tire became unseated. I apologized immensely and we turned around and went back. The people in my wagon hopped on another wagon, and away they went. Turns out, the valve stem completely blew out of the tire as we started to go down the road. I had no way to fix a tire without a valve stem, and knew that I needed professional help to get this done quickly.

Getting ready for the rides.  Girls are hitched and waiting to go.

I was left with a predicament. 7:30ish on a Friday night … who could fix the tire? Well, it turns out that NTB is open till 9. I ran the tire to them quickly (thanks to my boy scout “Be Prepared” training I had all the tools needed to remove the tire from the wagon). They found the flat, fixed it, and used a cheater seater to seat the tire that had really gotten abused being pulled while it was flat. They were done in a short time, and didn’t charge me anything for the repair. THANK YOU NTB!!! I’ll be giving them my business next time I need tires.

My son enjoying a snack while we finish getting ready

Here's the wagon, ready to go.

I got back in time to do one more wagon ride for the night. It went well and the horses were all to happy to be done after a single full length ride.

The next 3 nights went perfectly. The horses were awesome, and the wagon rides were fun. I really need to try that trick I posted a few blogs back about a way to make it so your lines don’t get caught under the team pole. That would happen to me every time Pam would step out in front of Rachael. It’s very annoying, but I impressed Jacob with my skills at making Rachael step forward more than pam to get them unhooked without having to stop the wagon and walk up there. It was a minor annoyance though!

I should also mention that the bells were AWESOME!  Just having bells jingling as we walked down the road made it so much better.  I am a huge fan of bells and will be doing christmas with them from now on.  It seemed to be the cherry on top of a wonderful experience.

Wagon rides are just getting underway.  Here we are waiting for people to load up.  Jacob is a great header.

For me, the best part of this Christmas season was to have my parents visit. I’ve only been doing hitch stuff for a short time, and my parents have never been around to see it. They are big fans of the blog, and love what they read and see through pictures, but they have never gotten to experience it in person. With my parents here, I took them on a special wagon ride to see the lights on Park Street in Greenville.

My mom got her camera out and documented me and my father getting us ready for the ride. I’ll have to post her pictures when she gets them. Her first comment was how amazed she was at the size of the horses. She said pictures didn’t do them justice or really show you just how big they are. She was then amazed that I could walk in and put halters on and that the horses didn’t kill me.  It was a lot of fun having them there with me, and my father (who has no horse experience) did great at leading the horses and helping me as needed. The wagon ride was awesome and my parents had a really good time. I also gave a wagon ride to the Whitlock family. They are basically my Texas family and have helped me out so much. Chuck Whitlock is a teamster, and my very first harness I used on Lily was borrowed from him. He sat up front with me and we had a fun time going down the road.

Whitlock Family Wagon Ride

Christmas was a success. A few bumps along the way, but a great season.

Christmas Parades were successful!

The Parade was a success!!  This past friday night was the Greenville Christmas parade.  I pulled a hay wagon made up into a float by Turtle Creek Veterinary Medical Center.  A big thanks to my pal Pat Chase for loaning me the hay wagon.  Another big thanks to Jacob Riddle for helping me handle the horses.  Pam was not in the mood to stand around at first, and it was great to have Jacob on hand.  The float looked great and the horses pulled it great.  I should mention that I had the bells this year and they really added to the Christmas feel.  Here's some pictures of the Greenville Parade.

Putting final touches on the float

Attaching the lines to the horses.

Waiting for our turn to go.

My family!  Merry Christmas!

My header, Jacob, helping Pam to chill out

Another shot of us waiting

A rear view of the float.

Side view of the float with all the lights on

 The next day I did the Campbell Christmas parade.  We used the same float (minus all the vet stuff), and my son's football team rode in it.  It was a great time.  I'll post pictures if I get any.

Getting Ready for Christmas

Today was a great day.  I got to spend some good time putting miles on the horses.  It was 6 miles by the time it was all said and done.  I had the bells on the horses and they did wonderful.

What prompted todays trek, was a need I had to deliver a hay wagon to a friend who lives 3 miles away.  I will be pulling this wagon in the Greenville Christmas night parade, and it needs to be decorated how my riders want.  I knew right away I could just drive it over, but then I needed to have a ride home.  I came up with the idea to load my forecart onto the hay wagon.  This would give me a ride home.

