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TBigLug
ParticipantThey love the taste of steel just as much! lol
And as far as spreaders, we use them for everything we’re doing, ground driving, no pole, pole, etc. Just a personal preference (that and they look nice if you have the right set). No matter how much you adjust the lines there will be times when the horses are walking closer and the stub lines slack or they wander away from each other and the lines get taught. Moreso when you don’t have anything hooked to them but it will still happen.
ParticipantThat’s a neat pic. Thanks for putting it up!
Participant@Carl Russell 14367 wrote:
Sometimes I may grit my teeth and speak with a bit more meaning, but I don’t want the horse to think I am threatened in any way, and I don’t want the horse to step over because they are afraid of leaning into me. I just want them to know that I don’t want them leaning on me, that I want them to step away from me, and that if they don’t they will be uncomfortable until they do.
Carl
This is my approach. Body posture and energy will get the point across. I’ve gritted my teeth and use more than one less than hospitable word when it came to getting them to not crowd my space. Then, lighten up as soon as they do what you want. Believe it or not, your horses do want to make you happy and seek your aproval. Most of the time! 😉
If thet doesn’t work I have also done the pliers in hand trick and that will get them on track quickly. Glad to hear it’s working for you as well.
ParticipantWe pull our horses but, like Jason, we don’t pull for the blue ribbon as much as for the exposure. Sometimes our horses get a little antsy if we pull them too many times in a year but never much more than once before they realize they are just plodding along plowing. I think how a horse reacts depends mainly on the teamster. The guy who wins EVERY pull he goes to around here (Fred Hurr) has the absolute quietest team around. I’ve never driven them myself but had the pleasure of unloading them off his trailer and leading them into the barn this year. Let me set the scene for you. 30′ horse trailer (gooseneck) two horses loaded in the front. Axles set to the back (like most stock trailers). I grabbed the line for one of the horses and as I stepped him to the back of the trailer, he was such a massive beast he raised the front of the trailer (with the other horse still in it) substantially just before he stepped off. This monster had to be the widest animal I’d ever seen. Absolutly gorgeous. The next day he let a friend of ours (who ad never driven horses before) plow a couple rounds with them (with a helper at his side just in case) and you’d never believe they were pulling horses. Unless you saw them two days before when they crossed a full pull with 10,750 on the boat. Fred himself is an 80 y/o (ish) man and you can’t even hear him speak to the horses during the pull unless you are right next to him. They walk up just as quiet as could be, wait for him to get his seat comfortable, he straightens his lines, looks up at those two quiet monsters and with a soft “Step up lads.” 5,000# of rock muscle explodes like like a top fuel dragster down the track. Once the whistle blows, a quiet “Whoa.” and a gentle tug on the lines and they’re back to being an old plow team again. He’s getting too old to walk much now so his helper drives them up to the boat for him but they amaze me every time he pulls. Too bad he decided to stop pulling and concentrate on plowing from now on. I miss the crowd’s standing ovation when he pulls. Morale of my story, he told me even his horses get a little “on the muscle” at home from time to time after pulling but they always come back to him and remember that he’ll tell them when it’s time to pull.
Some say it hurts, some say it helps. I think it depends on the horses but if you are smart about it and respectful of your horses I don’t think it’ll make them bad, just strong!
ParticipantA friend of mine uses the hip britchen style and loves it. I’m thinking my next harness may be that style.
As far as the cruper goes, we don’t use them. Nothing against them but our harnesses stay put without them and we don’t use checks so no need.
ParticipantLooks like you are off to a good start.
Usually most all draft horses who work well single take to being in a team very well. Defintiely need to keep them focused though. I would be worried about the butt swinging and kicking while in harness but it sounds as though that may have been a one-time thing. You want to make sure they know you are the alpha horse and silly behaviour won’t be tolerated when there’s work to be done.
As far as the command issue is concerned, it would be my personal preference to settle on a single set of commands. Although with that being said, we use differant commands for “go”. Step up, git up, clucking, let’s go, etc. They usually figure it out. I’m not a glowing energy person but I believe much is communicated through the lines and tone of voice tot hem. Most of the time they can “feel” that I want them to step off before I say a word. Sounds strange but it’s something I’ve always thought. Either way they will be fine.
I am a huge fan of the butt-rope. My horses (every now and again) forget how to step over the tongue without swinging their butts out to face each other. A couple days of using the rope and they’re back to good again. I also have a chronic lipper in my team. I cannot offer any advice as to how to fix this since she’s 16 and has always done it and probably always will. Annoying more than anything else. Just make sure you have all your snag points covered or smoothed so they can’t get the lines or snaps hooked on anything. I didn’t get to look at your pictures closely, but we use spreaders for the lines, in which case the stub lines are the same length as the other line. Personal preference I believe but it might be somehting to look into this summer while you’re dinking around with them.
Good luck and keep us posted on their progress.
ParticipantI know I’m coming into this late but I wanted to add my experience.
For our horses (all things being equal) we switch sides, positions, partners, harness, anything we can to give them the most experience everywhere we can. It has produced some well rounded horses that we know we can do anything with.
Given the one has a blind eye, if it were me I would put the good eye out so that they could see any obstacles on the unprotected side since the blind side would be guided by the other horse. You may be right in that he/she may be dependant on the other horse for guidance. I would try them both ways just for grins. Good luck no matter what you do!
Participant😉 Now Simon, I know you’re partial to the Belgian and Swedish Ardennes but the more pictures of the Frenchies I see the more I like them! lol 😀
Participant@jwayne972 15525 wrote:
TBigLug,
Have you had any luck finding Ardennes contacts in the U.S.? I am also very interested in this breed. I have been checking the Clover Oaks website often, but have seen no updates. I have not tried to contact her yet, I was wondering if you had?
JWWWhat a strange co-incidence. I checked in today just to keep tabs on what’s going on over here and just happened to have a question to address.
Unfortunately I have not found any other Ardennes contacts in the US as of late. I had some health and financial problems lately so I’ve been keeping a low-profile but I ewill definitely keep this thread updated once I re-start my efforts this Spring.
ParticipantGlad to hear the situation’s improving. I’m late to the party but I’ll add my two cents. I think everyone was spot on in that the horse was getting bored by not seeing progress. I also believe they’re right that they should still be expected to do the work whether they like it or not. I had a big horse that did this to me. He was a team horse so I would split up his work by woprking him single, working him in his team, switching sides, doing something differant, etc. Maybe your solution could be the opposite of get a smaller horse. Maybe you just need another big horse! I’m always looking for a new excuse. Something else I did with him was I gave him regular breaks even though he didn’t need them. Kinda a rest from the boredom moreso than the work.
ParticipantI’ve never had an encounter with the scammers but it’s good to know our support staff is looking out for us! Thanks guys!
ParticipantSome people are just ignorant. I don’t usually pay them much attention.
ParticipantThat’s awesome!
ParticipantWe always say around here, “A good horse is never a bad color.” Same goes for teams.
ParticipantThe 32″ would work just fine for you. It’s only a 5 inch difference so I doubt it will catch on anything more than the 27″ would and will give the horse a small bit more room to maneuver. We have all sizes here depending on the equipment we’re using.
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