we’d like to get a farm horse that can pull a cart on the road, manure spreader, mower and possibly some other implements on the farm. does anyone have some suggestions about breed, age, sources to find farm horses, etc.
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-title”>quote:</div><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-content”>Originally posted by slc:
again, i don’t know why you’d suffer along without making your life easier </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
So explain to me how this means you should get a draft instead of a John Deere?
Hey slc, I was wondering **** have you ever done any of this your self or do you have an experienced person that is going to do all of this for you?? I really have no experience with any of this but “I have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express” 
and I think that by the time you have invested in a team, work harness to do the job as well as the hardware ( I am sure it is individualized for each specific purpose i.e. skidding logs, pulling stumps etc ) that I am thinking that it would be more economical to just have it done by someone else. I just get tired thinkng about all the work that goes into getting stumps up. I have done it with tractors and it is still a pain even with a good tractor and backhoe. Why don’t you contact Jason Rutledge on the rural heritage site. He is really nice and does not sugar coat his anwsers. I have emailed him once or twice when horse researching and he seems to be a very practical horseman.
Check out the links on this site. Jason Rutledge is ( as far as I know) in with ( or is ) the "Healing Harvest Foundation "
we’d like to get a farm horse that can pull a cart on the road, manure spreader, mower and possibly some other implements on the farm. does anyone have some suggestions about breed, age, sources to find farm horses, etc.
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-title”>quote:</div><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-content”>Originally posted by LostFarmer:
Warmheart, Good to know I’m not the only one that visits the RH site and here. I guess I am just a little redneck for this site. Not a problem with me, and you all haven’t kicked me off yet. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Yes, I spend most of my time there just reading and trying to learn different things.
So I guess, thus the name, eh ? Lost over at the COTH. Not really lost but probably right in line with the earth.
It is people like you who will be feeding most of us when all heck breaks loose.
x, great information. I love hearing from people with experience because their “negative comments” mixed in with their experiences should be lessons for anyone listening. I use the “negative comment” label since I have had boarders who have labeled some of my advice upon their leaving to go get a farm on their own. Sometimes listening to those negative perceived comments can save you allot of heartache when you are ear deep on a muddy or frozen farm, needing to feed and water horses wondering how to do so cause the pipes are frozen, can’t get the tractor unstuck since you thought the 4 wheel drive would just get it out, but it is up to the axles anyway. Or those 7 acres need mowing in the heat of the summer amidst all the deer flies, horse flies and other nasties.
So, slck, 40 years, I guess that makes us about even, and I respect some of your thoughts on things, sometimes right in line with my thinking but I am too understanding to attack in such a way some times. You asked and got some good information, we had some good laughs along with that Bailey’s you offered. So do you fall under Justice, Grace or Mercy?
BTW, howdy Cartfall, how’s Fla. driving?
So this thread is deteriorating. Not if I can help it. I can’t think of a thread that has had so much participation in a long time, at least here.
My driving has been very slow the last week or two, but I love my girl. She forgives me and my disabilities. I really think that if I had the knowledge I have now about “big horses” I probably would have gone for a Fjord, Halflinger or something like it. I probably did bite off more than I could chew, but she is mine and we care for each other, I am the only one who has to kiss her nighty night and forgive her for her mischievousness, which by the way, slc, drafts ( even the small ones ) can be somewhat, destructive on the things that light horses respect. so don’t take your fencing, stabling or any living area for your draft for granted.
Once school is out, next Friday, I will have SonHeart home and we will get more in then. The yahoo’s had a party across the street ( it is about 400’- 500’ from our barn) at the community center last night, so all of our horses were a little on edge today. They had a DJ with very loud music, lots of RN’s partying. It wasn’t until the fireworks started going off that we had to walk over to let them know that the horses could not take that. I had one thoroughbred that was about the jump out of her skin. I shut her outside door, turned her fan on and turned the radio up to about a 1000 decibels and still could not get her calmed some. They were good though, they did stop the fireworks when we asked. I was going to drive Rosie today but opted not too since she was a little spooky. They still had their tent and volleyball net up and they were over there cleaning up. So taking advantage of the situation, I long lined her all over the place, up to the tent, VB net and to the people cleaning. Thanking them the whole time for ceasing the fireworks. Asked them to keep going about their business so that Miss Rosie could desensitize a little. She was really very good about all of it and I probably could have driven but I figured that I would rather guarantee myself a good work out rather than risk an experience that I would have to overcome later on.
As for now, it is almost time to feed and start dinner. I will drive tomorrow, by golly !!! 
CHS-
I have a 15.2hh purebred Percheron in my barn as we speak. 
She has papers to prove herself, too. 
Years ago, we had a 15.2hh purebred mare who was all farmchunk. No legs, all body. They are out there provided you know where to look. The Topeka, IN sales come to mind.
LostFarmer - did you rig your harness on pulleys?
FWIW, working horses tend to be about as effecient as a tractor - ask the Amish. We trade off harness repairs, daily feedings/muckings/grooming for the ease of turning a key and having a motor start. To be fair, for those who have small acreage, a team is going to be overkill and a small tractor makes a lot more sense. But when it gets into larger farms, a team will equate the work of a tractor.
Michele
HI Cartfall, Sorry the link doesn’t work. I thought I got it right but go to my webshots and it should be the last one in the album labeled Little Lizzie or Rosebud. She is such a ham.
goodhors, that is exactly what I had in mind. I thought I would get a used tractor tire from our Case III dealer friend. It would probably be good for her. I’ll just have to get the gun on hubby, he and Rosie thinks I have lost my mind. I just like to keep them guessing, makes life interesting.
