Pam vs. the sled ... alone

We still have a storm systems swirling about, and for some weird reason, my house didn't get enough rain to make it muddy.  This was wonderful!  It meant that I could work the horses again!!  Hooray!

My son wanted to ride, so I saddled up his horse, and let him at it.  He's doing very well!  I think the highlight of watching him tonight was watching him back Duncan up.  He knew how to do it just from watching me.  It was very cool to watch him give the command and see Duncan follow his orders.  I sure am pleased with that kid!

My son on his horse.  He's doing awesome!

Tonight I decided to give Pam a little one on one time with me and ... (duhn duhn duhn) ... the sled.  She wasn't real keen on the idea of getting harnessed up while Rachel was all relaxed in the pen.  Those two were talking back and forth, and I could just tell that Rachel was giving Pam a hard time.  :)

Pam actually did well right out of the gate today.  I did one loop ground driving her to make sure all her wiggles were out, and they were.  She stood fine for me while I hooked up the single tree and the sled.  Then we were off.

We did a few laps around the area close to my house, then we went out around the pasture.  I found out something very interesting too.  Together, those horses can pull my little sled to hell and back without breaking a sweat.  However ... alone ... this sled is a great workout for them.  When we were nearing a third the way around the pasture, I could see Pam starting to walk slower and slower.  I chose to do a pre-emptive "whoa" before she stopped, that way it was my idea.  She gladly stopped, and I could see that she was really working.  She had a little bit of sweat around her collar, and her sides were moving good from breathing.  She wasn't blowing by any means, but she was definitely working out.

After a short break, I had her step out again and we made it the next third the way around the pasture.  I barely made this though.  She tried to stop many times and I just kept coaxing her along.  Pam was doing wonderful at listening and doing what I wanted.

The last third of the lap took the longest.  I took a break every 100 feet or so, and I also stood on the back of the sled, behind the seat, so that my weight would drag as little as possible.  This seemed to help her out a bit and I'm sure she appreciated it.

 I actually stepped away to snap a shot of the sled and horse together.  Pam was enjoying her breaks!

We only had one little trouble spot, and it was when we tried to get on the gravel driveway to cross through the gate closest to my house.  With Pam, when the sled is on the gravel, I have to constantly tell her it's okay.  I keep repeating "easy" to her, and she seemed able to make it through okay.  She gets really poppy on her feet while that noise is happening though.  Tonight, on the way back to the house, we were on the gravel and things seemed fine.  Then she got more poppy on her feet, and broke into a little trot.  I tried to pull her back, and she decided that rather than stop, she was getting off that loud gravel.  She made a right turn while trotting out and I finally got her to stop when the sled was well off the gravel.  Well ... I don't give up on that kind of stuff.  I gave her a small break and listened to my son laughing.  He was sitting on his horse, 50 feet away, just laughing at me.  He thought it was sooo funny that Pam trotted off the road.  What a kid!  LOL.  Once the break was over, I did a big loop and got on the gravel much sooner than the previous time.  This meant that we'd be on gravel for a longer amount of time.  This time, my words calmed her and she did just fine.

By the time we got back to the house and did a few more laps, that girl was pooped!  I unhooked the sled and drive her back to be tied so I could take her harness off.

OK ... so now I have a question that I need some input on.  Jim, Claire, or anyone else ... please let me know what you would do.  When I tied Pam up, she started getting real impatient about removing the bridle.  She just kept throwing her head down over and over again.  The over-check was still hooked up, so she could only go so far, but she was just being a turd about it.  My first thought was to keep it on her and let her stand for a while with it.  However, I had just completely worn her out and was very pleased with her progress.  What I did, was to walk over, make her stand completely still before I would unhook the over-check line and remove the bridle, and then removed the rest of the harness.  Was that the right thing to do?  I sure don't want to encourage her into thinking that throwing her head around gets it taken off.  On the other hand, I didn't want tonight's wonderful hitch training to be overshadowed by a standing lesson when she was plum worn out.  What would y'all do?

I sure hope this cold front stays around.  I'm really enjoying being able to make use of this summer daylight!

More teamwork

Last night I got home from work and the temperature was in the mid nineties.  It looked like there were clouds to the west and north, and I was thinking how nice a storm system would be.  Well after an hour I had a wonderful thing happen.  I looked outside and noticed that there was a wind blowing.  I stepped outside to feel the heavenly feel of a temp in the 80s.  A cold front was coming through!  With weather like that, I knew just what to do!

I had the girls haltered and led up to the house in no time at all.  They were all brushed out, hooves picked, and fly sprayed in no time.  I kept an eye on the west, and kept guessing whether or not I had time before the rain came to work the girls.  I finally decided to heed the words of Nike, and "Just do it".  I got the girls harnessed up and hooked them up to the sled for some good training/exercise!

