plowing with horses

[~gd]

Remember that most of the old harness was made for draft horses which are much larger than modern Riding horses.

There's actually a riding-sized breed which you may not be familiar with, called a Missouri Fox Trotter, that is pretty popular and is excellent for riding as well as being a versatile "homestead" horse.

History of the Fox Trotter from the California Fox Trotter Association:

The Missouri Fox Trotting horse was developed primarily from saddle horses and light harness horses that early settlers brought with them to the rugged hills of the Ozarks during the 19th century. These early settlers brought their finest saddle stock with them. These horses were depended upon for their sure-footedness in their mountainous region and their ability to do whatever was needed about the homestead, such as plowing, hauling logs and working cattle, while at the same time able to double as a stylish buggy horse or riding horse for the family. The easy gaited horses who left their genetic imprint on the Fox Trotting Horses of the Ozarks, were the American Saddle Horses of Kentucky, Walking Horses of Tennessee, Arabian, Morgan, Thoroughbreds, horses of the initial Spanish-Barb ancestry, plantation horses from the deep South and other light breeds. These breeds were combined to give the Fox Trotting Horse a smooth gait along with a pleasing appearance and disposition. Their bloodlines can be traced from early settlers who poured across the Mississippi River, into the Ozarks, from Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee.

From the above link:

The Missouri Fox Trotting horse comes in a variety of colors and stands between 14 to 16 hands in height, <snip>

Quarter Horses usually stand 14 to 16 hands high.

So, it's not unreasonable that one can find old harnesses to fit a smaller "work" horse.

with all due respect, I have actually worked with a team plowing. Since you are a horsewoman I am sure you know the difference in harness alone between real workhorses and buggy horses. I should have probably stuck to the difference in harness so to avoid discussion of favorite breeds. To tell the truth I always associate Mules as being the heavy pullers in AK, MO and other hilly parts of the midwest. In any event I should have been more specific about harness. It needs to be fitted to the horse or team and to the job it is going to be used for. My intent was that point not the size or breed of horse to be used.
the harness for a Budweiser Clydesdale on a Missouri Fox Trotter would look like Mean Joe Green's jersey on the kid that gave him a Coke [been watching the great old Super Bowl ads on-line.] ~gd

 

[Dawn419]

~gd,

I hope all is well with you!

I don't consider myself a horsewoman ( we have several of them here and I'm not in the same class, by a long shot).

With all due respect, and I mean this with the most respect...trying to come across with a specific point (for me, atleast) is hard as I can't quite type exactly the point I'm trying to get across. I meant no disrespect to you.

I actually signed up at this forum (as an old BYC Mod) in early '09, then lost contact via internet a few months later (for over 2 years) when we bought our propety out here in AR and made our jump. I don't mean to dredge up useless info on this, just trying to explain where it is that I'm coming from.

I do understand the differences in harness sizes even though I've never been that route, personally, and probably posted wrongly myself in assumptition that anyone looking into this subject would know the difference.

We're good !

 

[hqueen13]

OK, the subject of mules has finally made me say something!
My family has used mules and draft horses in the recent past, and mules can be a challenge. A lot of the time, it's because of the way they have been treated, but mules are simply a lot smarter about somethings (and a lot less forgiving of human foibles) than horses. If you've never worked mules before, it's really helpful to find someone who has a good relationship with theirs and spend time with the mules (person, too) in a work environment BEFORE committing to mule ownership.
My stepdad loved his mules, and they loved him, but my relationship with them was more of an armed truce!

Yep, the owner of the barn where I kept my horse has a team of belgians and a team of mules... the mules are incredibly smart, but they seem to use that smart to see how they can get out of having to work I always thought they looked a lot harder to work with than his horses... but that's the ONLY experience I have with mules, and the only pair I've met... others could be completely different.

Dirty Jobs (TV show) did a segment on working with mules for logging... it was really fun to watch.

