Horse power?

[Blaundee]

Does anyone here use horses for working their farm?

 

[the funny farm6]

my neighbor does. he has a pair of halflingers and a standerdbred that he drives. he also hauls wood and has a 1 horse plow he uses.

 

[Blaundee]

Do you know anything about what he does, like how long he works them, how they are shod, etc?

I want to learn more about using horses for transportation and work and thinking of other ideas of how to use horses- I raise riding horses and have plenty of them, Id like to be able to us them (and by "transportation" I dont mean like 10 miles or something, more like 30-200 mile trips)

 

[the funny farm6]

not sure how long he works them-pretty much till the job is done. he does rest them if they need to, but they are used to the work. he is also the area horse shoer, so he does their shoes as needed. i think the last time i asked he said a new set of shoes every 6 weeks or so. he getting ready to add the shoes with the stuff on them for traction for the winter.

we are looking at breaking a mini to drive. (for fun) he is going to lend/sell us a mini buckboard and harness. wonder if you can get a mini plow????

 

[Denim Deb]

One time when I was in Lancaster County, PA, I saw a kid w/a mini hooked up to some type of reel lawn mower, so I don't see why you couldn't find or make some kind of plow for them.

As for how long to work them, I'm sure it's pretty much the same as w/long trail rides, or endurance rides. You work up the amount of time you want them to work gradually. I've just really started to ride my horse again (I had a knee operation in January and by the time I could really ride, I was working so I had no time to ride her), and since neither of us has been doing a lot of riding for about a year, I'm building up to it. Last time we went out, we rode for almost 3 hours. And, we were both fine.

 

[Emerald]

I wish I could help.. I know two of my neighbors breed and raise and show/compete with the big clydsdales. I don't know them well tho.. not enuf to ask the millions of questions I have that is.. They are the Blond clydesdales tho not the big red ones like the budwiser horses.
I've seen them in the parades and they are beautiful and the second set of neighbors have the blond clydesdales too. now he does horse pulls and while I know him better when I have chatted with him about the horses it was not in regards to how often he has them shoed. but I have seen him out with his antique equipment plowing fields and he did say it was for strength training. I also can not say how long they are out plowing but his horses are his babies and I can't see him pushing them too hard.
I live in an area with all kinds of horses/pigs/cows/ostreches/emus/camels/llamas and last but not least alpacas(newest fad for the rich folks haha) There are even big Elk farms about 30 or so miles north of here.. I guess the economy is so bad in MI that people are trying everything to bring in a bit more income.

 

[Blaundee]

I wish I could help.. I know two of my neighbors breed and raise and show/compete with the big clydsdales. I don't know them well tho.. not enuf to ask the millions of questions I have that is.. They are the Blond clydesdales tho not the big red ones like the budwiser horses.
I've seen them in the parades and they are beautiful and the second set of neighbors have the blond clydesdales too. now he does horse pulls and while I know him better when I have chatted with him about the horses it was not in regards to how often he has them shoed. but I have seen him out with his antique equipment plowing fields and he did say it was for strength training. I also can not say how long they are out plowing but his horses are his babies and I can't see him pushing them too hard.
I live in an area with all kinds of horses/pigs/cows/ostreches/emus/camels/llamas and last but not least alpacas(newest fad for the rich folks haha) There are even big Elk farms about 30 or so miles north of here.. I guess the economy is so bad in MI that people are trying everything to bring in a bit more income.

Elk farms have actually been around for a long time, the bottom on them fell out in 2003 with the CWD/mad cow stuff- Elk used to be big business, now mainly hobby.