Some interesting things I noticed this work session:

1. I am so grateful for Rachel!!  Rachel is trained pretty well.  She really knows her job, and you can pull her out of the pasture after a month of not doing much and she is as ready and steady as she was the last time I worked her.  I believe this comes with a horse who has quite a few miles under their belt.  Pam on the other hand, is not this way.  The minute that bridle was on, she started throwing her head and acting like she'd never had one on.  I double checked the bridle to make sure it was correctly adjusted to see if maybe she was trying to tell me something, but it all checked out fine. 
   
   When I started working the horses with the sled, Rachel was the steady girl who responded exactly like I said.  Pam was quite flighty at first.  She didn't want to stop for anything.  Keep in mind that when I work these girls, I am doing it alone, so in order for me to hook up the double tree and the sled, the girls have to stand still.  It took Pam 5 minutes of woah's to finally stand still.  She would stop with a woah, then 2 seconds later try to walk again.  I was steadfast and immovable in my commands though, and soon she was standing still.  Once hooked up to the sled Pam did great, but she would still take a few minutes to stop moving and trying to walk.  This is where having an awesome horse like Rachel is great.
   
   Having Rachel there is really enabling me to train Pam at a faster rate than I could without her.  When Pam gets flighty, or spooky and starts popping her feet up, Rachel is there, sound and calm by her side, holding her back and in her place.  When I issue a "woah", Rachel stops and stands and is perfect, helping Pam realize that she's okay and that she can stop.  Rachel also helps to be an anchor so that when Pam tries to start walking, she has an anchor to her side that won't move.  Without Rachel, I would not be driving Pam in front of a sled or wagon yet.  Because of Rachel, I have a 15 year old brood-mare for life, that is stepping out perfectly on command, and responding to the input on the bit very nice.  Rachel is the reason Pam is as good as she is.  This is so awesome, because Pam is built like a tank, and I don't think I've ever worn her out yet.  She's going to be an incredible worker when I get to my goal of doing my own hay with horses.  As of right now, Rachel is the brains, and Pam is the brawn!
   
2. The sled I built is a real lightweight one.  Last night I got to see first hand how light it is when being pulled by a team.  Pam, was quite anxious at first, and I knew that once I wore the edge off of her with work, she'd fall right in line and respond better.  How long would you figure it would take to wear the initial edge off a Belgian mare on my sled?  I figured a few laps and I'd be good to go.  WRONG.  Try 30 minutes.  That's right.  For the first 30 minutes of doing laps around my place, anytime I stopped, Pam was antsy to get moving, and she wasn't even breathing hard.  I figured that dragging a sled with my fat butt on it would not be an easy task.  I guess I was wrong when it comes to this sled I built. 
   
   After 30 minutes, and going up every hill my flat property has to offer, I finally reached the point where I could say woah, and Pam would stand still.  I could also see her breathing a tad heavier.  So ... the lesson here is ... draft horses are so much stronger than we give them credit.  A friend of mine named Marty told me to build a sled out of 8 foot long telephone poles as runners and then deck the top of it.  In my mind I thought there was no way they'd be able to pull that.  After watching how they pull my sled, I believe that they could pull that with no problems and it would be a great workout for them.  Look for a new sled to be constructed soon.
   
3. The last observation is simple ... having a sled with a seat is AWESOME and the only way to go!  Last night was the first time I have used my sled with the seat installed.  That was nice!  Up till now I was so busy trying to balance while standing on the sled that it was really hard to focus on my line tension and make sure the girls were working like I wanted.  Last night, I sat there all relaxed and focused on making the girls go where I wanted.  It was great!

That's it for now.  I'm very pleased with Rachel and Pam and the team they are turning into.  I still think it's incredible when I say "Pam, Rachel, step up!" and watch each of them step out with their left feet together.  I love the small details like this.  Truly a wonderful sight!  Also, last night I had them trotting for a bit in the pasture, and watching those big ol' feet move in that majestic slow trot is so awesome!  It's sights like these that help keep me energized and wanting to work these horses.  Good times!

I'll try to make my wife take pictures of me next time.  She had put in a 10 hour day, so I didn't make her come out and snap a few pictures.  Next time I will.  :)

Snakes!

 Water Moccassin aka Cotton Mouth (image from internet)

This post doesn't have much to do with horses, but more about life on the farm.  Let me also preface this, by stating that I appreciate that snakes are a vital part to any ecosystem, but I have taken the stance that if I see a snake, I kill it, unless I can instantly identify that it is a non-dangerous type (like the green/black striped racers I see in the pond).  If I see a snake that is black, I don't take a chance on guessing about how dangerous it is.  I have a son who plays outdoors quite a bit, and I have taken this stance to make sure the snake population stays low around our house.  We also make sure that we have no leaf litter or any other debris piles near the house where they could hide.  We try to discourage them from coming near our home, in hopes of saving their lives.

