Gotta love a more simple life on the farm.

 
Hoytman
Member
Posts: 5996
Joined: Wed. Jan. 18, 2017 11:30 pm
Location: swOH near a little town where the homes are mobile and the cars aren’t
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Hitzer 354
Coal Size/Type: nut coal
Other Heating: electric, wood, oil

Post by Hoytman » Sun. Mar. 07, 2021 8:20 pm

Unfortunately the path to this way of life never presented itself to me, but that never stopped me from dreaming about it.

It’s been so long now that I almost forgot until just now after seeing the video below.

All my life I’ve been intrigued by the big work horses and working them. I remember as a little kid I would read every book on these majestic animals that I could. I even remember raising money for book sales in elementary school and earning enough to order big wall posters showing all of the different breeds. Being raised in a subdivision it wasn’t long before something else took over my dreams of being a farmer and having my own team to work my big garden and to log the woods with.

My great grandfather was pretty good with his team of mules they tell me. Very rarely touched the reigns...they said he just spoke gently to them and they gladly worked for him. It was said he was kind to them. That was likely over 100 years ago. He died four months before my grandpa was born so the stories were passed down to him by siblings and his he reality is that the stories were not talked about all that often. It’s like they faded with his memory that was only passed on by my grandpas brothers and sisters. Pap was 92 when he passed in 2015 and never met his own dad. We actually have no way of knowing how good Paps dad was with those animals. Great grandpa died in 1922.

I thought some of you might enjoy this with me. I wish I’d have had someone to teach me about these animals. They are marvelous and majestic beings.



Yeah, I missed out on learning a lot about this sort of thing, learning what everything is called and what it is for. Real nice informative video for someone wanting to learn.
Last edited by Hoytman on Mon. Mar. 08, 2021 2:38 am, edited 1 time in total.


 
User avatar
theo
Member
Posts: 2328
Joined: Tue. Feb. 10, 2009 3:46 pm
Location: 50 Mile North of Pittsburgh

Post by theo » Sun. Mar. 07, 2021 8:53 pm

Nice to watch, Thanks for posting!

 
User avatar
freetown fred
Member
Posts: 30293
Joined: Thu. Dec. 31, 2009 12:33 pm
Location: Freetown,NY 13803
Hand Fed Coal Stove: HITZER 50-93
Coal Size/Type: BLASCHAK Nut

Post by freetown fred » Sun. Mar. 07, 2021 9:24 pm

Nice find Billy!! :)

Attachments

005 (2).jpg
.JPG | 6.1KB | 005 (2).jpg
004 (2).JPG
.JPG | 54.9KB | 004 (2).JPG
003 (2).JPG
.JPG | 60.2KB | 003 (2).JPG

 
User avatar
warminmn
Member
Posts: 8108
Joined: Tue. Feb. 08, 2011 5:59 pm
Location: Land of 11,842 lakes
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Chubby Junior, Efel Nestor Martin, Riteway 37
Coal Size/Type: nut and stove anthracite, lignite
Other Heating: Wood and wear a wool shirt

Post by warminmn » Sun. Mar. 07, 2021 9:47 pm

Until you see a horse pulling contest with dirt flying in your lap you wont realize how powerful they are. Much more enjoyable than tractor pulls any day of the week.

My Dad farmed with horses but was never very good with them. Once his Dad bought a tractor my Dad told him if work couldnt be done with a tractor it wasnt going to get done, lol. Ive rode horses quite a bit but they never really liked me for some reason. They sense things we dont understand.

Live the dream Hoytman. Ask an Amish farmer if you can help him work his fields or drag logs out of the woods if they do that.

 
Hoytman
Member
Posts: 5996
Joined: Wed. Jan. 18, 2017 11:30 pm
Location: swOH near a little town where the homes are mobile and the cars aren’t
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Hitzer 354
Coal Size/Type: nut coal
Other Heating: electric, wood, oil

Post by Hoytman » Mon. Mar. 08, 2021 2:27 am

Yes, we have Amish in our county for last two years now. Finally!! Been watching them mow road ditches in front of their house and work their fields. I wish they were closer. Clear at other end of the county though.

Those yours Fred?? Man...Had no idea you was a horse man. Going to have to plan a road trip sometime. Beautiful!!! Love them.

Oh, watching those horse pulls is something I have done since I was younger. Those horses are bad to the bone!! Their power is phenomenally impressive. I do prefer watching them in a more natural working environment though. We still watch them each year at the fair.



Between my dad and myself we put over 500,000 miles...that’s right, one one of those maroon and silver C2500’s...’89 model she was.

 
Hoytman
Member
Posts: 5996
Joined: Wed. Jan. 18, 2017 11:30 pm
Location: swOH near a little town where the homes are mobile and the cars aren’t
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Hitzer 354
Coal Size/Type: nut coal
Other Heating: electric, wood, oil

Post by Hoytman » Mon. Mar. 08, 2021 2:46 am

My moms brother still has my great grandpas hames (spelling??) that he used with his team. Somehow my grandpa ended up with them and kept them all those years along with his carbide light from working the bituminous mines.

Our family still has the sickle mower that belonged to my other great grandpa on my grandmas side of the family. It’s har to let those things go. I hope to inherit those things some day just because they belonged to my great grandparents. I’m probably the only one left who appreciates them.