Cartfall, getting back to the OP, who cares, she has probably gotten her team and is enjoying the uncomplicated life of just enjoying horses, and the entertainment level on this forum is way to low key for her.
Drove Miss Rosie to the cart yesterday, and as usual the business woman put her heels on and was a champ. There were times that I really felt good with her. She was on the bit and light in my hands. I was amazed at the feel of the cart and the difference that I perceived when she really was engaged and on the bit. Not only did she float ( if that is possible for a draft ?? 
) but the cart also felt light and floaty. It was great, we are getting there. Hope the driving is good for you guys…
Egon,
You kill me… 
At least we can find humor in everything these days…
How can we not???
Warmheart, !
That would certainly lay a lot of “yes, buts” to rest and you don’t have to ride it!
If size matters to you, a Standardbred/draft cross is still going to be big. I’d suggest you look at Fjords, or Halflingers.
found at ruralheritage, 15 h pair, trained, broke…cool! thanks warmheart!
the horse would be doing some pretty serious work, including logging, stump pulling and other hard work. i don’t think a single small horse would be fairly asked to do so.
A QHxbelgain or Perch woould make a good chunk. I personally like the percheron as they typically have a little more fire. I use my ponies/horses for a varity of farm uses. I personally like the small horse large pony size but that is just me. I feed with a team over 90 days a year, harrow, rake and otherwise use them. I even pull them a little at the local horse pulls.
My advise is buy the horse you want and have fun. If you have neve driven or worked a team an over the hill team of nags is not a bad place to start and learn. Would you put a green rider on green event horse and say go teach yourself? I doubt it. The same is true for working a horse or team. They MUST have a whoa and a stand if not you a wreck waiting to happen.
Here are a few pics of my team playing.
Yes egon - maybe Slick should buy some oxen. They would be completely functional. Since she’s not interested in the romance of her horses pulling her sleigh around the glistening snow, then the oxen are surely an excellent choice!
I love the tractor tire training method! What an excellent idea! I used to milk at a dairy farm and every Sat. morning I took the two Haflingers out for a drive just for fun. My boss used them in pulling competitions and he had a flat bottom boat filled with concrete. The base weight of the boat with concrete was about 500 pounds and then he added sand bags as the horses got warmed up, or more fit. It worked great!
I second the old-type Morgan. That’s what the breed was developed to do - anything. I have a Lippitt and this horse is BEGGING to be put in a work harness and throw his shoulder into some serious stump-pulling. Easy keepers, intelligent, and a very manageable size. Some of the “pure” Lippitts can be on the small side, but a Lippitt crossed with Brunk or Gov’t can be one heck of a work horse.
um, couldnt you buy…oh…I dunno…a tractor?
WarmHeart, Rosie is too much of an Uptown girl with those braids to really consider “PULLING SOMETHING”?
Really, Mother, you HAVE GOT to be kidding?
Who Me? Pull? What does that mean?
In answer to your question on driving, it is mostly non-exisstent these days… Other than a short drive inthe woods with Miss Wendy and Justinesue, my driving is in a truck. We are moving to a new farm, 11 acres of hay field that has to be converted to horse friendly pasture. In otherwords, 15000 linear feet of barb wire (they ran cows occasionally) must be taken down and replaced with 3000 feet of field fence!!! Had planned to drive Looker at the show in a couple of weeks but she has a bad abcess that doesn;t want to come out, 3 legged lame. Zanzer is on R&R since his airs above the ground at the Trace Pace in March. Just got too much on my plate to spend a lot of time driving, But you drive Ms. Rosie and think of us, we are there like little angles on your shoulder enjoying your driving!!!
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-title”>quote:</div><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-content”>
I so agree scramarama. I cant even imagine doing the draft thing on a daily basis. I think its lovely and Romantic and very nostalgic but NOT really practical, for a person who has a full time job and id training other horses to do Dressage! But heck Thats just me~! Wink </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I respectfully disagree. I use my team for the small tasks. I wouldn’t say that we accomplish more faster than the tractor but it is certainly no longer. I feed 30 head of cattle out on the snow during the winter. I catch the horses, brush, harness and hitch to the wagon or sleigh in 15 to 20 minutes. It takes less than 2 minutes for me to harness. Then I drive to the stack and load 8 to 12 bales. Drive to the gate step off and open it call the horse through and then close the gate. I tie the lines back the correct length and the horses drive up through the field while pitch the hay off.
With the tractor I have to wait for the tractor to warm up and the hydralics ot work. The tractor in maybe 10 minutes faster at this stage but the climbing on and off the rest of the process and I have made up for the time. The tractor is a little warmer but the horses always start.
I have the chores to do either way and to work horses makes it that much more enjoyable. Harrowing it easier with the horses. Mucking out the barn is easier as well. I pull through and pitch it on then pitch it off out in the field.
I wouldn’t trade the tractor off but I equally wouldn’t traid off the team.
LF
Personally, I would LOVE to see Slick get a team of drafts. Then she’d be busy with a REAL LIFE and she wouldn’t have 17 bajillion vile posts. 
Maybe we could all get the PEACE that we deserve on this board! 
So yes dawling, I would simply loooooove to help you find a suitable horse(s) for the task that lie ahead of you
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-title”>quote:</div><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-content”>Originally posted by slc:
we’d like to get a farm horse that can pull a cart on the road, manure spreader, mower and possibly some other implements on the farm. does anyone have some suggestions about breed, age, sources to find farm horses, etc. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-title”>quote:</div><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-content”>my question should be at this point, quite naturally, what is wrong with me getting a draft horse? i don’t see any reason to get a more expensive horse from further away that is less like what i want. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Um hunny, it sounds like your answer was solidified before you even began the thread. So why did you even bother?