Since I moved to this place in 2005, I have seen many snakes.  Being a non-Texas resident, the snakes were new varieties that I had never seen.  I had heard enough tales from people to make me beleive that every snake I saw was a water moccassin aka cotton mouth.  This breed is VERY venomous, and very aggressive.  If this breed has the choice of fight or flight, it chooses fight almost every time.

As the years have passed, I have begun to study the different snakes as I kill them and tried to determine if these snakes I'm seeing really are moccasins, or something else.  A recent trip to Utah was awesome for this.  We went to the zoo, and they had one.  I immediately noticed that this snake was a short and super thick snake.  The one in the zoo was around 3 foot long, and was as thick around as my forearm in the middle.  This specimen in the zoo was obviously a very old one.

This year has been horrible with snakes.  This spring, I have had 8 ducks, and 20 chickens that have been laying eggs.  This means I have had an over-abundance of eggs.  The snakes learned of this, and I have been battling them.  This week alone I have killed 4 rat snakes, all longer than 4.5 feet.  To help with this, I have now disposed of all duck nests, and I gather my chicken eggs daily.  I am trying to remove the food source, so that these snakes will take their appetites elsewhere.

This morning I opened the chicken coop, and found a poor frog stuck in the chicken wire of my brooder.  Inside my chicken coop, I have a separate brooder that the chickens cannot get into.  A big ol' frog had tried to go through the chicken wire and gotten stuck.  His head and front legs were through it, and his rear legs and midsection where stuck.  I have seen this frog in the chicken coop all year, and he was just a resident there.  I had compassion on him, and helped squeeze his legs together so he could finish getting through the wire.

So tonight as I was gathering eggs, I looked in the brooder to see this frog.  Instead of a frog, I found a snake, curled up in the corner.  Right away, I noticed that this snake was not a rat snake like I've been seeing all year.  This snake was much shorter, and he was pure black on top.  His nose was also more pointy than the rat snakes.  I also noticed a fat section in his body, which immediately let me know where Mr. Frog was now residing.  :(

My son was with me, and I took this opportunity to show him the snake, and explain what had happened.  We talked about why the snake was there, and what he had just done to poor Mr. Frog.

The next paragraph is of me disposing of the snake and some things I noticed.  It could be considered graphic, so if you wish to not know of this, please skip this paragraph.  I keep a spade shovel in the chicken coop just for snake disposing.  I told my son to stand way back, and then I grabbed the shovel.  First, I pinned the snake to the ground in the middle.  The snake began striking the shovel and I noticed two things.  One, was a milky fluid flying all over the place, and the other was a smell.  A very rank musty smell began to spread.  I had obviously identified this snake correctly, because the milky stuff was venom, and the musty smell was something I had read about.  I slowly worked the snake out of the brooder, always make sure I had him pinned so that he was in as much control as could be.  This lead to me pinning him right behind the head with the shovel and with one pound from my boot, the shovel did the job.  The snake was now head-less, and not as dangerous ( keeping in mind that the head was still dangerous!)

Snake Body:  Notice the texture of the scales.  Reminds me of a tire.  Not smooth.

This pic was to show the length in contrast to my spade shovel.

 Snake Head:  Click on this to see the texture.  Very amazing to me.

Underside of Snake:  This was a creamy yellow color.

I then took this opportunity to teach my son about this snake.  I showed him the texture of the snake, and it's colors.  I also used a stick to show him the inside of the mouth and how big the fangs were.  I swear, the fangs on this thing were as long as it's head was!  I also took some pictures just so I could know for myself what a moccasin looks like.  I taught him that we only kill snakes if they are interfereing with our life and that we try to do our best from discouraging them from interacting with us in the first place.  We then walked over to the pond and tossed the snake in it.  The snapping turtles we have do a wonderful job of disposing of these kind of things.

That's life on the farm.  I am very happy to now know firsthand what moccasins look like at our place, so that in the future, I will be able to readily identify them.  This may save a few rat snakes lives!  :)

Riding with my boy

Is there any better feeling than riding a horse out on the trail with your boy?  I think not.  My son has been really itching to ride lately, and so I told him that tonight would be the night.

Of course, this meant that when I got home, I was immediately assaulted with verbal pleas from the boy.  Since it was 5 o'clock and over 90 degree's, I talked him into playing a video game for an hour or so till it cooled down a tad.