My pioneer forecart strapped down to a hay wagon.  Quite the ride!!

I should probably back up a few days.  On Wednesday I had the farrier out and he put shoes on the horses.  (I got Rachael's shoes from Graber steel again.  Love those people, and love the drilltek shoes!)  Rachael got iron on all 4 feet without a problem.  Pam was REALLY being a moody preggo mare.  For the first time she kicked at me.  I couldn't believe it.  She stood for the farrier perfectly for the front feet, but when he went to work on the back, she swung her rear end towards him and kicked at him.  I was baffled.  This is definitely not my docile mare Pam.  I don't know if it was the cold weather, the preggo, or something else, but that mare was a tad unruly.  Since she's pregnant, the farrier didn't want to tie ropes around her.  We discussed how much I'll be using the horses on the road, and he felt that I would be fine with only shoes on the front for Pam.  This saved me some money, and saved us from fighting Pam a day before Thanksgiving.  :)  

Since the horses have iron, I had no problem running them down the road.  It was a nice ride too.  Both girls were stepping nicely and responding well to the lines.  I had the bells on, and the girls didn't mind them at all.  I actually enjoyed the ride sitting so high up.  I had a birds eye view.  I was sitting in the implement seat on the forecart.  It worked well.  I set out alone, but after half a mile, my white dog Saphra was following me, so she got pulled up on the wagon and came along.

A birds eye view.  This must be what a nice hitch wagon is like.

Another shot while riding the hay wagon.  Note the bells!! 

After I dropped off the wagon, I hitched up the forecart, and headed home.  The point of view was much different.  Instead of looking down on everything, I was peering between the horses at the road.  The pictures show this well.  The girls did enjoy having a lighter ride home, and they trotted well for me.  Driving with a dog  between your legs on a forecart was the most difficult thing I encountered.  :)

Forecart view on the way home.  Compare with above.  I prefer the high ride!!

My wife took this picture from behind me as I drove up the driveway. 

My wife took a video of me as I was pulling into the driveway.  It's listed below.  You can really hear the bells cut through it.  It was a fabulous afternoon!

Getting the girls used to bells

I decided that for my parade and wagon rides this holiday season, I'd like to see about getting some sleigh bells. I began searching for bells, and I found that real brass bells are pricey!  I was looking for the bands that go around the girth of the horses.  They were upwards of 100 dollars a piece for the nice ones and $300 a pop for the REALLY nice ones.

I did more searching and found some made by Weaver.  They are black leather, 72" long, and just nickel plated bells.  Probably not as nice sounding as the others, but they were 22 dollars a piece.  I decided that for that price I'd give them a try.

Last Saturday I got Rachael and Pam out.  After I tied them to get them ready for harnesses, I walked over with one set of bells around my neck.  Rachael was completely relaxed and didn't mind the bells.  Pam had her head set very high, and her ears were tipped a little back.  She was concerned.  I talked sweet to her, and let her check them out while I brushed them out.  I then put one strand around each horse and left them tied for a bit.  Neither cared at that point.

I then harnessed them up and off we went to my pal Pat Chase's house.  I needed to visit Pat for a variety of reasons:  1) it's been a while since I've hung out with my friend, 2) I needed to do some upgrading of hames at the Pat Chase Tack Shop, 3) I needed to borrow the hay wagon that I'm going to use in the Greenville Christmas Parade.

As always, it was great to be out at Pats.  I was surprised to see him working his 2 year old gelding.  It's been a while since I've seen him, but wow has he grown.  It was awesome to see him harnessed and pulling a sled.  Pat has done awesome work with him.  He's nearly 17 hands tall and is going to be an amazing horse.  This summer Pat learned some great training tricks from Cathy Zahm, and he explained them to me.  Very cool!

