This message is from: Jeri L Rieger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Dear Martie and Kilar,
I owned draft horses and worked them both on the street and in the fields.
I have an opinion about brakes on various types of rolling stock.
First, what kind of a driving horse do you want?
My Clydes were"street" horses and I wanted them to stop on a dime in
traffic situations. I used brakes. They learned to "honor" the brakes....to
not pull against them. This is exactly the response that I wanted on the
streets.....however, they would not ever "put a shoulder" in to pulling so
they were useless to skid logs, rake hay, plow, harrow, etc. Anything that
might require them to pull a bit harder than usual. As I said before, the
response of honoring the brakes was exactly what I wanted in the traffic.
I also had a team of Percherons, they were real workers. They would
always put an extra effort out when ever it was required. They understood
about working together, stepping out at the same time and putting a
shoulder into the job. Of course, they stopped on command but if I was
slow or distracted they would continue to pull against the applied brakes
(Read: operator error) I preferred to work them with out brakes and to rely
on their stopping power.
So, whether you want brakes or not I feel depends on the job that they are
doing.
I like metal forecarts, you can use them with alot of different equipment
and for training. Also, they are tough! You can buy used equipment that
normally hooks up to tractors (as long as it isn't PTO!) and it is usually
cheaper than horse drawn equipment.
I am training Tana (Fjord) on the single cart after ALOT of ground
driving....no brakes. I expect her to learn to listen to me and respond and
respect my commands. I hope to learn about Driving Dressage and take
her that direction. I expect her to stand quietly while I am harnessing her
and fussing around to make sure that everything is okay. I expect her to
stand quietly while I am entering the cart and gathering up. While driving
up hill and down, I let her set the pace and pick the footing within reason.
To everyone who remembers me and Tana in our first and thank God, only
wreck at Libby last year, she is stopping on a dime....finally!
Using the harness properly hooked up should allow
your horse to control the equipment that is hooked up to him. Fjords can
out pull my dear old drafts, so like anything use common sense on what
you ask your animals to do. They will let you know when you are asking
too much, OH, and remember that the Fjords have alot of heart! If you don't
have enough horse power to do the job, add another horse! ;-)
Jeri Rieger in Missouri with Tana, Mika and Ollie still in Idaho...Sigh!
