<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-title”>quote:</div><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-content”>As usual to jerk on everyone’s chain, rattle cages, etc, because she’s bored and mental. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
That gets my vote!!!
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-title”>quote:</div><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-content”>why NOT a draft breed? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Obviously you’ve never harnessed a big horse before. I have an 18+ hand percheron gelding that we use for sleigh rides. Those harnesses are HEAVY!!! I struggle and I’m no weakling.
M
Well, I was going to suggest a haffie, but I see they are on your no list.
The drafts my family used “back in the day” were called “canadian chunk” and they were what you usually found on small new england farms. They did everything. They hayed, they logged, they pulled the milk wagon all over town.
I have no idea where you would buy a team nowadays, if they even exist. They were smaller than some of today’s drafts, but were full sized drafts none-the-less, and you keep saying you don’t want a draft because they were too big, but you want a big horse because anything else will be too small for the work you want to do. What exactly do you want? A draft or a not draft?
Horses are really tough. Most of us don’t work them nearly as hard as they are capable of doing. Are you dabbling for fun in figuring out how to work your farm with horses or are you doing it for real, trying to hay, spread, log with only your animals? What kind of horse you need will depend on your answer. I would guess that a haffie team would be able to help you do the first scenario. They are draft animals, but smaller ones.
I asked my mom who grew up on the farm when they used all horse labor about how they managed to hay so much field. She said it took all summer. You cut a little bit, you bring it in, you cut a little more, you bring it in. All this while doing the work of a dairy farm, and other farm chores. There were 4 men doing this work, full time.
We now hay 20 acres with a 50hp tractor and it’s hella work.
I hope you find what you are looking for and enjoy your farm.
We use a single large tire as a drag. It can be the one off the one-ton pickup, pretty large for a non-machine tire. The bigger one is an implement tire, from a backhoe, rather heavy. The truck tire is the preferred one for long-lining, ground driving, steady work. It keeps the front of the barn area very level, smoothed out nicely. Horse does work with it, but not an excessive load for different trots requested of carriage style horse, not a draft.
The implement tire is for moving horse up to heavier load, much more drag in getting it going, dealing with swing in circles, teaches horses to be brave, handle a heavier load. This weight is something that carriage horses might never have experienced, only driven to light carts, 2 passengers. We drive multiples, weight is required, horse must learn to manage it, while still doing the rest of the job in good form. Big tire also is good for driving and smoothing the lane, barnyard, any rough area just with its own weight.
We don’t ever sit on tires, work horses from the side ground driving or center of circle in long lining.
We attach a chain thru the tread area of single tires, even the big one. Make a crossbar rod inside the tire to anchor a heavy chain to tire. Like a big T. Crossbar rod inside tire is top of T, singletree attaches to chain end which is bottom of the T. Makes a very flexible attachment, easy to do. You can extend chain a bit for attaching horse further out from tire.
The pictured drag is nice, just way too heavy for my single large horse. I want to keep his action light, airy, for dressage, driving from behind. Single tire pulling allows him to stay light, while managing weight load. Draft type pulling encourages more use of front end pulling, digging in, clawing if you like, to move whatever the load is.
i don’t really feel any reasonably well muscled animal will be able to hold up to this kind of work.
thanks trakehner, if we can find a smaller belgian that might really work out well, though i can’t ever recall seeing a small one, that may be because i’m at shows and looking at the hitchier types. sorry but the price of the fjord babies is just too much for us, 5 grand is very expensive for a young horse for farm work, i’m not even sure people new to driving should get a baby and train it; in any case, we’re getting under way in the fall, and a baby wouldn’t be able to work for several years, so that wouldn’t work out for us. some of our implements would have to be modified as well, that’s not cheap. we’d like to go from 15-16 hands and stick with something lacking the huge size and mass of the most ideal draft types. this is what i call a ‘farm horse’. not monstrous in size, not really small, either, and an easy keeper. i really don’t think i’d consider a purebred morgan due to the price, again. and i really don’t think that the ones we have around here are of the old type or at all suitable for draft. around here, they tend to either look like saddlebreds or be be big bodied with small legs. again, the size is an issue and i don’t want a horse under 15 h or of a saddle horse type pulling implements in heavy soil in spring. that just isn’t fair to the animal.
i really wish to heck i could get an ardennes around here (not cheap i’m sure if they were around here) or find another one like the 15 hh percheron stallion i taught some dressage. he was not suitable as a show horse but what a good worker. maybe i can find something like that again.