For those who may not know, Pat keeps a bit of harness stuff at his place for sale/trade.  He has collars, hames, and other things.  For the past 6 months, my new harnesses have needed smaller hames.  The harnesses were originally used on bigger horses, and the hames just didn't fit my 24 inch collars very well.  Not only does Pat have the gear, he has the know how.  He quickly measured, and told me I needed 26" hames to go with my 24" collars (2 inches bigger is the rule).  In no time, I had new hames that fit my collars perfectly for a very reasonable price and trade-in.

We then worked horses for a bit, and went for a wagon ride.  It was great to just relax and hang out with my friend.  My horses did very well with the bells on their harnesses.  I ground drove them all around Pat's place.  Unfortunately we couldn't hook them up to Pat's other wagon, so we only took Pat's horses and wagon out on the ride.

After the wagon ride, I had to get home, so I loaded my horses and off I went, with a hay wagon being pulled behind the horse trailer.  I had to keep it under 45, but I made it home just fine.

Looking forward to getting the girls shoe'd over this Thanksgiving break.  Then I'll start hitting the roads a little more often and working those muscles back into shape.  I don't want the girls to go from Summer Vacation to 3 hours of work a night all at once.

I hope everyone out there enjoys Thanksgiving and finds something to be thankful for.  There's plenty of reasons for all of us if we look close enough.

Driving with my son

My son with lines in hand

Today I decided to do some things just for me.  I came home from work early, and decided that I'd work the horses.  It's funny to me that whenever you think you can do something quickly with horses, life happens.  My first delay was getting Whinnie (the little buckskin filly) back into my pasture.  She managed to get in the neighbors field somehow, so I had to cut the fence, get her back on my side, and then fix the fence.

Delay #2 came from a preggo mare Pam acting like a total butt.  She refused to let me halter her.  This meant we spent 30 minutes of her running away from me while I slowly walked behind her (like a murderer in some slasher movie from the 1980s).  After 30 minutes she finally tired herself out, and she stood.  I chuckled when I saw how sweaty she had made herself.  After that, she was a perfect mare.  She had no more strength to act up.

My boy driving the sled across the pasture.

About that time, my son got home from school.  To my surprise, he told me he wanted to come out and work the horses with me.  We had an awesome day!  He helped me halter Rachael, and also helped me groom them and harness them.  We hooked the girls up to the sled, and I started driving them.

He actually did pretty good at keeping slack out of his lines

About that time, Riley asked if he could drive.  I quickly agreed, and he took over.  He did so good!  I was very impressed with him.  I took a few video's of him driving the horses.  The first one below is of him starting the girls from a stop.  It took him 3 tries to get them to respond to his voice, but he got them to listen.  (turn the sound up and you can here him talking to the horses)

The next video is of Riley turning a 180 degree circle.  He completely impressed me with his ability to command the horses.  By the time we finished working the horses, Riley had driven much longer than I had.

There is something very fulfilling about sharing this stuff with my son.  I love that he wants to be involved, and I love that he does so well with the horses.  Had a fabulous day with my boy!!

Team Line Trick

Yesterday I was calling around to different harness shops looking for pricing on Bells.  For this Christmas season I was hoping to add some sleigh bells to the wagon/horses to really complete the Christmas theme.

I got referred to the Samson Harness Shop in MN.  I called and they were so pleasant!  I ended up talking with someone for hours (Bernie Samson maybe?).  We talked about all kinds of different things.

One thing we discussed was using team lines.  He asked me if I had any issues with lines getting hung up.  I mentioned how I had the team line buckle pull through my spreader once.  He asked if I also had times when the cross checks would get hung up under the team pole.  My answer was a “Yes”.  That seems to happen every now and then; never from actually working, but by standing still and them moving their heads around.

Bernie then laid out to me an old trick from the early 1900s.  He described using 2 sets of spreader rings to solve the cross check problem, and using 3 extra rings on the cross check line to prevent the buckle from pulling through.

For the 3 ring thing,  you just get 3 sizes of rings (6 total – 2 per size).  They should be sequenced such that the smallest ring will not pull through the middle one, and the middle one will not pull through the biggest.  The biggest needs to be big enough that it won’t pull through the spreader ring.  You put these on each cross check, in sequential order, before you run it through the first spreader.  These rings will then prevent the buckle from pulling through.



