The Old Folks Home

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
I rode english so that Bouncy trot was a non issue.... I also rode dressage in my formative years and getting the horse pulled together and working with their hind quarters tends to smooth the gate out considerably. Bad terms for dressage but a visual way to describe it.

The top horses that finish the Tevis cup are Arabs. Mules are in there for sure... but the Tevis top ten finish the 100 mile ride from Lake Taho to Auburn in an average of 15 hours. I would say though that a Mule could finish the ride take a nap and turn around and go back...

some Arabs could too.

deb

 

[The Yakima Kid]

I never drove a team ever..... I have seen mules do some incredible things... Like jumping the chain in a 20 mule hitch.... youTube not in person. that mule skinner was driving with a Jerk line too. Amazing. They do this when turning the wagon on tight roads.....

Jumping the chain 20 mule hitch:

My friend Mule used to say the only way to keep a mule in the corral is lock him out.....

deb

You know what is really amazing about that? Sometimes the chain is about as high as the mule's backs when they jump it.

When the people who were loaned the Borax wagon to recreate the 20 mule team first got started they had to look at old photos to figure out a number of details. The one thing they couldn't figure out was how the teams took turns when they went through a town or came to a turn in the road.

So, they decided to hitch up and see what happened. As they tried to make their first turn, several of the mules in different positions in the hitch jumped the chain, helped sharpen the turn - and then jumped back - all without being cued or taught to do this.

So then they knew how it actually had worked.

The only way to keep a mule in a corral is to lock them out, lead them to a pasture several fences a way, and firmly tell them they can't be in the corral. They'll be in the corral before you can get the over the pasture stile.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
San Diego... I learned to ride here... My trainer was a woman who had had horses all over the world following her navy husband. Her daughter Milly had been a Steeple chase rider in her youth.... she was fearless. Milly Owned Playmate. I don't know Playmate's history.

deb

 

[The Yakima Kid]

Brabants I believe are the "Old world" Belgians. And talk about Sturdy.

I saw a team of Shetlands win a pulling contest in their division pulling a thousand pounds. Awesome.... Matter of fact that day at the fair where I first saw pulling contests and draft horses up close and personal was the day I realized I would have one of those gentle giants.... I went by one stall door and there was about a 2100 pound Belgian standing in there he came up for a skritch and was very polite.... It was then i realized the only thing keeping him in there was a plain old screen door hook. His head was as big as my torso.

I remember my Rommate Mule talking about that fellow.... What a heart rending time. I believe he kept his favorite team.. Mule Mary's Mule Jeep passed away at the ripe old age of 40. She had retired him at a mule breeders farm up near Lake Isabella. I dont remember the ranch. But his Mammoth Jack was named.... Sugar Boy or something like that.

deb

Team or span? A team is more than two; a span is two. Four Shetlands moving 1,000 pounds is no surprise; two doing so is very darn good.

Generally, a standard draft horse is expected to not move more than their weight, or at most 1.5 times that. Shetlands of the old school were expected to move twice their weight.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
To me a team is two or more.... I havent hung around alot of other team drivers. I learned how to drive from my Dressage trainer. My mare had died and I was left with a 1.5 year old gelding.... her son. So Laurena had an apaloosa mare named Princess... Cute little 14.2 mare. who was trained to drive. I had the cart already getting ready to learn driving for my gelding. So Lurena taught me how to Long line then taught me how to drive.

And yes that was two Shetlands moving a 1000 pound sled.

When i bought my Percheron I bought her sight unseen off an online add aimed for the San Fransisco market. I fell in love with her picture.... I paid for her after several conversations and a video.... then I realized I knew NOTHING about draft horses. So I hit Rural Heritage site wound up on a Google Groups site called DraftNDrive... Through them I met some people here in California and talked with a bunch of people.... It was probably the stupidest thing I ever did in regards to horse ownership.... (she saved my life though another long story I am not ready to write yet)

But she arrived safe and sound and then my "Edumacation" went into over drive.

Wow its getting late....

Got to go

deb

 

[The Yakima Kid]

They are Gypsy Vanners.... Recently imported about fourteen years ago. Yep they are both Pinto or Piebald.... the two above are show quality.... But these are the horses developed by the Gypsies in Europe to pull their Wagons..,.. Very hearty Not all have all that hair.

Back when they were first imported and became popular you couldnt touch one for less than about 9 or 10K.... Just like Friesians, they got really popular really quick and people started breeding them willy nilly here in the US and kind of diffused into the Back Yard breeder.... deal.

