[Donn Hewes]

Geoff, sorry to hear of that. It is hard to take it all in at once. I hope soon you will be making plans to rebuild. We will be thinking of you. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

I am doing pretty much the same, but I have a few wrinkles I like. I regularly lead six, four horses a mule, and a donkey. At his level I feel it is important to distinguish between perfect, and good. I seldom stop where I am going to correct an animal. Perhaps if they tangle me all up I will but typically I just go where I am going. I use two lead ropes, each with three snaps about 2′ or a little more apart. One lead rope has short tail with a knot. I can use this to “touch” the chest of the second or third horse if need be. I lead three in front of three, so the back lead rope has a long tail. The lead ropes with three snaps work great. In order to lead all six this way you have to accept that it is a little bit of a circus trick. Part of the circus trick is figuring out where to put each of your animals, but this is the same thing you do in a hitch. The thing is people expect to hook all these animals together and work them and drive them, leading them is a good practice.

[Donn Hewes]

I got a cool little tool for pulling those out, but I can’t say where I got it from! A piece of metal machined to fit right in the back of the bushing. Then a hole in the center for a threaded rod. Works perfect on the number nine where there is only one bushing. On the number seven you are trying to pull two at once and not quite as easy. For my next trick, and after careful consideration with Norm Macknair and others, I will attempt to place a new bushing in an egged out housing using JB weld (epoxy). I will let you know how it goes. Donn

I use plain motor oil. Be sure to clean the gear box out if it is full of gunk. Also don’t over fill, half of the lowest gear in the gear box is enough. I need to look in the automotive world for an easy solution to replace lost or wasted gaskets.

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Grey, Some where in my first post up top is a (see pictures) or something that is slightly highlighted. That is a link to my web album. The old potato digger is sort of one of those middle buster types. No mechanical action but long fingers that come of the back. Also swooped up wings on each side. When I start to work on it I will take some pictures.

[Donn Hewes]

Trust me Geoff, I way to busy to cut a useable potato digger. I am planning to modify one that has defied all my efforts to make it go straight. I believe it lost it’s original beam years ago, and nothing I put on it worked right. I also think the wear on the left and right sides might have made it unstable for straight line travel. I hope / believe putting it behind the cart will fix it. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Karl, I thought you would like a picture of your horses. They are doing well, though Guy came through the winter a little thin. I think it is just a factor of group feeding and him being a big guy that needs extra hay. He is getting a few hours a a day of extra turn out now so I am sure he will fatten up. Yes I have loved the extra concrete in the barn yard. The jack breed Lady all on his own! (tall grey mare). We don’t know if she is Preg yet. I had the vet out the other day and we were speculated that the Suffolk might be pregnant but we decided to wait to confirm until it is time to check Lady. I have not caught Polly coming into heat yet. Some mares just don’t want a mule child!

Goeff, You got it. When I back up the bar drops and the point is set. At the end of the row, one step back and pull the rope, and out it comes. It worked great but I need pictures. I also need to make a few small adjustments. Yes a fine peice of cutting and welding to put the wings on. The horses picked the tongue up higher than I planned so I need to cut out a little to make it ride out of the ground better. Also need another set of holes for shallow setting. I am planning to modify a potato digger to go on there.

I am trying to fix the crimper (cutting a baring off) for a friend. I gave up a haybine a couple years ago, I would go back.

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Mitch, It took me a minute to figure out what your were trying to count. In poker they say it is bad luck to count your money. I have just taken that theory into all my dealings. Just wanted to bump this thread back in front of the spam.

[Donn Hewes]

Hi All, I think the standard evener was a 36″, but I am not sure on that. Actually I might be able to look that up at home. 34″, 36″. or 38″ the size was how they were laid out. It determines where the horse walks in relation to the grass. I use 36″ on everything with a couple exceptions. An old high wheel rake will really benefit from a wide evener and yoke as the pole moves on the side hill. I use the 36″ eveners with animals from 1200# to 1800#. The original size might also speak to the size of the horses in use at the time the mowers where made.

