[Donn Hewes]

Mules necks are a little narrower and a little straighter than most horses. Some folks do buy a collar made for a mule, but I haven’t. I almost always use a heavy sweat pad. Deer hair type or foam type. Most mules heads are too big to have a collar pushed over their head. I just open the collar at the top and undo the clips of the pad on one side. I never re-clip the pad until after I have re-closed the top of the collar.

When the collar is resting against the shoulder the flat of your hand should slide in at the throat. This is so they have room to breath. It is important to check this while they are pulling something, to really make sure it is not too tight. Having several inches open below the neck places the harness and collar parts on all the wrong parts of the anatomy. The gaps along each side should be slight, up to a fingers width between the neck and the pad or collar. With a pad I will go even a little closer. A collar that is too tight on the sides will make indentation on the neck. It is important to check this after the hames has been tightened as the hames often changes the shape of the collar. One check I like against too tight a collar is to lift the collar back toward the horses chin (one hand, from the bottom). It should slide up the neck with out resistance. You can do this with the hames attached as long as the britchen is not over the but.

Also look at some of the pictures or send some pictures, folks will be more than happy to tell you how to adjust then. Good Luck, Donn

PS. with practice you can use the hames to make a collar fit better or worse. Making a hames longer and shortening the straps will make a collar longer and narrower. Vice versa just the opposite. A new stiff collar doesn’t change shape so much.

PSS. I am some what of a tight wad, that almost never buys anything new, but I have bought a new collar for almost every worker I have ever had. A few have gotten good hand me downs.

[Donn Hewes]

Hi John, I would just be guessing as it is not a machine I am familiar with, but guessing has never stopped me before. I would mount the slider in the middle of the space, with tongue up to working height and cutter bar down. this allows for cutter head moving up over bumps and down through a dip with a constant pull from the evener. While the design of a McD is quite different, their swinging evener attachment should allow the same range of motion.

[Donn Hewes]

This winter I sold one of the best mules I have ever had back to the folks I bought her from. She is eighteen and loosing a step on all the other animals I hooked her with. There isn’t any fun asking an honest older animal to step up all the time.

[Donn Hewes]

but Jays lines are a single line in each hand, but each hand also goes to three horses. Simple is best when trying to drive and work at the same time. if you want a drawing of the four horse neck yoke set up I could make one.

[Donn Hewes]

You make the neck yoke! It is like an evener bolted to the front of the tongue. two horse neck yokes snap or clip on each side. Easy to put on, because you put the two horse neck yokes on first, then pick the evener part up off the ground and snap it on. I have used slip hooks with safety clips on my neck yokes. Did you see the pictures?

You mentioned the three of four sides of a horses mouth. (I am not sure what you mean). On rereading I think you are talking about lines with an extra stub line going to the third horse. This is the method that Jay describes. I think the only draw back (and a small one at that) would be having a special set of lines for the purpose; these line would also drive a three abreast well. In driving with the regular team lines and half of each horse is controlled by a check from another horse, I have found the horses to be very comfortable with it, and very steerable. I have used the three horse lines also and they work equally well. I have never used a jockey stick, but they are so common in Amish farming that they must work ok. I all ways thought it was interesting that an Amish farm farmer didn’t consider the “jockey” horse broke to lines. I have never seen anyone use the four line method of driving four abreast, but I am pretty sure I wouldn’t like it. One of the great things about driving three or four abreast is that it is so simple. If I wanted four lines, I would drive four up.

[Donn Hewes]

The Work Horse Handbook by Lynn miller has the best drawing for lines driving three and four horses. Several methods mentioned above are represented. I can’t photo copy them (book too big for printer), but if someone really wanted a drawing I could make one.

[Donn Hewes]

I use team lines. The same lines for driving two, three, or four. When driving four I have the left line going to the outside (left of bit) of the two left horses, and the right line goes to the right side of the two on the right. I use four of the short checks (about 26 to 30 inches, depending on the width of your hitch) from hames to bit. With any of these systems you need to be a little careful driving the team while it is not hooked up to anything. Go slowly. I use four abreast for many hours each summer. There are a lot of pictures here.

Also good pictures of the four horse neck yoke that I use. it works great and helps a lot when making hay in hilly country. Check out the photo in the “face net” group. “Hay mowing 2010” has a good picture of how easily they work on these lines.

[Donn Hewes]

Well, I am quite dubious of the guard idea as well. It is something that could be experimented with over time. Probably something other than an intact male, mammoth jack might make a better guard animal. Might have to rethink my housing plan a little. Andy, thanks for the breeding file. That is just the kind of stuff I need to learn. I do know a few folks that have kept a breeding jack in the past, so I have some resources. From a training, breeding, and any other aspect, a weanling is the way to go.