Drawing of team line setup using 2 sets of spreders



For the last part, I was having a hard time understanding verbally what he was describing, so I had him send me a fax with a drawing.  I found this very interesting.  I’ve never heard of this, but it looks pretty good.  The extra set of spreaders will keep enough line on the tension that you don’t get that droop in the middle of the cross that can get hung up.  I like it, and I think I’m going to have to get some spreaders to try it out.

This kind of rig seems ideal for a guy like me;  someone who works the horses alone most times.  when this kind of thing happens for me, I usually have to hope the horses stay still, and walk around myself to un-tangle it.  This means that there is a time when my hands are not on the lines.  If running an extra set of spreaders can fix this, then I’m all for it.

How to cure a diva!

This summer was such a bad one, and my time has been so busy, that I haven't worked the horses in over 4 months.  Yes, I know ... shame on me.

Two weeks ago, I had the farrier out.  Well it turned out that Miss Pam has become quite a Diva!  My horse who stood awesome for the farrier had been replaced by a raunchy, impatient mare who didn't want to stand at all, but only wanted to go back to the other horses.  She resisted quite a bit.  It was one of those moments where you find yourself telling the farrier "she's normally really good", which you know he must hear from everyone.

That cemented in my mind that Pam needed to be cured of her new Diva ways.  I figured I knew the best way to cure that.  WORK!!!  It's amazing how a horses temperament changes when they have a job.  So here's how it worked out.

First, I just got her out of the pasture and tied her up.  I left her tied for 45 minutes.  She spend the first 15 minutes pawing the ground and trying to turn herself all around to get free.  The last 30 minutes she settled in, and just waited on me.

Pam the Diva ... standing tied.

Next,  I took my time harnessing her.  She was pretty good with this.  No real issues at all.  Once the blinders were on, she started turning her body a bit, but nothing too big.

Rachael, being the amazing hitch horse she is.

Next came the work.  I ground drove the girls together at first, and the first few starts and stops were a tad rough on Pam's part.  Rachael was a dream and acted like the pro she is.  After the girls were stopping and starting well on command it was time for the sled.  I should note,  Pam was still not staying stopped very well.  She would start to pace and paw to keep moving, however, she would stop on command.  This was OK with me, because HARD WORK cures that impatient crap.  :)


Up next came the heavy work sled.  I got a new work sled this past spring.  It's got metal runners, and it's pretty heavy.  I hitched the girls up to it for the first time and away we went.  I made them walk for a good 10 minutes, then we stopped for a rest.  I watched Pam, and as soon as she started to Pace, off we went, for another 20 minutes.  On the next break, she stood for a few minutes, then paced once, so off we went again.  Another 15 minutes later, we stopped, and she stood perfectly.  Success!!!  I did this a few more times, till they were standing with no intention of moving.  This is the team that I know and love.  Even stood well enough for me to walk away from the sled and snap a picture.  :)

What a good team!  Enjoying a nice break after pulling the heavy metal training sled.

Working a horse hard enough to realize that a break is a good thing is a wonderful cure to the pacing/impatient horse.  Once they realize that a break is something to fully take advantage of, it really sets them up well.  The important thing to note in draft horses, is that it takes a lot of effort to work them hard enough to need a break.  Even on that heavy sled, it was only after an hour of pulling it that they finally started sweating.  Work work work!  It brings out the best in these animals.

The result ... I got my sweet Pam back.  For the rest of the day, she was the horse I used all spring and last christmas.  It was great.

So ... how do you cure a Diva?  Make her work ... and work HARD!  :)

Update on Nellie

A bit more happened with Nellie since the last blog posting. Nellie seemed to be fine the next morning after the vet came out. However, the next night, she was laying down again, and rolling worse. She had really scraped herself up on her hips, withers, and side of the head from rolling.

Vet said to bring her to him and we'd tube her again. We also needed to get her some more bantamine. We took her to the vet that night, While looking her over, the vet noticed a small string hanging out of her rear end. He pulled on it, and out came a 1 foot long piece of Hay wrap/netting. He tubed her again, and this time there was no reflux at all. Also, she wasn't passing much through her intestines. This led the vet to diagnose her with an obstruction instead of just colic. We figure that Nellie unknowingly ingested some amount of hay netting (the plastic wrap that is used on round bales now days).