That time flew by, and soon it was time.  The wife had gone to a pampered chef party, and it was guys night out.  If you were to ask my son what that means, he would respond with a loud "IT MEANS WE HAVE FUN!!!".  Duncan was a perfect gentleman and once I tied his rope halter on, Riley escorted him over near the garage.  We then brushed him down good, and began saddling him up.  Once saddled, I walked Riley around a few laps so he could get over some initial fears, however, he'd tell you that it was to "make sure Duncan is calm for the ride".  That kid cracks me up.  I then turned him loose while I went and got Rachel and saddled her up.

Riley did really well.  I was very happy with him.  He showed a lot more control this time in the saddle.  I had to keep on him a little bit about letting the horse have the line back after he points him in the direction he wants to go, but he showed major improvement.  I was very impressed with Duncan.  I could not have a better horse for him.  He was calm, and very patient with Riley.

I hopped on Rachel, and we were off.  This was where Duncan really impressed me.  Duncan basically showed his trail riding wisdom by just following me.  If ever he seemed to be slowing up behind, I could just yell for him and he would start walking towards me.  This is wonderful!  It allowed my son to gain a lot of confidence, and have a lot of fun, while at the same time, allowing me to not worry about them getting into trouble.  A while back we borrowed a pony named Smokie that was this way.  Smokie is an amazing pony, and it's awesome to see Duncan have similar traits.

We went riding in the 100 acres behind my house.  I got permission from the owners to ride on it, and it's pretty good.  No trails, but some nice pasture and tree's.  It was a nice peaceful ride.  I had a wonderful time.

What a night.  I love doing things like this with my son.  His talking is just music to my ears.  He says some of the funniest stuff.  I'm real proud of that kid, and so happy that we share the same hobby.  It doesn't get much better than that.

Pictures are attached.  One is of Rachel all saddled up.  Another 2 are of Riley just posing on his horse.  I snapped a picture of my goslings.  I have to say that my friend Kim is right as can be on ganders raising goslings.  I still have all 5 goslings and that gander makes sure nothing gets near them.  I also snapped a picture of feed time.  3 happy horses eating after a nice ride.

I should note, that Pam was going bonkers in the pen.  I had the sprinkler on to help the grass not burn up, and I got to watch her totally wipe out as she tried sprinting through the pen.  She went down and slid on her side about 10 feet.  Then she got up and acted like nothing happened.  So funny.  I think you had to be there though.

Back from camping!

Well I'm back.  Last week I was camping with Rachel.  For my church, they had an activity where they were re-enacting the pioneer handcart company treks across the US.  Many of the adult leaders were on horseback, and two of us were asked to come along as the wranglers for the group.  It was our job to feed, water, saddle, unsaddle, and basically just care for the horses.  The adults had many things to tend to, so having us care for all horses was a must.  Since I knew we would have some downtime, I took Rachel, her harness, a singletree, and her saddle and other tack.  We camped up at the LBJ Grasslands near Decatur Texas.  It is public land and was an awesome spot for horse riding!

It was very cool to camp with Rachel.  I've never done this before.  It's a whole lot more work than camping without horses, but it was pretty dang cool.  We brought stalls for the horses since we were caring for 12 horses.  The pictures attached show a few of the pens configured and you can see Rachel in one of them.  Water was about 300 feet away and provided by means of a windmill on a well.  We basically had to dip 5 gallon buckets in a giant round water trof that the well/windmill emptied into.

I got to ride Rachel the first night there and the one picture is of me riding her.  She decided to stretch her head forward right as the picture was snapped, so she looks pretty funny.  I took the other picture from her back.

My highlight for the trip, was swimming with Rachel!  There was a pond, and even though I'd only ridden Rachel a handful of times, I was able to coax her into the water.  She had a good time splashing and playing in it.  I got her to go deep enough that she was fully swimming.  I was on her back, the water to my chest, and her nose was just above the water.  I could feel her feet a paddling for all they were worth.  I was taught that the correct way to do this, is that when the horse looses it's footing and begins swimming, you are supposed to let go of the reins and just hold on to the mane.  Then once you feel them getting their feet back under them, to swap back.  I did this a few times and it was so fun.  I was so impressed with this sweet horse of mine and very happy with her willingness to do what I asked.

Taking care of 12 horses was quite a task.  I am very tired, and wore out muscles that I didn't know I still had.  :)  I did find sometime one afternoon to do some ground driving.  I was going to drag some downed tree's around with Rachel, but then we went horse swimming instead.

Good times!  I hope to camp some more with horses!  Lots of fun.

