[mitchmaine]

carl, a good example of what you are saying about easier running than walking is a horse in the woods. takes a lot of training to make a horse walk with a hitch.
its hard for me to see an animal as a constant force. i’m not sure yet if i don’t see the buffer as an impedence. i have an old hitch spring from pioneer here somewhere. if i can find it, i’ll put it in front of our walking plow and see how they go. i appreciate all the forces and numbers presented and have read each one and follow the thread. it’s when i get to the collar, i start to wonder. carry on. let’s see what happens. mitch

[mitchmaine]

john, i think i see what you are getting at. the pole on our grain drill is like all drills, higher than the wheel hub. and a pair of horse tires quickly on the drill when the evener is hooked high to the pole. i shifted it around under the pole and they went better longer as the draft angle at their shoulder was closer to square than before. i may even hook to the frame of the drill.

[mitchmaine]

hey jen, it’s hard to see by reno. wondering how your plow was set up. did it have a jointer or a coulter on it? and it seems braced up well with those rods running down from your handles. nice plow. what kind is it? wiard made a pretty good walking plow. thanks, mitch

[mitchmaine]

nice looking job. good going.

[mitchmaine]

those same two brothers from maine heard they were buying hay in the city, so the bought 100 bales at a buck a peice, loaded up and headed for town. once they got there, they sold all their hay for a buck a bale and headed home. the brother riding shotgun started counting up the money and said “i don’t think we made much money”, and his brother said “yeah, we gotta get a bigger truck!”

[mitchmaine]

big john, finally got a chance yesterday to plow out our house garden. small plot, about a quarter acre, and the sulky plow is set for three, but i got to scratch my itch. most of our ground is yet too wet, and they predict snow tomorrow, so it may still be a spell, but for now…..
how is your field work going? any pictures yet? like to see ’em. mitch

[mitchmaine]

my daughter-in- law took this photo while we were busy trying to make hay. glad to have our sons sweeping behind us, and happy to have the tractors that particular day.
penny’s raking with my dad’s 1949 ford 8n. he bought it right out of the box, when i was a year old, and i have no memory of life without that tractor. it and i share similar traits, a cracked head, off it’s timing, showing some age, but it still puts in a days work when required.
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[mitchmaine]

interesting horse, jason. hard to tell under that blanket, but he really wasn’t as big as you might expect. no butt. massive chest and neck (almost one). wide front end. notice how his collar lays? head always up. he must have had a basketball for a heart. i think he was pure western belgian.

[mitchmaine]

i’m with all above, ed, you probably put a lot of folks here at ease. if it ain’t a tractor it’s a job or something. we just try and do the best we can, right?

[mitchmaine]

me again, if i didn’t say so, that picture was taken the night rock retired, late 70’s maybe, and the horse blanket was made for him out of the blue ribbons he won.

[mitchmaine]

if a photo attachment comes up here it’s a photo of dick wallingford and his horse rock. many people from all over this country said he was the greatest pulling horse ever. you’d only have to step into his barn to know you were in the presence of royalty. he just had this way. he knew he was good, and he was.

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[mitchmaine]

hey john, you must be right. dick died back in 2006, and his shop on rt. 201 up in the forks looks kinda empty now. the hames in the ad look just the same, and must be just as good. the originals had a wh(wallingford hame) in raised letters on the face of the hame. thats the set i’m looking for.

[mitchmaine]

hey guys, the only thing i’d add was they were invented for the pulling ring by dick wallingford. they had a double hame strap at the throat, and probably were unbreakable. i always wanted a set but they were pretty pricey. richard (wallingford) was always looking for a horse to match his “rock” horse and his guarantee was “if your horse breaks this hame, i’ll buy the horse!”

[mitchmaine]

hey john, i was always a chewing tobacco wormer, it always worked well in plug form, and probably still does. when molly got ill this winter with some “critter”, i put the ivermectin to her, and it worked so well it killed every living organism in her, good or bad. i’m wondering about pro-biotics, or replacing the good bugs. i started giving her some yogurt in her grain and she likes it well enough, but don’t know how much to give or if it’s even doing her any good. any thought. thanks, mitch

[mitchmaine]

when we collect sap in the spring, we tie the lines up and the horses stand while we gather. when we get help, new people with strange voices are in the woods with us shouting and laughing, and of course some new sound always starts the horses. so they have to stop when i say so 50′ away. when it’s just us we start and stop the horses by voice. they are on roads that they know by heart so don’t need much guiding. so i’d practice on other jobs saying whoa and then pulling back to stop them til they started stopping before i actually had to pull back. if you can get them to stop by voice, your one step closer to the lines.

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