[Ed Thayer]

if you can’t find a bridle chain allready made you could use the truck chain clasp idea and build your own.

I do not have chains set up on my sled yet. After the rain the a couple of weeks ago, I put the sled away and went back to the forecart.

I hope to get chains made very soon as Carl described.

Good luck,

Ed

[Ed Thayer]

Heading to my neighbors pine lot tomorrow to start bucking up and limbing several blowdowns from a recent wind storm.

He has a nice 4WD tractor with a winch on it but the trees are in a wet lowland next to a swamp. It is too wet for him to run the tractor. HE HE 🙂

He asked if I would be interested in the logs for my sugar house wood. Being right next door I could not pass it up. So I will buck up the logs then twitch them to the road with the horse.

I am hoping the wind will stop tonight. The wind chills here in NH are supposed to be 20 below tonight.

Stay warm,

Ed

[Ed Thayer]

I have box stalls with concrete floors and then mats on top. We do use some shavings. I find with our horses, the less bedding in the stall the more apt they are to urinate outside. We rarely close the stall doors and the horses are free to come and go as they wish.

I pull the mats once a year to pressure wash and then I clean the concrete underneath.

The amount of urine that weeps between the mats is not terrible. I f you were to use mats on top of wood, I think Mark was right. You may have a moisture problem.

In the end, If I had not allready purchased the mats, I would do as Carl suggested and lay down a hardwood surface.

Good luck,

Ed

[Ed Thayer]

The soil is heavy till and has been compacted by tractors for years. The local dairy farmer up the street has tried no till seeding with mixed results.

I think I will try what you have suggested and see how it works.

I also thought about doing a PH test and depending on the results, spreading lime with the manure spreader when I apply the compost?

Ed

[Ed Thayer]

Yes Don,

I adjusted them after the pic was taken. We have not hitched them since this pic in November.

The evener we have is 42″ inches I think. I will check the dimensions to make sure.

We plan to use the Les barden style hitch and have purchased the hardware to do so.

[Ed Thayer]

Thank you for the replies,

Don, when you said the lines were not right, I assume you mean not properly adjusted in length for the team. I did adjust the length of the stub lines to give them more space at the head.

I also like the idea of the butt strap to keep them from seperating in the rear. I think I read that in one of the Lyn Miller books too.

We have not worked a team other than the one time hitched as stated above. This is all very good info.

Thank you,

Ed

[Ed Thayer]

Great advice.

I should have mentioned the gender. They are both geldings about 12 and 15 yrs old.

We did pasture them together a couple of times and they seemed to get along OK.

Just before we ground drove them single beside each other we let them get nose to nose with thier harness on and each teamster behind the horse. Balzac, the black Canadian whinied, spun and started kicking Oz in the belly.

Oz, the Belgian simply lowered his rump and turned it towords Balzac and stood there. He doesn’t appear to be a very agressive horse. After that episode, not 5 min later, they were nose to nose and then neck to neck licking each other. Not really sure what that was all about.

[Ed Thayer]

The vet was here on Monday of last week and confirmed he had a form of Lymphengitis. He thinks he suffered some sort of soft tissue trauma (maybe a kick from another horse), that caused the initial swelling and that in turn blocked a lymph passageway.

He is on steroids and antibiotics again and recommended I continue to work him lightly untill he fully recovers.

You can still see some swelling in his right rear leg. But he seems to be responding well to the meds and regulare exercise.

Ed

[Ed Thayer]

Last time the vet was out his temp was normal. His blood work did not show signs of infection, however they prescribed intibiotics anyway.

He is not stall tied and has access to the paddock, pasture 24/7. I thought maybe he was stocking up but that will usually go away imediatley after exercise. I have been walking Oz on the lead line up and down the road and the swelling does not change.

I do not have a hoof pressure tester as you describe.

[Ed Thayer]

Well, Ozzie took a turn for the worse agian on Sunday. Extreme swelling, and discomfort again in the same leg and groin area. He appeared to be recovering well, although the swelling never really disapeared.

I have been doing a lot of research on his symptoms and have found a condition that matches his symptoms almost exactly. I am not a Dr. nor claim to be but I was overwhelmed when I read the description, symptoms of this disorder.

Equine Lymphangitis, Also called stovepie leg and Monday morning disease. Have any of you ever heard of this or experianced this with your animals? I guess it is rather rare.

The vet is coming back tomorow to look at him again, I am not going to say anything about my thoughts untill after Dr. Fisher examines him. I do not want to steer him away from other possibilities.

Ed

[Ed Thayer]

That brings up another question, there must be differences in chargers and thier output?

Maybe mine is cheap or just not powerfull enough.

[Ed Thayer]

very helpfull,

Thank you, Ed

[Ed Thayer]

Thanks Carl,

I have that in mind to build next.

How do you drill the hole all the way through the roll.

My runners are about 30″ apart.

[Ed Thayer]

This is a crude drawing of what I am trying to explain.

[Ed Thayer]

Mark,

I think something like this would work well. This is on an 8 wheeler log scoot. I saw it in the equipment section under forestry.

If you welded a piece of tube or pipe across the front of the sled runners at the appropriate height, that would provide the connection point to the shaft swivel arrangement.

Then weld a hevy piece of solid stock in a half moon shape on the cross tube to allow the shafts to rotate about 30 degrees right or left so when the single horse turns it will remove some of the load on the shafts.

Ed

[Author]

Posts