Gotta love a more simple life on the farm.
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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.
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.
- freetown fred
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Nice find Billy!!
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- warminmn
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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.
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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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.
- Rob R.
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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.
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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!!!!
- gaw
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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.
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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.
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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.
- freetown fred
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Got 2 lil filly's I'm workin with this year--they are 8mos as we speak-- they'll make a nice team
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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.
Kevin
I never liked being around large animals, including dogs.....and yes they seem to know it.
- LeoinRI
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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.