plowing with horses

[BirchHatchery]

with things getting worse by the minet and on the brink of ww3/economic collapse i am needing some information on plowing with standard sized horse like a quarter horse or paint horse anyone no were i can buy the harness and equipment for them and the plow?

 

[BarredBuff]

I dont know actually....

 

[Denim Deb]

Are you near any Amish or others that are already doing this type of work w/horses? If so, that would be a good place to start looking.

 

[Dawn419]

Also check your local sales papers, horse/livestock auctions, estate auctions, Best Farm Buys.

 

[~gd]

Also check your local sales papers, horse/livestock auctions, estate auctions, Best Farm Buys.

Remember that most of the old harness was made for draft horses which are much larger than modern Riding horses. without knowing your soil you will probably only be able to plow with a single bottom walk-behind model most of which are now being used to support rural mailboxes. Lots of luck in your search.

 

[FarmerChick]

http://www.mydrafthorse.com/cfwebstore/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_ID=3


start with a site like this. yes you can get harness in smaller sizes. you just have to call a company and start some research.

Tony's grandpa always plowed with a team til the day he died. he never bought a tractor. but he only plowed about 10 acres. he was also a horse trader lol, trading a pair one week and about 1 month later they would trade back their teams, they had a blast plowing. ALOT of hard work in horse plowing but if you have TIME, then sure it is a great skill to learn and to know you can rely on yourself without a gas powered situation.

Grandpa's horses did it all. they would plow, ride, pull a cart and all that. jack of all trades.

My Dad when growing up was in charge of the 2 draft horses they owned for plowing. Molly and Dolly. He hated them. He said they walked all over him many times. But of course being a small kid handling the big drafts was sketchy at that lol


good luck

 

[BarredBuff]

FC, I think itd be neat to have work horses, but now I just want one as a pet and to ride but its not gonna happen now :/

 

[hwillm1977]

I'd love to be able to work horses... there are a couple pairs of belgians at the barn where I kept my horse, they do pulling, plowing, and mostly used for hay and sleigh rides depending on the season.

I'd look at smaller, but hardy, thicker breeds of horses/ponies.... like a Fjord or maybe a haflinger? People use little Newfoundland ponies around here, but I'm guessing out of eastern Canada they aren't that common. I would think something like that would be able to stand up to the hard work of plowing (depending on the size of field... if it's only an acre, I guess any horse that was 100% sound could do it).

You can buy light horse harness at just about any tack shop around here... sometimes it's special order, but you shouldn't have too much trouble finding some.

A draft/light horse cross might work too I used a percheron/paint cross for dressage, he had hooves like dinnerplates and would have been great plowing in soft ground.

Here's a link to a company that sells horse drawn farming equipment... I'm on dial-up, so I didn't look through the site, but it looks like what you would need... I just googled 'horse drawn farm equipment'

http://www.pioneerfarmequipment.com/

 

[Dawn419]

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.

 

[Denim Deb]

If you look into a haflinger, there are 2 different types. One is a stockier horse, more for plowing horse, and one is a slimmer, more elegant horse, more for riding. Both make a good riding horse, w/very smooth gaits, and they're short, so you don't have as far to fall to the ground!