A sick Nellie.  Note the IV bag hung from the tree.  This is country living!

This started a long 3 day long ordeal. I made a pen for Nellie in our front yard near the house. We had to keep an eye on her. She had a catheter put in, and needed to be on IV fluids. We also had to tube her twice a day and pump a gallon of mineral oil, and a 3-5 liters of water into her belly to try and flush out the hay netting/wrap that was stuck. Suddenly it seemed that our whole life was about Nellie, and making sure she made it. We were also advised to give her 4-5 small amounts of hay each day to keep the digestive track functioning.

It also began the awesome fun of dissecting poop. Everything that dropped out of her got dissected and analyzed. It seemed that each small pile had small pieces of hay netting with a few long pieces too. Slowly but surely, she was passing them. We kept hoping to finally see a big ball of the hay wrap come out, but instead we saw a string or two with each load.

There were storms coming through, so I moved the pen under my porch.  IV bag hung from the rafters.

On the 3rd day of fluids, Nellie started acting like herself again. She had not tried laying down and rolling at all, and we were not giving her any meds. We were advised to keep her on the IV, but to begin giving her a flake of hay at a time. We did this, and it made for a very happy Nellie. She had no problems digesting it, which also made for very BIG piles or poop for me to dissect.

On the 4th day, we stopped the IV, and put her out in the pasture. She was glad to be out of her pen, and we kept a close watch on her. She did perfectly. No soreness, no laying down or rolling. She's still doing awesome. We think we got her to pull through it. What a relief!!

One of the silver linings about this ordeal, was that Nellie doesn't care about needles on her neck anymore. Last year when it was time for shots, it was a rodeo. We didn't get to draw blood for a coggins because she was so unruly. By the last day of her being in the stall and feeling normal, my wife was able to draw her blood all alone, without me holding her. This is a great thing.

Also, on a bit of a disappointing note ... we did a blood test on Nellie to see if she is truly pregnant (supposed to be having a March foal) and the test result came back negative. Looks like she didn't take. I'm a little dissapointed, but that's Okay. It means I can work her with Rachael when Pam get's too big for her harness. :)

New Hay!!! The good, the bad, and lessons learned

Things here in NE Texas are not ideal for keeping a horse right now.  Lack of rain and good temperatures have no grass growing at all.  Hay is in short supply and is VERY expensive.  I feel worse for people in other parts of Texas because they have it much worse, but still ... it's not a nice situation we're in.

Fortunately, thanks to my Aunt Karen, I was able to get in touch with a hay guy up in Little Rock, AR.  After a month of plotting, planning, and co-ordinating, I was able to hire a truck to drive up to Little Rock, and bring 34 bales round bales of Bermuda grass (with some sage grass) home.  There were 4 people who went in on this load, and it worked out great.  The truck driver, Jaice, with Sheffield Trucking, sent me this picture of our hay before we hit the road heading our way.

Now that is a pretty sight!  A load of fresh cut bermuda!!

As you can imagine, the horses were also VERY excited about the new hay.  To stretch till the hay truck came, I had them on minimal hay rations and grain.  In the past, I've never had to worry much with the Belgians on changing food and what not.  The drafts seem to just handle that stuff very well.  So, I put out a round bale, and the horses went to town on it.  They were all very happy, and I was too.  Things were great ... or so I thought.

Yesterday I came home to find Nellie laying down.  I noted that half of the round bale was gone (in 1 day).  I walked out into the pasture and she stayed laying down.  She wasn't rolling or anything, just laying.  While looking at her, Pam laid down next to her.  This was odd to me.  I took the picture below:

Nellie and Pam laying down, with upset stomachs

 I got on the phone with some friends to brush up on my knowledge of colic.  I was told to watch for rolling and thrashing, and to also watch for them to bite at, or kick at their bellies.  The horses didn't seem to be in pain, so I went about my daily routine and just kept an eye on them.  As the afternoon/evening passed on, I noticed Nellie was laying down more often than standing. 

At 8:30PM I went out to check on the horses, and Nelle was not doing so well.  She had abrasions on her whithers, hips, and the sides of her neck and head from rolling/thrashing on the ground.  She was moaning with each exhale, and she kept bumping her belly with her nose.  At this point, I knew things were not well, and I called the Vet.