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.
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-title”>quote:</div><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-content”>CHS, to put it as eloquently as possible.
LET IT GO !! GO call the Dell Computer guy, they’re there 24/7 ?? or is it Gateway??. There are exceptions to every rule out there and slck never said anything about purebred.
Let’s keep it as lighthearted as possible. She asked we anwsered to our best, had a few laughs, learned a few things and kept ourselves entertained for a while, in the process of getting the T-Shirt.
Dont’ Worry !! BEEE HAP HAP HAPPY !! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Oh I guess I shouldn’t offer her my draft mule then? She’s only a tad over 15 hands and is half belgian. Oh right but YOU said I need to let it go. LOL
SLC needs a taste of her own meds or at least a taste of the meds she should be on anyway. I’ve seen her be terribly rude to some very nice people. I honestly could give a rats butt about her or her horse or the horse she buys, but if she opens herself up for critism by all means anyone and everyone should give it back to her.
slc -
If your SO really is interested in doing this, and you’re going to be his primary helper, I would suggest you two might want to contact a person in the area who actually does use their draft horse for farm work, and ask if you both can spend a day with them working the horses. You really need to experience this type of labor first hand to decide if you, and your SO, really want to do this, especially since your SO is suffering from Addison’s Disease which is characterized by muscle weakness and fatigue.
I know you realize this isn’t a cakewalk – there is, hour for hour, far more pre and post work involved in driving than that involved than riding. I also understand this is a dream of your SO, but unless he knows what he’s getting into, realistically he may end up only doing it a tiny bit because of the amount of tiring work involved in just getting the draft horse harness and unharnesed in the heavy work harness.
When facing an illness we all would love for our dreams to come true, and if the end result happens that the whole work routine is too much and he just ends up spending his time loving and cuddling his sweet draftie (and they ARE very loving), then that’s OK as well. At least with a bit of pre-knowledge he won’t find himself overfaced and discouraged, but can approach this dream with his eyes open to both the realities and the possiblities of farming with a horse.
Best of luck to you both. If your SO ends up enjoying it, and you as well, then it will be worth all the effort. 
EXACTLY Horselips!!
Slick (love the handle btw) has stated that she:
Does NOT want a full Draft
Does NOT want a full Warmblood
Does NOT want a Fjord
Does NOT want a Hafflinger
Does NOT want a Morgan
Does NOT want a Big Horse
Does NOT want a Small Horse
Does NOT want to spend appropriate cash to get appropriate horse
Since Slick just purchased a beef cattle dude ranch, maybe she should consider buying a chunky ole ranch broke quarter horse that she can rope cows with, pull stumps, and practice the cowboy dressage that she just adores. 
Seriously, slc, if you want a mid sized horse who is strong and versatile, I would strongly suggest a Morgan. That’s my vote.
draft purists in the snow belt, don’t you still need a tractor to plow snow in winter or do you have a plow on your truck. Don’t you need a bucket for moving sawdust, etc?
We have Morgans that can haul pretty big stuff! You gotta look for the government/brunk or Lippit lines…the more stocky “old type” Morgan, not the flaky swan neck, can’t do a thing morgan.
Elise
[QUOTE]Originally posted by LostFarmer:
SLC Sorry to intrude on your thread.
Here in hick land we are cheap and functional.
To start with I would ground drive and walk behind the harrow. A forcart can make life interesting if you come off and get chased by the harrow. A platform on the tires allows for a bench.
~~~~~~~~**~~~~*
Lost Farmer - cheap and functional is good ! 
My kinda person. Thanks for the idea. Sometimes we get to wrapped up in what we see advertised these days and think that is all that can be used for a purpose.
