[Donn Hewes]

Great place for no pressure driving. My hands would freeze if I had to grip tight will plowing the driveway. Fortunately I can just relax my hands.

[Donn Hewes]

My Two cents – If her feet are truely long, You may not achieve the desired hoof the first time you trim her. A severely over grown hoof will take two or three trimings to get back to the desired shape. There is no reason to wait to start. As far as feeding her, just give her good quality hay free choice. There is no reason to fatten her quickly as we are not planning on eating her (I hope). She will think this free choice good quality hay is the best life a donkey ever had.

I am curious about the choice of a young donkey. Has she been driven already? Do you plan to train her your self? I think that is a big challenge, and I wish you luck, Donn

[Donn Hewes]

You can compost them. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

It is possible that the tongue is too long, but remember, that is a separate issue. The harness adjustment is made before hooking to anything. When the harness is on just take the snap and pull it forward. That will tell you where it is going to end up and if it needs to be adjusted. Once you adjust that your tongue will appear even longer, unfortunately. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

Thanks Carl, My Favorite part of what I am doing these days is the fact that it involves so much learning. The books look great. Talk to you soon, Donn

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Mink, Start by making sure the harness is adjusted to fit the horse. After snapping the snaps and buckling the buckles, take the breast strap snap (the one that hooks to the neck yoke), and pull it forward. It should a create a straight line down from the hames. Back behind this line, and they will be hitting the neck yoke, so make the pole strap or the quarter straps longer. If the snap ends up in front of the hames they will be lifting the collar off their shoulders when they stop or back. That is a quick way to sore a horse, so shorten your breast strap or your quarter straps. Check this adjustment regularly as you harness your animals.

Obviously, you always hook the neck yoke first for safety reasons. When hooking to an unfamiliar vehicle expect to take a minute to find the right length. With all the tugs hooked, have them take a step forward, you should be able to slip your fingers into the britchen easily. The breast strap may hang away from the body, but that should only be an inch or two. This won’t work if the vehicle is rolling down any grade as the weight will continue to be on the britchen. If you have them take a step back you should see the tugs slacken, but just enough so you could unhook one easily if you wanted to. This way they are suspended between these two points of contact (forward and back), with just a little room in between.

A neck yoke that is fixed on the tongue(bolt on or snap on, or strapped on), is a good insure policy. Don’t use the fixed neck yoke as an excuse for not checking the harness fit or proper hooking length however. A slip on neck yoke will work great if care is taken to make sure the animals are hooked properly. Proper length is important for the animals comfort and success, regardless of how the neck yoke is attached. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

Simple sheds are best to start with. If you can figure out where you want to keep harness and have it be convenient to a place to tie up, that may be part of the shed as well. Eventually you may want at least one box stall, for a sick, lame, or foaling animal; but you don’t need it right away. You might plan it in to the size of a shed. I don’t put battens on the siding for sheep or horse shelter; both animals want a lot of fresh air in their housing.

if you have a neighbor that is really ‘working’ mules you have something lots of folks here would be very jealous of. If he knows about working mules, he knows about working horses. My advice would be don’t be in a hurry to buy anything. Go learn what you can from him first. Find out when he will be working them. Offer to clean the stalls if you have to. Learn to pick their feet. Harness them. If you play your cards right you can drive those mules. Take your time. If your neighbor is a working teamster that is a gold mine.

[Donn Hewes]

I am guessing that is ‘registered’

[Donn Hewes]

R – no need to apologize. I wasn’t very diplomatic myself. I guess my point was I don’t loose a lot of sleep over them. I also believe that if they don’t look for change, it will come anyway. DH

[Donn Hewes]

No offense my friend but I haven’t met very many people who were against horses. Some folks don’t like them, others are afraid of them, and still more don’t really understand them, some doubt their efficacy; but I have not met very many who actively opposed them. I would hang out with them if I did. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

Donn Hewes, Back home in sunny NY state where it never snows more than two inches at a time. I had a great time with Jason and Jagger in Virginia and I will report a little of what I learned on another thread; maybe tonight.

I have enjoyed this thread, especially how it almost went off the tracks only to recover. I truly believe it will all ways be difficult to express these ideas with just words, but it sure beats not talking at all.

Here are a couple of after thoughts. Carl, it took me a while to stop talking about trusting horses, and now it is second nature, an important part of how we fit in this relationship. Just try to be trustworthy. That is an idea I got from you a few years ago. Also I think your description of what the teamster contributes when dangers or unwanted external stimuli occur is very useful. I would like to throw in a caution to folks who might not have experienced some of these events. I don’t know how to cut and paste a quote, but you said something to the effect of ” I don’t try to control the environment, I focus on how I respond to the things I can’t control.” I get it, in fact I think it is leadership and it can be a hard thing to teach. My only concern is that we distinguish between things we can control and things we can’t. It is a little cavalier to say we don’t try to control anything, as in fact I think we do it all the time with out realizing it.

Some examples: Good harness and equipment is an example of trying to control what might happen. It is fine to make light of dogs running around having fun, but do that with a mowing machine and you will end up with a short dog. Keeping our horses and mules home on our farms is another great way to control a lot of unwanted unexpected stimuli. I would say we control what we can, then we train ourselves, and our animals, on how to deal with the unexpected.

I used to be really up tight about my horses working with my dogs all over (most mules really don’t like dogs); and you are 100% right my being up tight was a greater distraction for the working animals than the dogs ever were. I have learned to ignore a lot of dog activity and so have the horses and mules. My wife still yells at the dogs sometimes, but fortunately you can use the same method to deal with that as you would with the dogs. (Don’t tell my wife that I am training the animals to ignore her!) Dogs should be as easy to control as horses, if I tell any of ours to “go home” They should be gone all the way to the dog house. It usually works!

Great thread, lots of images for people to think about while they work their animals. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

Thanks for all the quality input. So far all I have done is share the flyer with a few friends and neighbors. Lots of good input from here too. Don’t worry JL, both those horses are dead, but I just like the photo. I do own a 6 y/o mule out of the mare! I am purposefully starting slow. Identifying this as work I am planning to do in the future supports my seeking education and training; which is my focus right now. Allowing myself the time and cost to go and do it right. I will keep you posted. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Joshua, It sounds like a good project. I have always enjoyed the smaller projects that need to involve the code department and so many mechanical considerations. Just fun to construct. Do you want to be able to heat it? If so I would be less inclined to make a log cabin although at that small size ti would still heat relatively easily. Timber frames are more effort if you are just learning those skills, but are worth it if you plan to enclose it so you can see the frame work. One structure I have always been interested in is called a tide – water timber frame. These were a transitional type of construction from true timber frames to what we know as stick framed today. They used smaller dimension lumber ( 3″ x 5″ posts ) and a combination of joinery and nails. Just some thing it might be interesting to google. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

True confessions. This thread really makes you want to go out and cut something big! The combination of teamster and engineer is great, so many variations. What about a sled fitted with an arch instead of a bunk. Low point of draft, weight centered on the runners, easy to hook / unhook. Maybe even three removable wheels for summer use. Two in the back and one dolly wheel in front. My goal for this winter is to get myself a little training and add horse logging to my resume. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Roberson, If you are really trying to choose between Horses and oxen, here is what I would suggest. Get around some working animals. As a beginner it can be difficult to tell if you are seeing the real thing or not. The best way I can recommend for someone that doesn’t know exactly what a horse or a teamster should be doing at any given moment is this: look for a teamster who works calm and quiet, always, and their horses, mules, or oxen do the same.

Being around the working animals will help you figure out what you really want. My two cents. Youtube never got any firewood. Donn

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