[Donn Hewes]

Hi Bob and George, Nice work gentleman. I hope to start mowing tomorrow and Friday. Bob, It looks like you didn’t ted the hay. I think you had mentioned before that you don’t all ways. How did you mow it? and how many days till baling? What is the humidity like? How did the bales come out? Nice work! And thanks for the great pictures, both. I was teaching the intern to mow by clipping a pasture in front of the house. Only wiped out two potted bay plants!

[Donn Hewes]

A couple of thoughts, I agree with Tristan, that it is more likely anxiety than boredum. I use check reins on all my bridles. They help keep an animal from eating while working. A check rein needs enough slack to allow natural head positions while working. For me it would difficult / impossible to use a check rein to prevent an animal from reaching the yoke. I would not think in terms of the chewing directly, I think in terms of; is the animal relaxed. If not my goal would be a relaxed horse. A slightly different goal that would eventually help with the chewing problem too.

[Donn Hewes]

Scrap price is really the only answer you can give from any distance. You need to be careful or you will end up with a load of scrap. Some (most?) if this will never be useful for anything. If I lived five miles away I would walk through and buy exactly what I wanted, in some cases paying more than scrap prices for it. That only works if you know what you want and what you are looking at. For example, there are a couple mowers I would buy in almost any condition for 100 to 200$. Most others I won’t buy.

[Donn Hewes]

Sure looked like hay making weather today. My wife wants me to mow, but I am not ready – mentally.

[Donn Hewes]

Hi George, That will be interesting to see how that turns out. Here I think the high soil moisture, and cold nights would make it very difficult to dry; but I will be interested to hear how it works out. Take some pictures! Donn

[Donn Hewes]

The self tapping screw sounds like a great idea. My mower saga continued last night. My amish neighbor has his father in law visiting right now, and he has a small repair shop in Western Pa. Fun to talk to him, and he suggested using a little silicone caulk with the new seal. If you have scratched it a little the cualk will take it up. He also said he is using a thick seal he is getting from Peachy? Must try this place as many get parts there. That thick seal is a little easier to put in than the thin metal ones. Last night my little cut off pipe worked great to install the thin seals I had, and I did put in two. Easy peasy, ten minutes. Then the new shaft on the new flywheel was a little too short. I never thought of this as I pressed it. I put the shaft all the way into the fly wheel, like the others I was looking at. If it is an 1/8″ too short it locks up before the gear is on tight and won’t turn! I tried it without the washer and it seemed close but no go. Brought it home to make it 3/16 longer – it least it will be easy to put it in the press to make longer.

[Donn Hewes]

George, I would usually expect the baring to be OK, but consider it carefully. any sticky spot, or rough action should be replaced. In the number nine there is only on bushing and it is right behind the seal (outer end). In the number seven there are two bushings and no baring. If you remove the seal, you will see it there. I would likely put in a new bushing unless that one seemed near perfect. No slop. What does the surface of the shaft look like in the last four inches (nearest the fly wheel)? Should be smooth and clean. Remember to be careful taking the old seal out. Hah.

[Donn Hewes]

Yes, I have a small clevis that fits right over the flywheel with the bolt going through the hole. Then I stick a large wrench under the clevis and across the top of the flywheel. I have never tried to hit the gear. I have all ways just wedge it from below. Usually with a small crow bar. Then just rock on the wrench. Except for the one I broke they have all come off easier than I expected. Off to try and fix my mistakes from yesterday. Just got a cool little bender for my shop. I can make clevis and plan to bend some rod to make eveners.

[Donn Hewes]

Funny you should mention flywheels and seals, as I have been messing with them today. No, never touched the clutch lever seal as of yet. yes, the fly wheel goes couterclockwise to come out. I have usually found a combination of a shackle and a wrench with put the force on the meat of the flywheel and reduce the risk of breaking them. Most come off easier than you expect, but then I did break the last one I wanted off. I wasn’t working at home and didn’t have my usual set up. Fortunately the broken flywheel was attached to a wasted shaft so I didn’t need to mess with it anymore. To add insult to injury I couldn’t get the pitman baring off the flywheel post. either. Do you think this mower was run a little too far? I just used JB weld to put the new bushing in. The bushing opening was egged out in the front but found a good home as it went further in. The JB weld is good and hard, now we will see how long it lasts. I bought a new shaft from Macknairs, and just barely got it pressed on a flywheel I had. I put the jack on the floor and with the fly wheel and shaft on top of that with a block of hard wood to the roof beam. Messy, but it worked.