<3 Mike Rowe

And you both are on to the fact of the mules - you really have to know and understand the psychology being the animal in order to get them to work well for you. But if you can, then you've got a pair of animals that will work harder than anything you've ever imagined. Get on their wrong side, and yeah, you'll be working a lot harder than they are!! LOL

I know of someone around here that used to ride endurance on a huge gaited gray mule named Holy Moses, which is hilarious!

Someday I'd like to have a mule, too. But then I want just about every other crittter too

 

[Avalon1984]

OK, the subject of mules has finally made me say something!
My family has used mules and draft horses in the recent past, and mules can be a challenge. A lot of the time, it's because of the way they have been treated, but mules are simply a lot smarter about somethings (and a lot less forgiving of human foibles) than horses. If you've never worked mules before, it's really helpful to find someone who has a good relationship with theirs and spend time with the mules (person, too) in a work environment BEFORE committing to mule ownership.
My stepdad loved his mules, and they loved him, but my relationship with them was more of an armed truce!

Yep, the owner of the barn where I kept my horse has a team of belgians and a team of mules... the mules are incredibly smart, but they seem to use that smart to see how they can get out of having to work I always thought they looked a lot harder to work with than his horses... but that's the ONLY experience I have with mules, and the only pair I've met... others could be completely different.

Dirty Jobs (TV show) did a segment on working with mules for logging... it was really fun to watch.

<3 Mike Rowe

And you both are on to the fact of the mules - you really have to know and understand the psychology being the animal in order to get them to work well for you. But if you can, then you've got a pair of animals that will work harder than anything you've ever imagined. Get on their wrong side, and yeah, you'll be working a lot harder than they are!! LOL

I know of someone around here that used to ride endurance on a huge gaited gray mule named Holy Moses, which is hilarious!

Someday I'd like to have a mule, too. But then I want just about every other crittter too

My farrier always says that mules are horses with the memory of elephants. They don't forget, whether you do them right or wrong. I am happy with my draft horses, mules sound mightly complicated although I would like one someday.

 

[rebecca100]

I've had a couple mules. The last one I liked. The rest I couldn't stand. I guess it has to do with personality. One hadn't been handled well and I think had been abused. Two others were mini-mules. Do I even need to say more about that? One was used to ride kids on and was okay, but the other was as mean as a snake. The last one was a riding mule. I really liked her and we got along well. She had been well treated, didn't have an attitude and was easy to get along with. She also worked under harness.

 

[Farmfresh]

Here in Missouri and around the midwest we have lots of weight pull competitions, both for horses AND ponies. Competitive pulling animals are not your typical plow horses, however most are tempered more like a race horse! Since we have these competitions however work harness of all sizes is often seen at horse auctions and other places. You do need to be sure that your collar and pad are correctly sized to your particular animal. Collars are rather like shoes, they have to fit right or they pinch.

Most any kind or horse, pony or mule can be used to work as long as they are healthy. They can pull amazing amounts of weight. A heavy working load is about two times the team's (or single's) weight. They can pull up to three times that team weight if for a short distance, like pulling stumps or logging. Ponies especially are good work animals. Remember many pony breeds, like the Shetland and Welsh were first bred and used as pit ponies hauling ore out of mines.

When I was a kid we used our horses and ponies for all kinds of work. Here is a picture of me as a teen and my dad plowing our garden space. The pony's name was Dan. He was 50 inches tall and weight right at 700 pounds. He was half Welsh and half Hackney and was actually gaited with quite high leg action ... when he wasn't plowing!

Dan also pulled a sled, barrel raced (19 second pattern), pulled a fancy show cart and was pretty good at rocking out a stubborn stump. Being a pony he ate only grass in the summer, decent hay in the winter and only got an occasional fistful of grain when we loaded him into a trailer to go to a show or on a trail ride. BTW we bought him broke and ready to go for $100.00. That is my idea of a Self Sufficient work horse.

 

[Denim Deb]

Maybe I need to do something like that w/Licky! After all, she's half Welsh, not sure what the other half is.