[Andy Carson]

I do target the head of my off ox a bit and this was actually my primary concern. I don’t mind pestering or tapping his head, but I really don’t like that I don’t have another “gear” without using the lash. In a perfect world I would like to target the front legs, but my nigh ox works much better if I push from behind his shoulder. This keeps the two of them most even (although the off ox still walks a half step ahead). I am working on being able to walk more out in front and nto be tied to his shoulder, and they are improving, but if they get “naughty” I need to get back to my behind the shoulder position for best control. In that position, I simply can’t reach the front leg of the off ox and have to reach over the top of my nigh to reach the head. Also, that’s the signal they are used to which is an important factor too. I think I’m going to try a moderately flexible stick without a lash at all. I rarely (if ever) actually need the harshness of the lash and can probably achive this with a flexible stick anyway. I’ll see what happens… I am attracted to the simplicity and possible refinded control that I might get from a lashless semi-flexible stick.

[Andy Carson]

OK, I’ll keep doing my best. It is hard to find a balance between having the boys work exactly like I might imagine while also allowing the m some leeway and freedom when they are accomplished the task i ask of them. When they are not going well, or doing well, it’s easy to find fault and correct it (well maybe not easy to correct, but easy to see what needed fixed). When they perform the task asked in a method I would not have imagined, or think is ideal, I tend to cut them slack. It’s probably a tough balance for alot of trainers and I can see the argument on both sides… I think that having them more even would be an improvement, though, and something I will strive towards in a balanced way (Esp when they are going well otherwise).

[Andy Carson]

I thought I would unearth this thread discussing whips and goads for oxen. I have been using a driving whip and have become less satisfied with it after a while. In my hands, it have three “speeds”. A “pester” (maybe a 1 on scale of 1-10) a “tap” (maybe a 2), and a “whap” maybe an 8). Often times a tap is not enough, but a whap is too much. I am looking for a tool capable of light, medium and harsh signals with several medium signals so i can refine and adjust my signals a little better. Any thoughts? I can still reach over my boys, perhaps I need a nice and proper goad? Does anyone have a favorite to recommend?

[Andy Carson]

@Baystatetom 33271 I have finally decided as long as I get the job done its not worth worrying about. [/QUOTE wrote:

Probably good advice, they are doing the job, so perhaps I will leave on to walk a half step ahead and see if it leads to any problems. I am not in a show…

[Andy Carson]

The boys pulled about 300 lbs of rocks around today and did it well. They have doubled their pulling power since “boot camp” began, which is great. Now, if they double it again, then we can really get to work! 🙂 Seriously, though, they did great today. All except for my off ox is too fast again. Is evening out the team a common problem?

[Andy Carson]

More nice photos. Thanks Andrew. The team in the black and white photo really keeps thier noses low. It looks like the nigh ox didn’t quite keep it out of the dirt. I really like the look of this team. Maybe some day, with steady work, my boys will look like this too. Are these shorthorns? I wonder what used to win pulling competitions before chianinas…

[Andy Carson]

@Tim Harrigan 33143 wrote:

Those boys must think they are in boot camp.;)

Yeah, it feels like boot camp all around. The boys did great today. I discovered that my chain jumper knows to get back on his side if you just make him pull through it. I was also reading back through old ox posts and saw a tip to push from behind your nigh ox’s shoulderif he is the slow one in the team. Good tip Carl, it worked like a dream. After pulling the rocks on the sled around for a good while, I took off the rocks just to see. Boy, was the sled easy then. Quiet a lot of progress they have made in a week. I am proud of them.:o

[Andy Carson]