When I took the remnant of the old seal out of the mower I must have marred the edge. Try to take them out with out touching that outer edge, as this makes it much harder to start the new seal. That in combination with not being home made me waste a couple seals today trying to get one in. You need the right little block of wood or short piece of pipe to set the seal square. Now if I just talk about the rain and the muddy barn yard this will be a member diary!

[Donn Hewes]

Sorry, That Field day is Sunday, JUNE 17th. I can’t believe I did that. It is a long drive from Arkansas. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

I know it is a long drive, but you might be interested in a field day on my farm. Free to DAP NET members, we will be talking about bringing home new horses or starting new teamsters in the morning. Demoing and talking about all manor of hay making equipment in the afternoon. Sunday, June 17th.
With two teams and two mowers I clip close to a hundred acres some years, on top of hay making.

[Donn Hewes]

I find the conversation about bitless bridles very interesting as I am always interested in how and what others are doing to manage horses. The bit makes total sense to me at present, for my purposes. One interesting observation from your last post if I might. The doctor equated the bitless bridle to safety in any hands, including the novice. I feel strongly that teaching is another way to provide safety to a novice. I would worry that a bitless bridle might not hurt the horses mouth, but might set up a beginner for more incidents out of control.

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Jared, Glad I can help. I think to dominate, we don’t need / want to prove we are more fit than them. Smarter perhaps, and ultimately in control. Think how smart (and calm and relaxed) you look, if you can stand in one spot while the other guy (horse)does all the work. This makes the point we want him to get. I am glad I can help. I hope you noticed there is a field days coming up at my farm on June 17th. It is free to all NOFA NY and DAP NET Members. I don’t have a problem with the getrdun mind set. I feel that what we are doing here is REALLY getrdun, once and for all.

[Donn Hewes]

I think there are some real skills involved in working / training this horse on pasture. His previous experiences with the grain bucket will be working against us to start with. He probably has been having his way in other ways as well, but catching him on pasture is as good a place to start as any. First some questions. Is he on pasture by himself? How big is it? What kind of fences does it have? Basically I am using round pen techniques in a larger area. If the area is too large it can be more difficult to get the proper message across, but it can be done. In some cases (tough) it might be worth the effort to make the paddock smaller. 250′ by 250′ is a good size. Ten times that is a little big.

The principals are pretty simple, the patience and skill to make it work are the hard parts. Here the rules. You pick the place in the paddock where you are willing to put the halter on. Anywhere in the middle, something like that. Corners and fences are out. We are not trying to corner or trap this horse. Those methods might catch a horse, but won’t teach what we want. Never approach the horse unless it is standing still, looking at you. In the ideal world it would be standing facing you, but we will leave that for the round pen. It could be perpendicular with its head your way. Never approach the butt, approach by walking to the shoulder or head. But the horse is not standing still you say. The object here is to tell the horse to move (read run). You may want to modulate the speed and change directions, but never let it eat. Any attempt to turn it’s butt toward you should increase the need for him to move. He will learn to keep an eye on you. When he stops in the right area, ( he will stop if he has used up some energy, and you lighten up the pressure on him.) ask him if he will stand as you approach. If or when he decides to move or or turn away from you, you continue to drive him froward. He doesn’t need to run wildly, but he needs to keep moving.

The problem quickly becomes; how far do you have to run to make him move and keep his head up. This is where size of paddock can make a difference. Only the really zany like me will attempt this in a large apple orchard. I pretty much do it where ever they choose. There are tricks to making them run more than us. If they want a spot or the gate or to be with other animals, you go back and forth and exclude them from the place they want. My herd of horses have seen all this before. It is funny to watch them cavort for a couple laps with the untrained animal, and then they slowly say “your own your own” Then they stand at the gate and watch the show. In any case the trick is to not run as far as the horse. In fact most of us will need to run a lot less than the horse in order to make our point before we fall over.

It can be fun work. The trainer should be calm, and relaxed, not impatient. The horse is making all the choices and eventually he will realize the way out of this silly predicament is to let you approach and halter them. Then give them a little pat / rub and lead them as if nothing ever happened. A tough case will try again the next day. But because of your growing skill and their high intelligence it will not take nearly so long. Some young horses and mules will take a refresher about once a year. Usually some particularly sunny, fresh spring day, when you have absolutely no time for such nonsense.

[Donn Hewes]

Therapy? I hope you don’t mind my sense of humor. I start out treating them all the same. Since this horse is “new” to you I see it as an opportunity for both of you to make a fresh start. Simple example. I have brought home a few horses that are ” a little hard to catch on pasture”. I correct that the first day. I don’t ask any thing, or expect anything from this horse the it is not capable of, but letting me be the boss in the pasture is certainly with its reach.

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