When I showed my mare at the Big Draft horse show in Del mar.... around 2001 or 2 There was a whole barn of Friesians there to show of course.... Lovely people lovely purebred horses.... A few oddballs but hey all breed enthusiasts attract the occasional oddball.

Now my mare is Not Docked so she has a full tail like a Friesian. she was fit too Not fluffy so she was running about 1600 - 1800 lbs. I heard there was a vendor offering to wash horses for free to demonstrate her hot water system... So I said what the heck. The demo was in the Friesian Aisle... I had already met a few of the trainers and waived at them while I was waiting for Katees turn.

A woman walked by with Gold jewelry diamond rings, designer flip flops, short shorts and a camera.... Del Mar has some Affluent people...

"Ooh Shes pretty"
"Thank you" I said
"Whats her name"
"Katee or Rocking Jolly Kateen on her papers"
"Are you going to breed her?"
Bout then I realized where this was going....
"Maybe but probably not to a Friesian."
"Oh my Why Not...."
"Because shes a Percheron"
she stepped back
"Hmmph I thought so she has a common head." and walked off.

Oh my what a conversation.... I still giggle over it.

Love people with More Money than Sense....

deb

I thought they might be Gypsy Vanners because only the Roma ever wanted a spot for a draft horse - but I thought only one person in the US had them.

One will always find silly people at horse events. My favorite was the individual who stopped by with a couple of friends and proceeded to inspect my Lady Bird. Like a good cow horse, Lady Bird was taking the opportunity to do a little drowsing while she had the chance, so she was standing there in the stall aisle, still saddled, ground tied, relaxed and drowsing.

Silly woman seemed to be annoyed by this, made a comment about how she needed a better view of her stance, and reached out and pulled a rein without asking.

Lady Bird woke up, brought her head up with a jerk and blew her nose in one smooth movement, and was ready to go to work. Silly woman was now tastefully arrayed from hair to at least mid chest with nice, fresh, horse snot.

She left rather quickly, with half the row cracking up with laughter.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

I rode english so that Bouncy trot was a non issue.... I also rode dressage in my formative years and getting the horse pulled together and working with their hind quarters tends to smooth the gate out considerably. Bad terms for dressage but a visual way to describe it.

The top horses that finish the Tevis cup are Arabs. Mules are in there for sure... but the Tevis top ten finish the 100 mile ride from Lake Taho to Auburn in an average of 15 hours. I would say though that a Mule could finish the ride take a nap and turn around and go back...

some Arabs could too.

deb

On the west coast there are still a lot of Arabs in endurance competitions; back east they've had stiff competition from Morgans and the occasional Fox Trotter.

I could never ride dressage because I have kyphoscoliosis and lordosis - in other words I have a mild hunch back, a severe swayback, and a moderate to severe later al curve. I can't get my weight lined up quickly enough to keep dressage horses from side stepping to the right at about eighty miles per hour.

I have had people laugh at me when they insisted in putting me on a dressage horse, and I have had a dressage instructor who came over and saw the problem inform me that I should *never* ride a horse because I would {gasp, shudder} *ruin* any horse I rode.

The cow horses didn't seem to mind once they got used to me.

I tried riding English, learned to post both with and behind the trot - with looks more elegant, behind more British - but decided it was more fun to ride Western and singlefoot or pace.

Some people insist the pace isn't comfortable, but millions of people who enjoy riding camels can't be wrong.

You just have to relax and not fight the sway.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

San Diego... I learned to ride here... My trainer was a woman who had had horses all over the world following her navy husband. Her daughter Milly had been a Steeple chase rider in her youth.... she was fearless. Milly Owned Playmate. I don't know Playmate's history.

deb

She could have worked cattle out here. Folks I know from Texas tell me they used mares as working cow horses. They were used a bit in Eastern Washington, but people kept the old style copper pennies in their water buckets to keep them from coming into season and falling into romantic foolishness.

Steeple chasing? Fearless or suicidal. I saw outtakes from the Grand National once and I'd rather walk blindfolded into the middle of the wild horse race.

 

[tridentk9]

What breed are those horses? The bottom one is what I'd call a paint, not a dapple.

That's Austin the Gypsy Vanner. He's a chocolate silver dapple, depending on time of year he will look either silver dapple or chocolate.

 

[tridentk9]

LOL- I altered it from dog to chickens.