Andrew’s pulling oxen pictures are great to use to flesh out these thoughts. It is interesting to note that the different teams (and possibly different breeds) seem to use different pulling techniques. The chianina types seem to lower their rear end and lift the front end in a way that reminds me of horse pulling, except for the hyperextended back. This essentially uses their body weight as a lever against the weight of tye self with the bottoms of their rear feet as a pivot. Because of the extreme weight and the geometry of this body positon, the potential force from this type of pull is enormous. The rear quarters of these types look particularly strong. With this technique the power has to be transmitted through the entire body to the yoke. It seems to hyperextend the back, which is nasty looking to me but i really have no idea if it should really be a concern or not. The trapezius is also huge in these types as power has to be trnasmitted to the yoke. The other technique that seem to be used is the lean forward and catch yourself before your once hits the ground. In this technique, power seems to come from the front legs with the weight of the upper body pivoting around an axis at the bottom of the front feet. The oxen that do this seem to almost fall forward and then catch themselves before thier noses hit the ground. Because the distance between the weight (upper body, head, neck) is closer to the pivot point, it would be important to keep low and the animals seems to have learned this. These types also have alot of muscle developement in the trapezius to transmit power from the front quarters to the yoke. They also seem to have alot of muscle development in the triceps, which allows the front legs to act as a functional pivot point and also elevates the front end after each stride/fall. These types seem to replace the muscle development in the rear with muscle development in the latisumus, giving some of these a “buffalo hump” look. It’s hard to tell what the rear is doing with this technique, but I am sure it’s doing something. Even thought the muscles are huge back there, they are well toned in these boys.

Regarding the smoothness of the pull, I do remeber your data about this now that you mention it, Tim. I know I don’t have data on this, but the pull of oxen sure seems more smooth than what I’m used to seeing from a single horse. Perhaps, as you point out, it is the difference between a team and a single. I do think that oxen are smoother, though, but I am not sure. Not 100% even, but just smoother. The slower rate of pull might be deceptive. Perhaps next time I’m out I’ll put my coil spring buffer on and see if it flexes much.

[Andy Carson]

I agree, this is a great series of photos. One of the really interesting things about these photos is you can see the different pulling techniques used by different teams. You have a “lean forward and catch yourself before you scrape your nose on the dirt” technique -Photo 9. A very balanced “just walk normally” technique -Photo 13. Alot of the white ones (Chianinas I think) seem to use a technique (if you want to call it that) that might be best described as “throw yourself at the yoke in despiration.” Although not elegant (and probably not sustainable), this seems to be pretty effective. Photo 53 shows a “butt-down, shoulders up” technique that reminds me of horses. I am curious who won. Also, I am curious which of these techniques are useful out of the pulling arena. The horse style butt-down technique seems to hyper extend the back in a way that doesn’t took sustainable to me. In the field, mine seem to use a mix of the “just walk normally” technique and the “lean forward and try to catch yourself before to hit your nose on the ground” technique. I haven’t seen them use the “butt down” technique and they only throw themselves in despiration when it is to get to food. 🙂

[Andy Carson]

Valentine is sold. Thanks for all the inquiries.

[Andy Carson]

@dominiquer60 33012 wrote:

I am starting this page to collect and discuss pictures of oxen.

In this case I was looking for a picture of oxen pulling a load and I came across this picture of a Japanese bull tied to a post and hitched to a wagon. The collar is interesting, but what I am curious about is what is on his feet? It looks like he is wearing thong sandals, I assume it is something for traction but doesn’t anyone have any knowledge of this type of ox (or in this case intact bull) footware? The picture that I am referring to is towards the bottom of the page on this link.

http://www.hawaii.edu/cjs/?page_id=266

Fascinating find, Erika. Here’s another photo of your japanese bull thongs, from the back this time with one foot lifted so you can see the bottom. The bottom seems to be one piece. I can’t tell if that is leather or not, but that’s my guess… I saw a couple of these on the road in different views, but didn’t see an in the field. My guess is that they are there to prevent excessive wear during road work. They sure seem easy to make and fit. Possibly useful in our “modern” world in some situations were you don’t want to shoe but are worried about road wear… Easy boots for oxen…
http://www.baxleystamps.com/litho/ogawa/ogawa_open-air-life_6-1.jpg

[Andy Carson]

I didn’t realize you don’t have a harness. Obviously, you are going to need one before you can really make much more progress driving. The jugs are a good sign, but there is no way to guarantee that everything will go well before you actually put the harness on a try it. Even then, there are still no guarantees. Keep your eyes open and use your horse sense.