[Donn Hewes]

I think most donkeys don’t like to switch back and forth. One of the reasons to buy a youngster is to keep him with sheep as a guard animal, and maybe as part of my horse and mule herd at times; but he won’t be around donkeys or breed them. “breeding mares” means mules are the result!

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Mark, Yes I am currently using a two horse neck yoke with a team of three. There are two problems with my current set up. One is inherent to the D ring. If the third horse is pulling only and not connected to the neck yoke, you will get a loose hitch if the horse decides to back out of it a little. This can be while standing or backing, but even pulling. Probably not a big problem, but it is compounded by my other problem which is the tongue being low to begin with. My neck yokes with snaps add a lot of length, which translates to hanging down when the hitch comes loose. I think these are all thing to adjust as part of the transition. I expected I would have to work on neck yokes some. That is why I am doing it in Dec!

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Mark, Yesterday I pulled the snow plow with two D ring harnesses but it was still not perfect. When the third horse backs up a step the rig comes loose. I also think the neck yoke set up is too bulky (makes the tung hang down to low).

Those neck yokes may work OK for a team, but I may end up replacing them with the plug type. First I want to make one for three horses. A three horse neck yoke won’t really balance the load of backing, but it could hold all the horses in position. For most of my three horse applications currently I don’t need a lot of backing power.

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Al, I think it is quite possible that it would pull a 9′ bar mower, but in most cases I would think just using the mower as intended would work better and be more efficient. I doubt that my cart would pull a 9′ haybine. Specifically I expect that it would be easy to skid a wheel (and plug the mower) if the going got tough or slowed just a bit. A 9′ haybine can definitely be pulled by a ground driven pto cart. I would just expect it to be a little heavier and need at least four horses to pull it.

With the ground driven pto carts I have seen the trade off is always the same. To pull a bigger implement you have to make the cart bigger (heavier). Best to brake the jobs down into categories like light and heavy, so you don’t end up using a heavy cart for a light job. I would consider these carts (mower conversions) light and perfect for rakes and tedders; anything else we would have to try it and see.

[Donn Hewes]

Decent shape for a mower is kind of like a “broke” horse. When was it last used? Most old mowers that haven’t been used recently, will have some money spent on cutter bar parts by the next person to use it. That is not to say it is not a good mower. One that was used this summer and the knife is out of it, with a little oil on it, and no signs of play, or leaking seals could be worth 700$ to 1500$ depending on condition and local buyers.

A good mower that will need a little reconditioning, could go for $200 to to $500 again depending on how much it needs, and who wants to buy it.

Buying and selling horse drawn equipment is a little like buying old cars. everyone says the are worth so much, but if you try to buy one; you can’t find one for that price with in three counties. If you want to sell it, you can’t find a buyer that will pay that much.

I live near Cortland and maybe interested, I also have some friends that were just getting ready to buy two fixer uppers. Feel free to give me a call or email. 607-849-4442

[Donn Hewes]

Those pictures were from the first few minutes of a D ring harness for any of my horses. Even with the tongue not being held up right (the suspension doesn’t really work well when only one of three is wearing a D ring harness), that mare seemed very comfortable with it. She is a pretty easy going horse.

I took off the trace carriers from her harness; so far I like that but would be interested in other opinions. Started my second harness, but it was in worse shape starting out. Hand to go to the collection of old tugs to find one I could cut. I am waiting for a Christmas present of copper rivets from Midwest Leather so I can make repairs to the britchen and spider straps.

Anyone not familiar with putting in a solid copper rivet to repair your own harness?

[Donn Hewes]

Grey, I didn’t do anything to the cut ends of stitching. It probably would be a good idea to, but I couldn’t see an easy way to. The metal repair clip does cover and hold those thread ends though. Yes, it was a little hard to cut into good tugs. The repair clips obviously don’t go on the D ring so at first I was a little stumped. Mitch explained that after I cut it and repair it I can simply flip it end for end and put the repair clip at the hames and put the all leather end on the ring where they will absorb some of the shape. The D ring unbolts so you can slip straps on (the rear tug is attached at the bolt). You can see in the last picture the shine rivets are where the new repair clips are.

It is all ways interesting to see the under side of some of the parts I am taking off. One quarter strap was almost through. Other britchens will need a few more copper rivets before they go back out! I can make some nice new market straps from the breast straps I am taking off.

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