[Lady in VA]

The Pioneer sled runners are still available. Used once. $200. Call 703-754-3274 or email me at doxn7004@yahoo.com.

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[Lady in VA]

This forecart has been sold! Thank you. 10-12-2015

[Lady in VA]

Thanks for all the info, gentlemen. I’m going to forward it on to the church group. If you hear of anything else, please let me know. What’s antique to us is new technology to some.

[Lady in VA]

A missionary group in Jamaica contacted me after seeing a burr mill demonstrated on our YouTube site, asking if I knew where they could get one as well as a cane juicer. They have mules and horses that drive and a mill would be a labor-saving device for the people. It would also allow them to generate more income. So I thought I would put out feelers for them.

I’ll check out those forums listed here too. Thank you so much.

[Lady in VA]

If you are in DC, then you are close to the main membership of the Virginia Draft Horse & Mule Assoc. Check out our website http://www.vdhma.org. Listed in the Calendar link, we have a Farm Day in Orange on April 10 and you are welcome to attend. The goal is to have about 40-50 horses. The host has several pieces of horse-drawn farm equipment, carts, wagons and such. We will all be given an opportunity to hitch up to something new, with experienced teamsters on hand to keep safety and control in order, assisting us “newbies”.

[Lady in VA]

I make my own clicking noise, a little different than my “walk on” sound. Horse knows the difference. Depending on what you are training, it’s nice to have both hands free. Since the click needs to sound quickly after the horse starts to do what you want, it’s faster to just make a noise than fumble with the clicker tool or snapping fingers. I know a woman that quietly says “good” as her “clicker noise” & gives a little scratch at the withers as the reward instead of food.

RE: picking up feet. I had trouble finding a farrier that would do drafts. So I promised a new guy that I would train her to lift and not lean if he’d give her a chance. And he loves her to death now! (Charges me the same as the light horses because she’s easier to trim than the little Arabs!) My Perch now picks up her feet by just pointing to her feet. All due to clicker training. Like the other poster said, the idea is to reward the slightest movement that you want and build on it. To bridle my horse, I raise my hand to ear level and she drops her head, holds it there until the bridle is on. To back up when she’s on a lead and I’m sort of in front of her, I wiggle my index finger at her and wa la… she backs. There’s probably several ways of training all this but the clicker training made it so easy.

We are currently working on “rescue”. My health isn’t so great on some days. So just in case, I’m training her to come to me in the field. Might be a day that I come out of the saddle or whatever and need her to come back to me. I get on my knees, raise my arm and wave my fingers, calling “Come”. She approaches me, drops her head, I grab her halter and she pulls me up. She gets a “jack pot” reward for that completion, like 5-6 carrot pieces. She’s come as far as 75 yds so far about 75% of the time. (Doesn’t always work when there is good grass around & some herd effect-she’s pastured with 17 others. Yet we’re working on it.) Not bad, eh?

The best CT book I read is written by Alexandra Kurland, the step by step edition.

[Lady in VA]

I do clicker training with my Perch. That’s how I trained her to do all kinds of things from standing still to loading in the trailer. Paid off a couple of years ago. She cast herself under a board fence, started flailing legs. I gave her the “Touch” command, meaning touch muzzle to my fist. (One of the first things you train is “touch”.) She calmed immediately and stretched out her nose to touch. My friend got her legs free with a lead shank while I kept her touching. The fence survived; no injuries to anyone. Whenever she shows anxiety, which isn’t often, I use that command to get her attention. In my opinion, this is an effective training technique. You can start with treats or just use little scratches as rewards. Penny-sized carrot slices work best for mine and once she learns the lesson, she only gets scratches for reward. I don’t use a clicker either, one less thing to carry around. I make a unique sound instead.

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