Logging with Horses

[asy]

Money (mostly in the form of checks), goods, services and trucks were circling the globe.

Most of which are still in the mail, aren't they???

Didn't all the assets finish probate and end up in the hands of the devellish MUDD corporation?

asy

[Norm]

I was drinking coffee one morning and looked out to Becky's pasture, she has an old water trough that we let her use as a toy. She kept sticking her head in it messing with something, pretty soon she pulls something out of it. She loves playing with that trough and had most likely put the dead frozen chicken in it for later playing and snacking. She proceeded to pluck and chew on that frozen chicken. I knew the only way anyone would believe me was with a picture, it was with zoom as that was as close as I cared to get. This fall I found her chewing on an old deer hide that black dog had drug into her pasture.

I don't let her nuzzle me anymore.

[asy]

Hey Norm, is she growing Canine teeth yet?

asy

[MULE_MAN]

When I used to keep a Jack on the place he was always locked up in the Dry Lot,
He would pick his rubber feed pan up with his teeth & swing in around, It was funny
to watch, I think he was just bored & wanted something to play with

[Patty]

Animals get bored, just like people do. I figure Becky has the intelligence of a two year old kid, not too bright, but loves to play with the toys we give her. Problem is, she is pretty hard on these toys. The 30 gallon garbage can lasted about a week, 5 gallon buckets last about 1 day before she completely destrys them. The best toy she has is a 100 gallon steel water tank that she rolls around the pasture, it has held up for several months now. Her pasture is a real pit, broken buckets all over the place    , I need to teach her and black dog how to clean up.

I mentioned earlier that she is on a diet. I decided she was getting WAY too much to eat a couple weeks ago. I was standing by her feed bunk with her oats and sweet feed mixture, when she decided to turn her butt to me. (she does that when she is mad at me) I shook the bucket and called her name real nice like, but she continued to keep her butt to me. This is an act that she usually reserves for Norm, so I was getting a little pithed by then. I said in my strenest voice, " Becky either you turn around and look at me, or I am walking out of here, and you won't get fed at all."      Her response was lifting up her tail and farting.       I was aghast! (and nearly passed out from the fumes). The horse has been on a diet ever since. 

[Buzz-sawyer]

  funy story 
you were not aghast...you were GASSED

[Roxie]

 

Poor Patty!  That's is horrible!!  And at such CLOSE RANGE!!!   

[Norm]

All I can say is you're lucky she hadn't been on fresh green pasture. 

[Haytrader]

Have you tried a plastic ball suspended? That way Becky canb't get a hoof to it.
Hope Norm don't start acting like Becky.........

Happy Easter to all.

[Tom]

Better yet, get one of those blue plastic 55 gal. drums.  They are almost indestructiable and wouldn't hurt her either.

[UNCLEBUCK]

I bought a matched team of belgian geldings 20 years ago , big boys like a ton a piece for skidding logs but they were used for pulling beer wagons in parades on smooth surfaces and they tripped over every little stick in the woods and if that wasnt bad enough they were geldings but they were cut not quite right and when they would hear my sisters pinto mare whistle at them they would run across the farm wide open with me behind and whatever else was hitched to them . As much as I liked them I had to get rid of them before they killed me . If I ever do get belgians again I would get old mares that have been in the woods all their life plus then I would get new baby tractors every springs to try and figure out how to train. Use to get a magazine called the draft horse journal, that was fun to read . I hope to farm a small patch with horses someday , I really liked everything about it

[Clarke Sawmills]

Uncle Buck;     That is funny the way you told your story but I'm sure most of us know how dangerous that situation was. I had a gelding once who must of been proud cut ,because he thought he was a stud as well.   He was out with maiden mares and when they came in heat he would run over with big eyes a flashing and jump up on their backs. They used to line up for him if more then one need his attention.  On the positive side  of this story,it help to train these mares for when the "old boy" came a roaring at them.

[Patty]

 Thanks for the ideas, guys. I just happen to have one of those 55 gallon blue drums. We are using it for a garbage bin in the shed. Maybe I will sacrifice it for her. Actually one with the lid still on would work better, it would be harder for her to smash with her big feet. I will have to do some planning for the hanging ball. It would be fun to watch her antics with that.

When Buck described his adventures with his geldings, he described one of my worst fears. I have little to no experience around horses, so they are a bit intimidating.

[Haytrader]

Patty,

You can improvise on the ball. Set a couple pipe posts (10 ft. tall) about 30 ft. apart with a cable between them. Make it so the ball can slide on the cable. If you can't find a plastic ball, substitute a 5 gallon plastic pail. Either will last a long time if it is suspended high enough where she can't get her hooves on it.

I was up early this morning, as usual (4ish) and heard my 4 yr old paint filly raising hell. Since I am hard hearing and her pen is 75 yards away, you know she was loud. I opened the patio door to hear better. Of course she heard that and was quiet. As soon as I got back to checking out the FF, she went off again. I could barely see the white of her in the moonlight. I turned  on the porch light and spoke to her. She acknowledged with a soft whinny.  As it got light, I could see her looking off to the north and knew whatever was alarming her was in that direction. I suspected a big cat as there are more and more sightings. I later looked for tracks and found nothing. I will see if it happens again tonight. I, like many on here, appreciate the company of a horse. They are such smart animals.

[Clarke Sawmills]

Come on folks, someone must have another good horse story. Any one had any new foals yet.   Tell  us what they are like and how the delivery went?

[rbhunter]

Reading the post by uncle buck brought a story to mind. I was not there but have always wondered about it. My Grandfather was always good with drafts and always was breaking some. He was gentle and they would learn to trust him. This story suprises me some as it was told to me by my father.

My Grandfather always hooked a new team seperately with broke horses when he got them home to see how they worked.

One day he brought a big black team that matched really well. He was excited when he got home and hooked them togather as they were supposed to be broke. He started them out and everything was fine but all of a sudden they decided to run. He could not get them to stop so he ran them into a fence to stop them. He was so mad he tied them there and walked back to the barn and got some rope. He ran the rope under the belly and looped it around the front legs and ran the ends back to the wagon. He crawled back up in the wagon and started off again with the team. They decided to run again. He hollered whoa and pulled back on the lines. When they kept going he threw down the lines and grabbed the ends of the rope and pulled back. The rope pulled the front legs out from under them and they went nose first into the ground. He did this twice before they figured out when he hollered whoa to stop. After that he never had a problem with stopping that team.

My dad said he called it the "W" and it was the only time he seen him use it.

[theorm]

When I was breaking a horse to a halter, he would ignore all of the whoa's and ignore the weight on the lead rope, me. An old hand offered a quick and painless solution. He stood the horse near the side of the barn. He waved his hat to spook the horse backwards toward the barn, yelling whoa and giving lots of slack lead robe. When the horse's hindquarters bumped into the barn, he stopped. We gave him a minute to calm down and did it again. This time he did a backwards imitation of a cutting horse sliding to a stop. Never had a problem after that.

Theo