Riding on the road

It's been a while.  Life has gotten pretty busy for me, and it's been a good busy.  I'm getting ready to go camping this week out in Decatur to the grasslands.  It is so pretty out there.  I'm going as part of a large group, and I will be taking care of the 9 horses we are bringing.  Of course, this means I'm bringing my own horse.  I have been working with Rachel under saddle to make sure she's good to go for this.  She's doing very well, and I think this trip will be good for her.  I've never gone camping with a horse before, so this will be a first for me.  Luckily, we are bringing panels with us for stalls, and the campsites have big poles concreted int he ground to make picket lines out of, so I don't think we'll have any problems.

Tonight, I figured I'd work the girls since I'll be gone for a week.  I went over to my friend Pat's house and made use of his wagon.  The girls hitched up with no problems and we were off.  I did a few laps in a pasture first to wear that initial edge off them.  In the pasture, Rachel had her head straight forward, ears back, and was a teamsters dream.  Pam was a little flighty and would go from getting into the pull, to looking around, and hanging out a step behind Rachel.  Nothing too bad.  After we did laps in the pasture, we decided to take them out on the open road and see how they did.

It's really interesting to me how horse dynamics work.  Once on the road, the confident, ever listening Rachel became shy and cautious.  She was stepping slow and I was constantly getting on her to step into the pull.  She also had a problem keeping her ears back towards me.  Pam on the other hand, reversed as well.  Pam had no problem moving forward and listening to commands.  She was pulling the majority of the load.  As this was their first time on the road, I didn't hold too high of standards on their performance.  You can tell that they need road miles on them though.  They both kept looking side to side and all over the place.  This made it VERY hard to keep my line tension right.  It was a little annoying to have to adjust line tension as much as I did, but since this was a first, I was okay with it.

Really the only overly cautious event happened when we crossed a creek.  Rachel got really slow and had to be coaxed over it.  Other than that, they had no problems with litter, passing cars, barking dogs, or weed eaters.  I was very happy about that.

It was a fun night and I am so happy to have a friend like Pat.  He is real knowledgeable and just having him to talk with while driving is great.  I find myself learning from his experience and I really value that.

In other news, the riding group I am a member of has asked me to put on a driving clinic in July.  I'm pretty excited about it.  I enjoy teaching people about this stuff.  I'm by no means a guy who knows it all, but I know what I've learned, and I'm happy to share what has worked (or has not) for me.  I just hope we can do it in a covered arena.  July is HOT HOT HOT!!!

I'll be gone all this week camping, but I should do an update next weekend on how Camping with Rachel went.  If all goes well, she'll come home a wonderful riding horse!  :)

Pictures of wagon and goslings

So here are some pictures of the wagon and the goslings.  Unfortunately the coyotes have struck again.  Yesterday I was feeling all good that I created a little goose family.  A momma, daddy, and 5 little babies.  What could be better, right?  I checked on them before dark and they were all resting and relaxing on the shore of the pond.  Before bed I checked again and saw the gander out in the pond with the 5 babies by his side and no momma.  I did some detective work and found what happened to her.  She was picked off by a coyote.  When I found the carcass it was still warm, so I must've just barely missed the event unfold.  Sadly ... my great pyranees dog had knee surgury, so I've been having to keep her indoors and confined to a kennel to let the leg heal.  Due to this, the coyotes are coming up daily and picking off chickens.  Gotta get that dog back outside and doing her job!  So now ... my happy complete goose family has become a single parent family.  I'm thinking today that I'm going to make a platform to put in the water for him to rest on instead of the shore line.  I did this already once and the ducks claimed it and made it theirs. 

Here is the single father goose with the 5 babies.

Here is the wagon with the sides in the up position.

Here is the wagon with the sides in the down position.

Goslings and horse flies

Today was a nice relaxing day.  I got off work a little early.  I had a few things I wanted to do today, so I got after it.

The first thing I did, was head out and pick up some goslings.  I have 2 geese(a male and a female), and I like to have around 6.  I found a local place that had some white Chinese goslings that are 3 weeks old.  I picked up 5 of them.  I am conducting an experiment.  I have heard that adult male geese will raise goslings.  I decided to test if that is true.  I got home, and opened the box near the pond and let the goslings out.  They looked around, and started eating a little grass.  Soon the gander I have saw them and started making some noise.  The minute he did, these goslings headed straight for him.  He didn't quite know what to think.  These goslings went right up to him and stayed by his side.  He was nice to them, but seemed a little annoyed that they followed him wherever he went.  Soon the female goose joined him and those goslings annoyed her a ton.  She kept trying to swim across the pond and all over to ditch them, but they stayed right by their side.  I'm pretty impressed.  These goslings came from a brooder, and have not spent time with adult geese.  It's kind of amazing to me to see them take right to the adult geese like that.  We'll see how this experiment goes.  If they will stay by the gander, they should be fine.  I'll keep y'all posted.