<span class=“ev_code_RED”>A forcart can make life interesting if you come off and get chased by the harrow.</span> This is exactly what I was talking about with slc and logging. Learning to control the roll and movement of the logs could be a problem that one could never recover from.
Now do you bolt the tires together in such a manner as this??
(-(-(\
(-(-(/
I am guessing that since I would be working with a single horse that I would not use the double tree set up and use just a single tree?
I already own a single tree that we used with a skid many moons ago when we broke our QH to drive. I used to hitch him to the skid with a bale of hay just as you showed in your pictures of training.
You know I have seen a few forecarts around and it does look to me that their center of gravity does make them a little scary??? or is that just my perception? The ones with shafts also look to me to be too low for my Rosie but this is probably inexperience talking as well.
You know I might be able to get my hands on a ( one)large rear tire since I am friends with a Case III dealer Mr. Heart would love nothing better than to fabricate something for me. With a large tire I am thinking it would be better to bolt two eye bolts in at diagonals to make it more stable for a single horse to pull, what do you suggest?
WHAT SLCK “REALLY” WANTS:
As usual to jerk on everyone’s chain, rattle cages, etc, because she’s bored and mental. Like can spot like
WHEN will the rest of you realize - because WAY many more of us already know - she merely wants attention, a debate, to contradict everyone and belittle many. Not ALL of us are that stupid, slick.
Those of you in doubt need only to trouble yourselves to REALLY read all of her posts, to see that she enjoys baiting people.
Really slick, if you’ve nothing better to do with your control-freak life, go on the Jerry Springer show, and get it out of your system.
You’re giving the rest of us Northeast Ohioans a bad name.
sure, you’re entitled to your opinion.
i’m sure some amish are ok to buy horses from. and i’m also pretty sure quite a few are fairly canny about selling worn out horses to less experienced outsiders.
we aren’t thinking of having the cob do farm work. i think we need a heavier farm horse to pull implements, perhaps a 1/4 standardbred/ 3/4 draft cross like a lot of the amish use. i’m also curious about the smaller drafty ponies and the old Western Chunks my aunt had (probably what is now called Spotted Draft?).
we don’t want to ride this horse at all. we will have plenty of riding horses. we are going east to look at some cobs in about 3 weeks, sorry but if we get him we won’t put him to the farm implements. we want to get a farm horse and keep the riding horses off the road and out of the harness.
“it sounds like your answer was solidified before you even began the thread” oh, oh UP, even with another name, you’re still so…delightful. i had the temerity to disagree with this lady on one thread ages ago and she’s had her claws out for me ever since. no one is allowed to not agree with such an authority as she.
well, actually, someone who has been handling and riding horses for 40 years is probably going to start out with some idea of what they want, some preferences, etc…
and again, actually, i am not required to agree with everything that is posted, especially when most of them are self evident parts of the endeavor. not all the ‘suggestions’ are going to be suitable. and, actually, saying ‘i disagree’ is not an attack or a condemnation of a person, but a very, very simple statement, and one that probably should not provoke rage, hysteria or resentment.
“obviously you’ve never harnessed a big horse before”
actually, obviously, i have, and you don’t know what i have and haven’t done in my life. i’ll give a suggestion - don’t try to guess. it’s been an extremely long and very eventful life.
and you read the part where i said i wanted a small horse? we aren’t getting an 18 hand horse for that reason, and for many others.
a 15 hand horse is 12 inches shorter than an 18 hand horse, and they are far easier to harness.
although i did work at one farm years ago where the harness and handler was hung up next to the horses, and the horses stood down about 2 feet lower in a sort of lower aisle, and the kids who harnessed the horses had no trouble lifting because they didn’t have to lift it.
another reason for the smaller horse is shoeing. many farriers don’t want to shoe the gigantic draft horses. we’ve been assured by several farriers that they WILL shoe the smaller ones.
as far as the manure, my SO is extremely thrilled about the manure part. he’s thrilled about making compost with a tractor instead of by hand.
heavy harness? we have been advised to use synthetic harness, which is far lighter. smuckers already provided some facts and figures on that - but too, the synthetic costs less than half of what the leather does. i’m not sure why you’d persist in using a heavy harness that you can barely handle when other products are available. much of the product is nearly impossible to tell from leather.