My gut reaction to this riding your horse before you hitch him thing is that I don’t think it should be necessary. If you can’t trust your horse to behave in the harness unless he/she is tired, there is likely some basic ground work that could be done to get to that point before you hitch something up. It’s a judgement call, of course, whether he’s ready for this. Personally, I wouldn’t trot them when ground driving either, because I don’t see why you would ever want to trot while ground driving in a real-world situation and so I don’t see any need to introduce this as an option.

As far as the effort put out when riding vs driving, prepare to be suprized at how much work dragging things without wheels can be and how in shape they will get when working regularly. When your horses are in good shape for work, riding will likely not touch them from a physical stand point. That is, unless you cantor a while, or gallop, or do something highly technical. That’s been my experience at least. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think there is anything wrong with riding them, and it’s probably nice to get them a different type of experience and variety from time to time. It’s work too, but nothing else I know of drains a horse like a long walk with a heavy sled.

[Andy Carson]

4th day (yesterday): First real job. We picked rock out of the field with the stoneboat. The boys liked this job very much as it involved stopping fairly often for me to pick up rocks and I kept the rock load pretty light (not more than 100 lbs) before I unloaded. I have to say that oxen are wonderful for this job. As a driver, you are already on the ground in front so you can see the rocks easily, and they are so great at stopping and hanging out while you load the rocks and get back into position. You also have your hands free to pick rocks. It took a few tries for the boys to realize that when I go pick up rocks, it wasn’t a “haw” command, but they got it pretty quickly. I ended up saying “whoa” as I step towards the rear and back. Once I am a few yards away, they pretty much ignore me and wait for me to come back to them. My nigh ox was a little more forward than the off ox today, so I decided not to more the plate over. I got to reading my oxen book and noticed that the drag chain is probably 1.5 feet too long when I was using it. I will shorten it next time I go out, but that should help them pull a little more weight too. Either way, it’s mostly just conditioning at this point and as long as they are working they get a benefit in my mind.

[Andy Carson]

Juliana,
I can’t tell for sure if he is ready for this over the ‘net, but if he’s quiet to drive and seems to tolerate noises behind him, I think it’s probably time to hook him up to something more substantial. Like I say, this is a judgement call based on his behavior, which I don’t know, and your experience and risk tolerance. If you want to go ahead, a tire is often a good starting point, as they tend to cause less damage than some things if things go wrong. I have little doubt you can ride him too, but if you want to drive him, I would drive him. I would still ground drive behind or next to the tire, in case this wasn’t clear. I would stay away from anything with wheels for a while, or anything expensive, or anything that might act like a loose cannon if he bolts or freaks out.
Good luck whatever you decide.

[Andy Carson]

3rd day: I was intending to make this a light day to show them work didn’t always have to be so hard, but it turned out longer anyway. They were spunky and misbehaved early on, and I felt like I should work them until they are cooperative and quiet again. They are really learning to lower thier heads when they pull. It seems like I would get poked in the belly with thier horns, not the face :). My off ox seems to still be more forward, and is still in better shape. It shows too. You can feel his muscles hardening up and growing already. It is most apparent in the lats (The muscle behind the front leg – I think this is the name in cattle too) and in the traps (muscles running along the top sides of the neck – again, I think they have the same names in cattle). The hind quarters still look pretty “string beany” to me, but I think this is less important for cattle anyway. My nigh ox is still significantly softer all over. I am toying with moving the hitch point over (a simple adjustment with the yoke I am using) so I can continue to push both of them, or keeping it even so the nigh ox can catch up with the off ox and I won’t end up with a lop-sided team.

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