[Carl Russell]

@near horse 28665 wrote:

I thought I heard that the bridge down at Quechee was damaged. Is that right? That canyon is 150 feet deep I bet. Where’s Gilead Brook in relation to your place Carl? I don’t recall even seeing it. Best of luck and hope the flooding didn’t dmage your operation. From hot (93F) and dry (no rain at all since July 24) Idaho.

It wasn’t the bridge at the gorge, it was the old covered bridge in the village of Queechee.

Gilead Brook is at the bottom of our little valley. It usually is about 1/10 the size of how it is depicted in the video.

Here are some clips of water in our fields.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1aWfyFfLNc

Carl

[Carl Russell]

Six to nine inches so far….. virtually no wind, and they say she’s blown herself out.

Lots of major flooding.

[Carl Russell]

Raining steadily since midnight here. Eerily calm… not a breath of wind. Still wondering what to do. I feel like I won’t really kick into action until I see what I have to clean up….

Off-grid here, so we should be able to continue to function. It is such a guessing game to see how much wind and/or rain we will actually get. The eye is supposed to pass about 60 miles east of here by 5pm. I’m hoping land-fall will take the guts out of her, but they predict she will still be a Cat 1 by the time she hits VT.

More later, Carl

[Carl Russell]

Our Governor is saying there is a chance for 10″ of rain here in VT on Sunday into Monday. I don’t really want to see that, but this I gotta see.

http://maps.wunderground.com/data/640×480/ne_ir_anim.gif

Carl

[Carl Russell]

The way I see it, it comes down to how you feel about your own choices. If you are comfortable with your choices then you don’t need to get defensive about how others react. When I first started (1986) there were old timers around who had given up horses years ago. They actually took offense at my choice to pick up something they thought was trash. In the long run, I was so sure of my reasoning that I just kept plodding along and didn’t take it personally. Eventually they saw that I was committed, and as I gained capability they learned to accept my choices.

There is always a stunning impact when you find someone, whom you consider to be close, reacting negatively to your own personal choices. We tend to take some personal interactions for granted, and like Mitch says we don’t really think about how our “Language” my be different, even between people who grew up with us.

If you know you are right, and arguing the fine points creates tension, then let it go. Life is too short, and you need to focus on what you are undertaking.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

Ed, we missed you….unfortunately there was no room for community camping at the farm, so us teamsters were pretty much on our own. I had a blast though, and there were some well-attended workshops. We had almost 30 folks in the woods on Sat.

Unfortunately I think that the logistics of having things going on at both the farm and at the campus (1/2 hr away) made it pretty difficult for people traveling back and forth.

I thought the research farm was an excellent venue for NEAPFD activities. If we had the freedom to have a broader event there, I think it would have been superior to Tunbridge.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

Sounds good to me.

[Carl Russell]

@Does’ Leap 28414 wrote:

Carl:Thanks for posting these. It was interesting to see when you stop your horses and how long you rest. Based on what I could see on the video, I tend to go longer and rest longer. If my perception is correct, can you comment on the value of more frequent, shorter duration rests?George

George… it kind of depends on the size of the hitch and the conditions but I work them (let them work) hard… until I see their drive start to decline….. not flagging, just that I can see they are working at it…. I tend to let them go a bit, but not to the point where they decide they are losing it…. then I stop them at a point where they have given me a good go, and they still have energy to go more…. and I rest them until their breathing slows a bit…. I never really rest them that long, as I try not to make them too tired….. I figure they can rest at the landing…. the whole point in my mind is to help manage their energy so that they can work as hard as they can when I ask.

Oh yeah, and the rest is not as much for them to recover as it is me giving them a reward for working as hard as I want them to. It really doesn’t need to be that long for them to get the benefit.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

@wvhorsedoc 28408 wrote:

Carl, Is the breeching on the D-ring harnesses your own design? To a novice it looks like a combination of two different types of breeching. Your video clips are great. Thanks for sharing. Doc

No it is a reasonbly common design called a “Basket Britchen”. Or at least every harness I have had was made this way. It may be a regional variation.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

No we don’t own any of their equipment…..we are a two cow raw milk operation…. hand milk, spring water cooler.. etc.

There is a dairy near here that is 5-6 cows and uses their equipment… I’m pretty sure they have a web site… Turkey Hill Farm, Randolph ctr. VT

Carl

[Carl Russell]

@Mark Cowdrey 28380 wrote:

…Although I know line adjustment is very situationally specific, if you and Carl could shed any light on your evaluation process and remedy I would be interested to hear. Thanks, Mark

I’ll offer my observations. As I watched Brad maneuver his animals around the woodlot, It appeared to me that he was having difficulty getting consistent pressure/messages to both horses at the same time.

Without my hands on the lines, all I could see was the outside horse swinging almost uncontrollably toward the other horse, and it seemed obvious that there was too much pressure on the cross lines. Not knowing what method Brad used to set the adjustment, I just suggested he try lengthening them.

I thought I remembered Lynn Miller suggesting in one of his books to start out with the cross lines 2″ longer than the straight lines. We changed his lines from a setting where they were about 4″ shorter to the above stated setting, and things seem to be going better. I can see the outside horse under much more control now, as if Brad is able to keep pressure on and allow the horse to turn at his direction.

Carl

I will just add that when he asked what setting I use, my response is that there is a reason for having holes in the lines…. so that they can be adjusted. I find myself feeling the need to adjust the lines from time to time, based on the piece of equipment I’m using, or perhaps even just the attitude of the horse that day. I couldn’t tell you what the measurements are on my lines…. I just know what I want to feel, and I adjust accordingly. I’ll also add that since I started using a Liverpool style bit, I find that changing pressure setting on them helps immensely in equalizing any temperment related differences that may affect the alignment of reins.

[Carl Russell]

Nice job today Brad…..I think more than patience, persistence is one of the most important tenants of the teamster’s art… and you showed yours today.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

@Tim Harrigan 28362 wrote:

Carl, how do you stack the logs next to the trail? If you are walking those logs up those rails with a peavey I am more than impressed.

I was thinking I needed to catch that on video too…. it really isn’t all that hard. 🙂

[Carl Russell]

Tom, this is a great discussion. I completely understand where you are coming from…… but wouldn’t you like to be able to mark differently….. don’t you FEEL something different in the forest than what you have been trained to see. I was trained the same way. I realize the supply and demand thing. As a consultant you need to practice the type of forestry that people are buying, but what if you were doing the harvesting yourself, with animals, reducing the need for more clients, and facilitating the kind of interaction with the forest that makes more sense?

This kind of gets back to your comment about the organic farmer…. I am the organic farmer who says “I don’t care what people want to eat, I farm the way I know I must to validate the way I feel about the Earth and the ecosystem around me”.

And using draft animals is a huge part of that for me.

And I’m the same kind of forester.

It’s okay if you and others aren’t. It takes all kinds. Just keep it in the back of your mind as you work with your steers, it doesn’t have to be a purely aesthetic choice, it can be the first step toward a very different, and in my mind superior, forestry product.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

@Baystatetom 28307 wrote:

Carl every time I read one your post I wish I was as well spoken as you. Maybe sometime I can check out one of your jobs.
~Tom

Absolutely…. we are about to start up our cooperative horse-logging enterprise again for the remainder of the summer, starting Thursday. Break away and come on up.
Carl

[Author]

Posts