there are also buckle-in collars available which are far easier to put on. again, i don’t know why you’d suffer along without making your life easier, unless you can’t afford to get the other, that i can understand. and i got email from one guy who has a 90 yr old neighbore who hangs the harness above the horses with a pulley rope. when he wants to harness he lowers it. pulleys make it easier to lift a weight than with the arms. we can also purchase stands for every implement, and very very simply hook up and undo. we also looked at covers for the equipment. they look like a carport, sort of, but there are other ways, and many people just leave implements out.
i can assure you - having possible problems thrown up in the way isn’t going to put anyone off of doing somethign they really want to do. it’s good to knwo the potential pitfalls and to gather information, of course. and if we find out it’s not quite for us, that isn’t exactly any skin off of anyone else’s nose. if the workhorse part doesn’t work out we’ll still have a very nice horse to keep ours company. or, if we sell her to someone else, no ships will sink and no people will die. remember there are other issues to consider too, such as getting along with the other horses and whether our operation winds up morphing into something very different than we first planned.
be that as it may if someone wants to do something, they can find a way to simplify it and make it more pleasant and more fitting to their situation. if they think about it. ok, so if anyone who actually has some useful advice wants to weigh in - they can post it here. or, like quite a few people who told me this thread has ‘deteriorated’ to the personal attack level where they don’t want to post here, they can post a pm.
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-title”>quote:</div><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-content”>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. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Thanks for that. My guy is currently out on lease so I am not reminded daily of what a character he is 
You just brought a billion stories flooding to mind
Sitting on the deck having a brewski of an afternoon is definitely not allowed. About 1/2 a beer into a nice sit down the fence checking would begin. Systematically, board by board, working from closest to the revellers to further into the mosquito infested woods, he would tug and pry on each end of each and every board. When a loose one was found he would pull it off and stare at us for a moment before moving on to check the next one. Sooner or later someone would go down with a hammer and start properly supervised (rub my face now please and btw I have an itch on my withers) repairs. He could take a fence down to the bottom board but would never leave. A friend advised that it would be easier to just draw a chalk line in the dirt 
Another favourite (until we got the message) was to disassemble the wall between him and his broodmare buddy. He would only take it down to a certain height each time which was just barely above step over height. We would with great pains bang the boards back into place in the tight fitting slots. He would again remove the top few effortlessly. Repeat. After playing this game for several weeks and never having a problem with fighting over the rather diminutive wall we gave in and took the top boards out. He never touched the stall wall again. It just had to be to his height specifications.
Drafts can be persistent and are often better at judging a situation than we stupid humans. The best lesson is to listen carefully and watch for the sense of humour!
People who are serious about using stock to Log and plow etc. seem to choose Oxen. Whatch Rural Heritage, very interesting!
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-title”>quote:</div><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-content”>Originally posted by CHS:
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-title”>quote:</div><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-content”>a 15 hand horse is 12 inches shorter than an 18 hand horse, and they are far easier to harness. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
No really? Where are you going to find a 15 hand full draft? Do they make dwarf drafts? The smallest one I ever had was a 16.2 hand older style (read small) belgian. I have yet to see a purebred that’s 15 hands. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
CHS, to put it as eloquently as possible.
LET IT GO !! GO call the Dell Computer guy, they’re there 24/7 ?? or is it Gateway??. There are exceptions to every rule out there and slck never said anything about purebred.
Let’s keep it as lighthearted as possible. She asked we anwsered to our best, had a few laughs, learned a few things and kept ourselves entertained for a while, in the process of getting the T-Shirt.
Dont’ Worry !! BEEE HAP HAP HAPPY !!
you must have missed the post about me falling in love with the tractor salesman, and the post above. not only am i getting a draft horse, and not a morgan, halflinger or fjord, i’m also getting a tractor. the draft horses are incredibly cheap. i can get a trained draft team and all their equipment for what i’d pay for one untrained fjord. do the math. one possibility is that my friend said she had seen belgian/halflinger crosses but they were still more money than a belgian.
why yes, wouldn’t that be a lovely idea.
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