After that, I stained my wagon.  Since I initially built it and stained it, I have added bench seats, and folding side rails.  These pieces have not been stained, so I decided it was time.  Also, per my wife's direction, I used wood putty to cover all the screw holes in the wood.  I've spent the last 2 days doing this and sanding it all down smooth.  I wiped it down with a wet rag today, and then began staining.  I got 2 coats on it and am very happy with it.  It's looking good.  I wish I would've remembered to take a picture.  I'll try to get one tomorrow.

My wife headed to church tonight, so I decided to go horseback riding with a friend.  I have not ridden Rachel yet, and with how good she is under harness, I figured it would be very easy for her.  I loaded her up and headed to my friend Chuck Whitlocks.  Chuck has a nice sandy arena and so it was a great place to ride Rachel for the first time.  She did awesome.  She didn't have any issues with the saddle pad and saddle.  She took the bridle with no problems.  I think she liked this bridle, because it didn't have blinders.  It would've been a perfect evening, had it not been for the swarms and swarms of horse flies!

It seems in Texas that there is one bug every year that comes in swarms.  I can recall years of garden spiders, june bugs, grasshoppers, and crickets.  This year, must be the year of the horse fly.  They are EVERYWHERE!  They are like organized gangs that just swarm and attack.  They chase my wife down the driveway in the car every morning. 

While riding tonight they were all over us.  It seems that every 30 seconds I was swatting a fly and killing it.  Rachel seemed to have 7 or 8 around her at all times.  I kept the riding short because of this.  Rachel was doing so good, even though she was being attacked by the horse flies.  So annoying!  They don't seem to mind the fly spray I'm using.  I currently am using a spray with .5% permithrin.  Maybe I need something stronger.  Ugggh!  Quite annoying.

Rachel did wonderful though.  She stood perfectly still while I got in and out of the saddle and didn't do anything out of sorts.  She's awesome!  Looks like I might be able to start riding with my saddle group again! 

My girls pull their first wagon together!

I have been pretty busy working horses this weekend.  Saturday morning I got up with the sun (6AM) and harnessed up the girls.  I then loaded them both, and went over to my friend Pat Chases house.  Pat has been doing this longer then me, and I find him to have some very useful insight and knowledge.  We decided working in the morning would be a good thing, and he told me that if I wanted to bring my girls, I could, or we could just work his.

My goal was just to work my horses on his sled.  His sled has a pole on it for team work, and it's great at getting horses used to having that pole between them.  I had the girls together in no time, and I tried to ground drive the girls into position over the pole like the pros do.  This almost worked, but not quite.  I got their front feet in the right spot, but I couldn't coax the rear ends into position without moving the front.  The girls had no problem scooting over though.

I think I surprised Pat when I hooked them to the sled.  When I ground drive and hook to the wagon, I have been very lucky to teach them to stand perfectly still when they hear the tug chains moving.  I haven't yet had one get fidgety while doing that (knock on wood).  I hitched the girls to the sled without tieing them to the fence nearby.  I think Pat was impressed.

Next, we got down to business.  It was great.  Pat's sled has a Pioneer single implement seat on it.  It's a nice cushy ride!  I worked the girls for about 45 minutes.  Turning, moving, stopping, and even trotting.  Pat's property is awesome for this kind of thing.  His field is sloped, so taking them up hill is quite a workout.  Poor Rachel was sweating pretty quick, while Pam didn't seem to be bothered at all.

Pam is still very cautious while doing this stuff, but she responds great to commands.  When I step them off, she was the first to move, and she seemed to always put her shoulders into the pull.  I had to get after Rachel a bit to step up and match Pam.  They did awesome though!  No rodeos, or funny business.  I was so happy, that I had to get some pictures.  I asked Pat to take them around the field once so I could get some pictures of them working, and he could drive them and tell me what he thought.

After Pat parked the sled on a 45 with the fence, he told me that he thought we should try the girls on his wagon.  I thought this would be a good thing too.  The girls had the initial edge worn off them and they were in a working mood.  The wagon was parked 90 degrees with the fence, and so the girls would have to step over the pole to get in position.  I asked Pat to show me how it is done.  Pat is awesome on the lines!!!  Under his hands, he had the girls perfectly in position on the first try.  He's really good!

So next thing you know, the girls are hitched up to the wagon.  Pat took the picture of me and my boy getting set to drive them with a wagon for the first time.  I then drove them on the wagon for another 30 minutes.  They did amazing.  No problems at all.  Pam is still a little cautious, but she's getting better every time I work her.