I got a halter on Nellie, and was able to coax her into standing.  I then led her out, and was walking around with her a bit while we waited for the Vet to arrive.  The vet took a look at her, and noted that she had a raised pulse, and that her gut sounds were not well.  He gave her a minor sedative, and then administered bantamine into her vein.  Within minutes she was breathing easier, and calming down.  She decided to lay down at this point, and laid flat on her side.  The vet told me that the next step would be to tube her to check her stomach contents.  He did that, and out came a gallon of gross smelling watery stuff.  It also relieved a lot of gas.  He told us that the gut sounds, plus the stomach contents led him to believe she was in the beginning stages of an impact colic, and that we're lucky to have caught it early.  From what I understand, impact is where you get a total blockage and this requires surgery to fix.

Nellie was calm and easy to work with.  I think it was 60% on board drugs, and 40% her desire to be made well that made her easy to work with.  My horse that hates needles was just fine with all the injections that were being made.  I was shocked.

The Vet added a gallon or so of water, and a gallon of mineral oil to her stomach.  He then told me that my job was to keep her moving for the next 2 hours.  He said I could do that by walking her, or by loading her in the trailer and driving around.  Due to the price of fuel, I opted for the first.  He also told us to pull the horses off the hay, and only let them eat it a few hours a day for the next week.  He also instructed us to give grain daily with 1 cup of mineral oil added for all horses.  He wasn't too concerned about Pam, and said that the mineral oil in the grain will help her, and if she did get worse, to call and we'd do the same thing we did with Nellie.  We thanked the vet for coming out, and I went to work walking Nellie.

She walked very easily.  She never fought me and kept her head right near me.  Pam was still in the field laying down a bit, so I decided to keep them all walking.  I opened the pasture gate, and walked out to pasture with Nellie.  All the other horses followed.  I then shut the gate, keeping them away from the hay.  Then the 2 hours of walking started.  I just did laps around the pasture.  Over, and over, and over again.  Nellie was awesome and followed my lead.  She never complained or acted up at all.  I think she must have made some kind of connection between me and the fact that she was no longer in pain.  At one point I stopped to turn on the hose and fill up a bucket of water, and she stood perfectly still in the pasture, and waiting for me to return.  She was calm and seemed to be on the rebound.

One interesting side note ... all the mares followed Nellie.  I was essentially walking the herd.  Nellie is alpha, and Pam and Whinnie followed behind her.  Then there was Buck.  He was the boy.  Ever since a nice blog article by Bob Skelding (the wagonteamster), I pay attention to how the herd acts.  Last night, the girls all fell in line, following Nellie.  Then buck ran around the entire pasture, kicking and bucking, with his head down.  It was interesting to watch.  He'd be grazing somewhere, then suddenly I'd hear the thunder of hooves, and here he'd come, running at full speed bucking occasionally.  At one point, he ran close to Nellie, and then he stopped about 10 feet on front of her.  I then learned that a lead mare who isn't feeling good can still flip 180 degrees around me in an instant, and deliver a 2 footed cow kick to a gelding who is acting out.  :)  Buck was much less crazy after that.  LOL.

At about 1:30 AM, Nellie had to stop for a potty break, and I noticed the oil working it's way out.  YAY!  That made me very happy about things.  I was scared of a blockage.  After the 2 hours was up, we gave her another dose of the mild sedative to help her through the rest of the night, and then I went to bed.  By that point, I was walking like I was drunk.  My legs were worn our, and I was a tired boy.  Walking straight for 2 hours is not something I'm used to. 

This morning all the horses were up and grazing on what grass they can find in the pasture.  They all seem to be well.  I'm very relieved.  Hopefully we're done with it.

Lessons Learned:  Even draft horses can colic from feed changes.  The Vet said this was caused by them eating too much of a new feed too fast.  When changing hays, you should not allow a horse to have free access to it.  Work them into it for a week first so their body can get used to the changes in the grasses.  I won't be making this mistake again.  The old farmers tale that draft horses aren't suseptable to this is FALSE!