[Donn Hewes]

Hi Russ, I have all ways been a fan of useing what you have. Many good days working a Percheron and a Halflinger. When you tried to start them together were you ground driving still, or something else? If you haven’t added anything else new except another horse you may just need to add a little more pressure. A change in voice, speaking her name and then the command to go, a little pressure from behind. Careful with the pressure from behind, we don’t want to swing anything so much you raise the level of excitement beyond what we wanted. Better to use a stick to reach out and give a little poke. A green horse can be very soft on the bit, be sure you are not inadvertently sending a signal to stay put at the same time you are asking them to go. An easy way to adjust the pressure slightly between two horses while ground driving is to adjust which one you stay behind. The pressure would be even if you were right in the middle. Walk behind a soft mouthed horse and you have given them a little slack compared to the other. Just some random thoughts – if any seem remotely applicable let us know. Good luck, Donn

[Donn Hewes]

Geoff it is a little hard to explain how the cart came about. I welded a three wheeled logging cart. Then I took it to a professional welder who improved my front pivot, etc. I welded some more. Than a few years pass and I take it to an amish shop and ask for a motor and hydraulics. They do a great job as that shop has a nack for belts and pulleys and levers. I wanted a brand new honda eng. with a key start. Very quiet and I don’t like to fix motors. Would have used diesel but couldn’t afford it. Since then I have welded a little here and there and last winter I added hydraulic brakes.

Long answer, it is a one off. No more like it.

Unfortunately, I still can’t understand your question about the lines. I don’t mind trying so ask it again. You said it wasn’t a question about the jockey stick, but then you mentioned tying them back which is part of that system. The only system I know really well is the one I use. Is that the one you are asking about? In the pictures you can see I use reg. team lines and four short straps. Two short straps in the center and one to bring the left most horse to the right, and one to bring the right most horse left? You will just have to drop by!

I reread your question and I will take a crack at it even though I think you are asking about the jockey stick system. With that system the team lines go to the center two horses just as if that was all your were driving. Now you add a horse on each side and basically that horse is being driven/lead by the horse it is next to. When you steer the center two to the right the jockey stick on the right most horse is turning his head to the right and keeping the space between him and the horse next to him; The jockey stick to the left most horse mean while is sort of leading him to the right. The buck back to the harness of the center horses just keeps the jockey stick horses from working ahead of the center two. It is a way of letting the center horses do some of the work of driving the other two. I have driven a couple of amish teams but the only system you really understand is the one you use all the time. I all ways find it interesting to learn more about other ways of doing it.

After reading the question a third time it is possible that you were asking something else entirely. If you are looking a picture of the team from the front it is a little confusing as to what is a line, or a stub line, or just a check rein to hold their head. All those animals have some loose check attached to their bit. The picture from the rear shows it best; my team lines go to the left side of the left two and the right side of the right two. Everything else is a short strap from the hames to the bit. When I drive them I think about it this way. I steer two to the left and two are lead to the left. I steer two to the right and two are lead to the right. I am sure I have confused you by now! Donn

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Geoff, quick reply as I am about to get off of work and ride my bike home! I think you are mixing two different systems together. With my lines to the out side horses there are no jockey sticks at all. When people use jockey sticks they put the lines on the horses in the middle and use the jockey stick to control the horses that are added to the outside.

My cart is a homemade/amish made three wheeled cart with a 25 hp Honda eng. and hydraulics I can control with my foot. I have used it for about three years and I love it. I use a seven foot haybine but I could easily run a nine. Wish I had one. The four head can fill a wagon with hay bales before they need a brake. Making hay with it is alot of fun. The neck yokes were my idea. Each side is an indepentant yoke that snaps on. That can be used. Fire call.

[Donn Hewes]

Hi JL, I think there are some pictures were you can see the lines pretty good too, if you go to the mule category and look for a thread called “making hay”. There are some pictures (follow the link) from in front and behind the team. I think the 8th picture (first from behind the team) shows the lines the best. Do you use team lines plus two short straps to drive three? If you do it is pretty easy to use the same lines and two more straps to drive four.

Sorry about the gimpy mule. I have been frustrated by that, off and on, for the last couple years. I think I have finally started enough young stock to make it go good. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Ronnie, thanks for the explanation, it makes more sense that way. On your work bridle with a chin strap, your not talking about the curb chain; it is more like a halter, right? I think that would be useful.

Geoff, I think it is the inside horse on the hames and the outside horse on the chin; the outside one is the one you are steering.

If you want to drive five or six abreast I would use the team lines with an extra cross check added for a third horse (like those pictured in the book above). I have drive six abreast this way with good results. I think jockey sticks would work just as well. I also had no problems with a bolt on neck yoke and six head, but the tongue was long enough as Denis suggested. I would use an attached neck yoke for anything over two animals as depending on the type of evener involved it can come off. Outside animals step back, inside animals step up, and off it goes. If you want as many animals holding back as you have pulling forward look at pictures of a four abreast neck yoke (go to the mules thread, look for “making hay” there is a link to pictures of four head all attached to hold back. Not needed for most tillage tools but really handy for hay making or anything heavy like that and working hills. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Ed, Yes Ed, in a way he is testing you. The way pass the test is to not let it have a big effect on you. You can adjust your routine, go a little slower, stop a few times with out hooking to anything, all the while he thinks you are ignoring this anxiety. Actually you are paying attention and aware of how he is responding to what you are doing. There isn’t any signal that I use with the lines for a horse that won’t stand still. Others might do it a little different. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Ronnie, I think I know how a jockey stick works but I have never used one. Does that work with a buck back strap to keep them from going ahead? It is a light weight pole (usually wood or metal?) with a snap on each end, right. Where do you hook it to? I think it is the outside of the bit to the same place on the horse next to it, but I am not positive. Sounds like it would be easy to make them at home? Thanks, Donn

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Gordon, Those lines will work, and even work for three abreast without the extra stub lines. They would work for five or six abreast also, just by adding more stub lines. The only draw back is they aren’t any good for a team. I have used both and haven’t found one set up to be much different than the other for driving. A person could add that extra check line to their regular team lines but then you would be messing with that all the time.

