Farming for Self-Sufficiency-Independece on a 5-acre farm
(Page 6 of 9)
You must get somebody to show you how to put the harness on
the horse. There are certain principles that have to be
considered. Forward power is transmitted from the horse by
the tugs (see Fig. 2). If the horse is working in chains
(i.e., pulling a plough or such instrument) the chains go
straight to the collar, from a whippletree. The latter is a
'spreader' of wood or iron that keeps the chains apart so
that they don't pinch the horse. A back-strap can go over
the horse's back to keep the chains from sagging and
getting under his hind legs when he stops. This strap
should be long enough to allow the chains to be straight
when the horse is pulling. When the horse is in shafts the
ridge pad (like a saddle) supports the ridge chain which
holds the shafts up and also takes any weight which is on
the shafts owing to a two-wheeled cart being front-heavy.
The girth strap goes under the belly of the horse to
prevent the cart falling over backwards if it is
back-heavy. The britchin goes round the horse's buttocks
and is chained on to the shafts to keep the cart back if
the horse is going downhill, or to back the cart. So with
shafts there are just three chains to hook on one side of
the horse, and two the other. The order of hooking them on
('shutting the horse in' or 'putting him in') is: go to the
off side (right side) of the horse, hook the tug on, throw
the ridge chain over, hook the britchin chain on. Go to the
other side-hook the ridge chain on, then the britchin. See
that the britchin is not too tight so that it worries the
horse, but is not too slack either, for if it is the front
of the cart will shove against the horse's backside when
you go downhill and annoy him. See that the shafts are a
comfortable height and length and don't pinch the horse, or
poke him in the face when you are turning. If the tugs are
correctly adjusted you should be able to produce an
imaginary line from them, going backwards, and this line
should pass through the hubs of the wheels. I don't think
anybody should try to harness a horse unless they have been
shown how but if you have to, remember that you must take
the ham off the collar, or at least loosen them, and put
the collar on upside down, and then reverse it and put the
hames on. Generally you must do this with the bridle off
the horse, or the collar won't go on over it.
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FEEDING AND MANAGEMENT ...
With the little work you will have to do on a very small
holding, if the horse gets plenty of grass, you will hardly
have to feed him at all. When the horse is not working he
will live on grass alone, and don't give him too rich grass
either (particularly if he is a pony) or he will get ill.
In the winter, if grass is short, you must give him more or
less hay according to how much grass there is. If you work
a horse at all hard you must give him other things besides
grass. Hay is better than all-grass for a working horse.
Grass makes a horse soft. Hay keeps him hard. The hay must
be good if you feed it to horses: dusty or mouldy hay is
dangerous. All-clover hay is bad too, except for nursing
mothers. Oat straw can be a substitute for hay, and I have
fed horses most successfully on oats in the sheaf: that is
one sheaf a day of unthreshed oats. They eat it straw,
corn, and all. O.M.C.S. (Old Mother Common Sense) will tell
you to take the string out.
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