[Donn Hewes]

At first glance an adjustable collar only makes a collar longer or shorter. But to some degree that can be useful when shaping a collar to make it wider. To make collar wider, start with one that is a little too long, then adjust the hames shorter with a corresponding longer strap. The collar is forced to adapt to the shorter hames and longer strap by being squished a little. Making it wider. To some degree you can control whether it is wider at the top or the bottom by which strap you let out. As you can see the adjustable collar just gives you more options; make it longer to make it wider.

[Donn Hewes]

I have a Jack and he is just starting to breed my mares. He is three years old and about 15.1 hands. I am really a beginner in breeding. What do you mean by “open breeding”? Breeding on pasture, with out our help? Propentency?
Is that prepotency? I am not sure what that is, but will look it up. Thanks, Donn

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Mitch, Don’t tell the guy splitting the wood, but world consumption of oil is about 85 to 90 million barrels a day (depending on what you call oil, ethanol? Tar sands?, NGL’s). US consumption is about 18 or 18.5 per day. down from peak near 21 about 2006. I confess to a little obsession with oil. Talk to you soon, Donn

[Donn Hewes]

You can all ways hook them together and see how they do. Being together may help them relax but it also makes it harder for them to pay attention to you. You said, “The gelding is either trying to turn around and come back to me, or wanting to go to her, whichever one of us is closer.” This is what you will have to work against when you hook them together. On the collars I highly recommend an adjustable collar. I have several times bought a collar that didn’t fit just as I wanted. 5 out of 6 of my collars are adjustable right now and I get a good fit and good wear out of them. If you don’t get and adjustable collar remember to leave an inch at the bottom for them to breath. With a collar that is big enough you can use the hames and hames straps to make it wider or narrower where you need it.

[Donn Hewes]

There are a lot of different approaches to this question. I think the answer lies in a little bit of subtlety. The animals don’t stand because they are not relaxed. Continuing to ask them to stand will not make them relax. Let them move long enough, and far enough, preferable while doing something will help them to relax. It is a little bit of a two way answer because you want them to know what the word whoa means (which I think they already do), but you can’t keep going fifty feet and testing them to see how long they will stand. There are many different views on this, but I believe that horses are taught to stop and stand initially and then continue to improve at this critical skill as you work with them. Yes, hook them to a small log (10′ by 8″ or bigger or smaller, bigger than a fence post) and let them walk a good while. Then they will learn to stop and stand. Correcting fidgeting is the same way. You do want to correct these things, but you can’t just take a horse and repeat your self over and over, “don’t do that, don’t do that” again get them moving. I prefer to hook my new animals to something by themselves first and drive a few times single. Then put them together as a team when both are going well. Just my two cents.

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Peyton, Here are some random thoughts, not sure they are worth much. Are you sure anything is wrong at all? When they were at the other place you may not of had as much time to just watch them hang out. Were they out in a larger area there and a smaller paddock now? Hay and feed the same? Are they drinking plenty of water? Sometime a new water source can be tricky. Hook them up; ride them or drive them, and that will help convince you if they are all right or not. Horses do take a few day to settle into a new place, but usually that has more to do with meeting strange new horses. I bet they are fine now, if not I would have them checked.

[Donn Hewes]

Mowing is a very fun and satisfying job to do with horses. It takes just the right amount of skill to say, you will have to practice and get better with time. Easy enough so once you get the hang of it you can more or less coast around like you have been doing it your whole life. The biggest problem any beginner will have is plugging. The problem is, there are so many different ways to plug a mower and knowing which ones (or multiples) are afflicting you is the key to making the change that makes it work right. I could write a page on all the ways to plug a mower but I won’t do it right now. As far as makes and models goes, there are two important things to remember depending on what you want to mow and what you want to spend. First, there are lots of makes and models that will mow good if they will carry a good bar with good or new cutting parts properly adjusted. Second, the big advantage of McD #7 and #9 is that they made millions of them. They are everywhere, and you can buy any part for them.

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