[Donn Hewes]

Say what you like but no one has worked harder to keep our horse farming community going for the last thirty years. Lynn maybe more of a showmen than me (I mostly stay home) or more of a salesmen than me (magazines and auctions and books and all), but when I started to learn this craft he helped me out with books and magazines that made it possible for me to join this world. I will always thank him for that.

As for poetry, I didn’t get it either, but I can live with that.

Nice article Donn… Thanks

[Donn Hewes]

The log is just like the first time you hitched him the cart. Give him a little time and he will figure it out. I hope you are keeping the lines in your hand while hooking the log? or someone is. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

Here is why I think it works, and by extension why I don’t think it is the only way to train a mule. Please Rod44, or anyone else that was there correct me if I am wrong. Despite using a shoeing stock or a tractor as aids in this training, these guys still rely on their judgment and skill in determining how to work these mules so they stay calm, and learn. I think this method could be messed up as well as any other by someone that didn’t have the ability to see the animal and how they are reacting to what is going on. Sometimes you pause for two seconds and it makes all the difference; other times you know that to pause right here would be a really bad idea. Use your voice to encourage them or push them just a little. You are not talking to the tractor or the stocks, you are watching the animals and seeing what will get what you want.

I don’t think there is a be all and end all method. The problem with using restraints (consider the tractor or the stocks as restraints) in training is you have to know how and when to take them off. That still requires the experience I am talking about. Based on the few photos I saw here I think these folks have that skill and it serves them and the mules well; as the restraints come off quickly with out any problems.

I prefer to train with as few restraints as possible because it is easier for me to focus on the animal and how he/she is responding to the training. This is a personal preference. I don’t really think one method is much faster than the other. My methods are plenty fast enough for me.

If you keep them calm, they are amazing at what they will accept and adapt to. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

Hi JL, I do my lines for four and three the same way. In both cases I use standard team lines. For three abreast I use a stub line from the hames of the center horse to the inside of the bit for the left and the right horse. For four abreast I use four stub lines. On the left side of the hitch the each horse has a team line on the left side of their bit and a stub line on the right. On the right is the opposite. Getting your stub lines the right length is just as important as getting your lines adjusted right (this determines how far apart they work). As we work mules and horses together sometimes the size difference is important. For a shorter mule working along side a taller horse I just move the stub line to a lower ring on the horses hames and everyone is happy. I know there are other different ways to drive them – this has worked well for me. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Ed, It is possible that the horse’s history tells part of the story of why he is acting the way he is. I think it is equally possible that a young horse, or a green horse with limited experience, will pick this up on their own. He is a little excited about what is about to happen. It is very easy for them to pick up a pattern like “every time we come over here and turn around we get a different log”. The fact that he stands calmly when you stop in the middle of a pull but not while you are hooking up, suggests to me that he is anticipating the next “thing” to pull.

Don’t let his anxiety make you rush to hook up. Change your routine; when you back up to a log, get off and walk up to his head. Check his harness. Is he calm and relaxed now? If you stop the cart but don’t get out right away will he relax? By all means keep hooking him to logs, but with each evolution keep looking for a little chance for him to demonstrate his ability to do it better than the time before.

[Donn Hewes]

Hi all, Nice looking mules at the top of the thread. they look calm for the most part and off to a nice start. I have been thinking about this thread since I have an interest in mules but waiting to reply. I don’t think using a tractor is either great or terrible. Just as with a round pen, a rope halter, or your old hat; it depends on how it is used. If you pay attention to the animals they will tell you have fast or slow to go and what to do next. It is our ability to use brains, our experience that we have gained in being around animals that will prepare us for starting them.

I bet that when the folks in these pictures hook a mule to a tractor, what they are relying on is their instincts for what is right. How does a mule react? Is it calm? What is it accepting? What is it ready for? Every muleman (It is like caveman – most women don’t think it is an insult to be left out) or women I ever met will do ALMOST anything to avoid a fight with a mule; tractor or no. The reason I say almost is because we still must bend them to our will or they will be useless.

I like to take my time, and three weeks is the same as three days in the life of a mule to me. But I work alone, and my methods (even the weaknesses of my methods) are based on my experience. I try to read an animal and push them to the next thing when I can. I don’t want to fight with a mule!

As for petting, well some people don’t want to kiss their wife’s because they might get uppity. Horses and mules both like people and appreciate affection and thanks for their hard work. To “make a pet out of them” is a huge mistake if it means they don’t except you as the leader and do as you say – no questions. Horses and mule are both smart enough to understand the difference between receiving a pet and being a pet.

I hope you all have been discing , spreading, and harrowing like mad. I have been having a great spring so far – just cant get anyone to take pictures. Donn

[Donn Hewes]

I think you did perfect. When hooking to something new, the purpose of thinking the where, when and how is not to make you nervous or them nervous, but to visualize a success. I your case I would see my self turning a gentle turn before I got to tight to the hedge, for example. Just thinking about it can make a huge difference. D

I have cleaned out the horse barn all morning, this has earned me the right to go harrow some pastures!

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