While I was doing all this, Pat had pulled his team up and had them harnessed.  I decided the girls had earned a rest, and so I unhooked them from the wagon and tied them.  Pat took his mares, with each of their colts in tow, and began having them pull the sled.

After a few minutes of this, Pat had an idea.  He asked me to drive my team in the field with him.  he wanted to see how they all reacted working in the same field together.  I thought this was worth a shot, and so I agreed.  I felt bad for the girls for how much they'd worked for their first real day as a team, so I opted to ground drive them.  I started off just following Pat, and I'm convinced that horses have a parade mode that they just go into.  Following Pats girls on the sled, my girls just walked perfectly behind them.  No input on the lines needed.  They did awesome.  Then I went in parallel and then lead with my team.  It was a good experience.
 

After that we did a few more things.  Pat has an orphan colt that thinks he is a human.  :)  He leads fine on halter, but since he has no momma, he hasn't had the opportunity to go along while his momma is being worked under harness.  I decided to try and give him the chance.  While my girls were tied, I walked the colt up to my girls to see how they reacted.  Buddy (the orphan colt) had no interested in them, and they didn't care he was there at all.  Because of this, I tied him to the side of Rachel, and ground drove them with Buddy in tow.  That poor colt got drug all over the field.  LOL.  He will follow a human fine, but he did NOT want to follow another horse.  It was a great experience for him to have.  That went awesome, and we'll probably do it again.  It was really cool to think that we had 7 horses working at one time (Pat's team + babies, my team + buddy the orphan).  :)

The only slight problem we had involved the other 2 colts.  Those two colts know they are boys, and they know my horses are not their mothers, and they know that one of my mares (Rachel) is open and in season.  After those 2 colts had been tied to their mommas for about 20 minutes, Pat unhooked them so they could nurse, and also so they could relax a bit.  They were great, till my girls were within 50 feet.  Ace (Pat's gorgeous colt) saw my mares and ran right up to them full speed.  He started clicking his teeth on Pam, and Pam (who is bred) shook her head in disgust and tried to stomp a front foot at him.  I am trying to ground drive while this is happening.  Ace then tried to ride Pam's back and was rewarded with a kick to the side.  After that, he ran to the front of both girls and tried to kick them.  From there he really took an interest in Rachel, to her disgust as well.  So I spent the next few minutes doing circles away from Ace, while Pat drove his mares back up to the barn.  Ace soon followed his momma.  Lesson learned!  From now on, we don't drive my girls in the same pasture with those babies loose.

This also got me to thinking, and I think this kind of behavior is exactly why some people think geldings are the best horses to drive.  I can see a scenario where a fella could be driving a perfectly behaved set of mares, but if one is in season, and a stallion happened to be nearby, you might be up for an uninvited situation!  What would you even do in that situation?  Carry a gun?  That just seems scary to me!

Great weekend!  I'm still grinning from it.  If you're reading this, you made it to the end of this lengthy blog.  Congrats!  :)  More sled work to come.  I'm really pleased with the progress Pam and Rachel are making.  Wonderful horses! 

Patch's Ace

My friend Pat has a phenominal colt this year. His name is Ace, and he's really well put together. I beleive Pat is going to show him. I'm not an expert on conformation, but this guy looks great. 2 months old in this picture.

Time to kick up my feet

I don't know what's gotten into me lately.  For some reason, I've been really motivated to work outside.  This morning was no exception.  I have been working outside on the horse stuff.  I built the bench seat for the sled.  It's not attached yet, but it's built and just needs to be bolted on.  I also prepped the wagon so that I can finish staining it.  The main body is already stained, but I've added a few things to it since then.  Time to get rid of that raw wood look.  I'm also going to stain the sled since it's out.  The stain I have is one of those combo stain/sealer deals.  It seems to work alright.  I'm sure it would be better with an actual coat of sealer, but since I cover the wagon when it's not in use, I'm not too concerned.

I've also been working on my horse fencing.  I have a small pasture/pen that my son's 30 year old quarter horse stays in and then the main pasture that I keep the drafts in.  If you recall a previous blog, I made a stall type thing so that I could feed this old quarter horse in a way that the big girls wouldn't run him off and steal his food (Link Here).  Well it just so happens, that the water trough in the old horses pen is great.  It's on an automatic waterer and I don't have to do anything for it.

The water for the draft horses is a different story.  I have to run a hose out to them.  I tried putting that on an automatic watering deal, but the pressure in the water line is too much for the automatic valvue, and it causes water to constantly seep (making a muddy mess).  Well now that summer is out in full force, the girls are going through water like I go through Dr. Pepper.  I got to thinking, and decided that if I joined the pens together, all the horses could drink off the good source, and I wouldn't have to constantly and manually  fill a barrell for the drafts.  So I changed the fencing a tad to accomodate it.  So far so good.  I actually feel good for this old horse.  He's out in the main pasture now, hanging out with the girls.  Since horses are herd animals, it makes me feel better to know that he can be next to other horses if he wants to.