 
Hoytman
Member
Posts: 5996
Joined: Wed. Jan. 18, 2017 11:30 pm
Location: swOH near a little town where the homes are mobile and the cars aren’t
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Hitzer 354
Coal Size/Type: nut coal
Other Heating: electric, wood, oil

Post by Hoytman » Mon. Mar. 08, 2021 3:10 am

These are one of my favorite breeds.


 
User avatar
Rob R.
Site Moderator
Posts: 17979
Joined: Fri. Dec. 28, 2007 4:26 pm
Location: Chazy, NY
Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 520
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Chubby Jr

Post by Rob R. » Mon. Mar. 08, 2021 6:37 am

My grandmother said when they used horses to pull the sap out of the sugar bush the only thing white you could see on the horses was their eyeballs. They were COVERED with mud.

 
Hoytman
Member
Posts: 5996
Joined: Wed. Jan. 18, 2017 11:30 pm
Location: swOH near a little town where the homes are mobile and the cars aren’t
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Hitzer 354
Coal Size/Type: nut coal
Other Heating: electric, wood, oil

Post by Hoytman » Mon. Mar. 08, 2021 10:38 am

I can't even imagine large sugar maple operations going on back then, all the work, all the horses pulling sleds filled with barrels of sap. The smell wafting through the farm and forest. Yummy!!!!

 
User avatar
gaw
Member
Posts: 4437
Joined: Fri. Jan. 26, 2007 2:51 am
Location: Parts Unknown
Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KA-6
Coal Size/Type: Rice from Schuylkill County

Post by gaw » Mon. Mar. 08, 2021 3:56 pm

When I was a kid I loved to see horses. John Wayne, Cisco Kid, and the Lone Ranger all rode horses. Since then we had an Amish invasion and everyone else and their brother has horses. My Neighbors raise and train race horses. Horses have lost their mystique for me. Alpacas and a camel up the road are far more interesting to me now. We are also seeing a lot of donkeys coming into the area. Very interesting creatures. I don't know why so many are coming around, they despise k9s so maybe for coyote protection but thats just a guess.

 
Hoytman
Member
Posts: 5996
Joined: Wed. Jan. 18, 2017 11:30 pm
Location: swOH near a little town where the homes are mobile and the cars aren’t
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Hitzer 354
Coal Size/Type: nut coal
Other Heating: electric, wood, oil

Post by Hoytman » Fri. May. 14, 2021 7:28 pm



Plenty of compost on top covering the soil. She’s breaking up and laying over real nice too. Real nice for plantin’ directly.

Man...I watch that and I swear I can almost smell the freshly opened earth. Cleanest smell in the world to me. I love it.

I wonder how deep that plow is going? Looks deep to me. My grandpa used to talk about a turning plow of some sort that they had. He talked like you just flipped it over at the end of each row. As a small boy in the 30’s he worked a team of large mules.

 
Countryside812
New Member
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat. May. 15, 2021 3:40 pm
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Jotul, Glenwood x3, Blaze Princess x2
Coal Size/Type: Nut, rice
Other Heating: Geothermal

Post by Countryside812 » Sun. May. 16, 2021 5:22 pm

Wonderful post, I’m saddened to tell you of all the horse run implements we don’t use on our farms, from the old days of mules, that are still in the barn or out in the field. It would lighten my heart to know someone was able to use them. My husband’s father ran horses on the home place. Today we run JD’s.

 
User avatar
freetown fred
Member
Posts: 30293
Joined: Thu. Dec. 31, 2009 12:33 pm
Location: Freetown,NY 13803
Hand Fed Coal Stove: HITZER 50-93
Coal Size/Type: BLASCHAK Nut

Post by freetown fred » Sun. May. 16, 2021 5:39 pm

Got 2 lil filly's I'm workin with this year--they are 8mos as we speak-- they'll make a nice team :)

Attachments

April 2021 002.JPG
.JPG | 36.3KB | April 2021 002.JPG
April 2021 003.JPG
.JPG | 29KB | April 2021 003.JPG
003.JPG
.JPG | 50.1KB | 003.JPG

 
KLook
Member
Posts: 5791
Joined: Sun. Feb. 17, 2008 1:08 pm
Location: Harrison, Tenn
Other Heating: Wishing it was cold enough for coal here....not really

Post by KLook » Sun. May. 16, 2021 6:07 pm

My grandfather logged with a large white work horse, I don't remember it, my brother does, he is 7 years older. I remember all the tack and harnesses in the old barn. They just rotted in place as the old barn fell down. We pulled mowers and such with a 1953 NAA Ford.

Kevin

I never liked being around large animals, including dogs.....and yes they seem to know it.

 
User avatar
LeoinRI
Member
Posts: 144
Joined: Mon. Dec. 24, 2018 5:59 am
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Fonderies de Lion
Coal Size/Type: Nut
Other Heating: J.S. Peckham Chicago #10, Weso, Our Glenwood 111, Sougland Excelsior 183

Post by LeoinRI » Sun. May. 16, 2021 8:16 pm

I remember my Dad & a neighbor talking about logging with horses. A good team could be hitched to a load and the team would pull it to the yard carefully avoiding stumps and other hazards that could snag the load. Arriving at the yard they would wait to be unhitched and go back to the logging site unattended.


Post Reply

Return to “Farming & Rural Life”