I'm such a nerd that I drew up a nice MS paint sketch of the new fencing configuation.  Enjoy.

I've been working so hard, that I'm going to do another fun activity right now.  Me and my son are going to head over to fellow teamster Pat Chases house.  Are we going to play with horses???  Probably not.  We're just going to relax at the pool and kick our feet up.  After all the work I've been putting in this week, I feel I deserve it.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.

Reached my Goal!!!!!

So, I've been working hard for the past few months to get my girls ready to drive as a team.  It's taken lots of time working with the girls and slowly accumulating the gear, but tonight, I got to taste the sweet taste of success.  Tonight I drove my team for the first time!!

At first I harnessed them both up.  This was my first time putting Pam in her newly restored leather team harness, so it took me a bit to get her harness all adjusted and fitted to her.

Once the girls were all all harnessed up, I attached the yoke between the front of them, and then attached their rear breeching straps together.  I found the coolest thing to do this at the local co-op.  I use a bungee trailer tie.  It has a bull snap on one end, and a different kind of snap on the other, and it's a bungee cord.  I used this between the girls breeching straps and it worked awesome!  I then got the team lines hooked up, using my new stainless spreaders, and my new heart line drop.  I had bought these items a months ago to help keep me motivated to finish the harnesses.

I started with some ground driving.  To my surprise, Pam stepped right in line and did great.  I thought Rachel might have to drag her a bit, but all those hours ground driving her has paid off.  The girls did amazing.  I was only planning on ground driving tonight, but since they did so well, I decided it would be a shame not to challenge them.  (It would also be a shame to let that new sled sit there gathering dust!)  :)

I hooked the double tree up to the sled, and backed the girls into position.  I was surprised at how well they backed together.  I thought that would be a train wreck the first time, but they did very well.  They stood great while I hooked everything up, and next thing I knew, I was ready to go.

I asked the girls to step off, and they did.  They were a little unsure at first, and you could see them feeling out how much work they were doing and how the other horse was moving.  They got comfortable pretty quick though, and had no problem pulling the sled.

Ahhh ... the sled.  It was so awesome to stand on the sled, and not have to walk ... for the first 30 seconds anyway.  After 30 seconds these old legs of mine were burning from having to balance on the sled.  Maybe that's a sign that I need to get in better shape.  I just view it as a sign that I need a seat on the sled!  :)

After doing a few small laps up by the house, I went out in the pasture and started to walk the property line.  After walking half the way, I stopped them and let them have a break.  I LOVE THE SLED!!!  You can tell the girls were working.  When I stopped and let them rest, I could see breathing heavy.  Not blowing, but breathing a little labored.  They stood and didn't try to move at all.  So awesome.  I then had them walk another 1/2 mile, and gave them another rest.  I snapped a picture at this point showing my view.  I LOVE that teamster view!  So cool.

About this time, my friend Chuck came over.  Chuck is a teamster, and the first harness I used on LIly was borrowed from him.  I had called him and let him know I was hitching the girls tonight, so he stopped by to see how it was going.  It was awesome to have some company while working the girls.  Chuck followed me back up the pasture and took a few pictures of me driving the horses on the sled.  I got them back up to the house and did a few more laps near the house.  About this time, daylight was ending, so I decided to call it a night.

Wow, just wow.  Tonight I reached my goal!  I drove my girls together as a team.  Such an awesome feeling.  They need a lot more work, but I am very very pleased with them.  They each got an extra big scoop of food tonight after I brushed them down as a thank you.  What a night ... what a night.

Small Sled is built

Tonight's accomplishment was to pretty much finish the small sled I've been working on.  I'm pretty happy with it.  The runners are cedar 4x8's (actually, 2 cedar 2x8s nailed and glued together).  I used treated 4x4s as the cross timbers between the runners.  I just planked it with a bunch of leftover 2x6's I had from building something else around the house.  All the planking on the bottom is 4 foot wide.  I think this is going to work out pretty nice.

Does anyone have any idea's on the seat?  I was thinking of using an old bus bench, but it sits so low on the sled, that I'd have to somehow raise it 2 feet.  I'd love to have an old tractor seat or something, but have no idea where you even find something like that.  Anyone have any ideas?  I'm even okay with just having something to lean back on.

I'm going to stain the wood red like my wagon, and then seal it just to keep the wood in good shape.

Now instead of dragging a tire, I'll get to stand on a sled.  Woo Hoo for that!

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.