Farming for Self-Sufficiency-Independece on a 5-acre farm
(Page 8 of 9)
The sooner you halter-break the foal the better. Get a rope
halter on at a few days old, and teach the foal to be led
and not be afraid of people. Get him used to having his
feet lifted. You can begin to break him for work in his
second summer (one assumes he was born in the spring).
Breaking should be a gradual but firm process. Keep him in
for a time (nothing tames a horse, or gets him used to
humans, so much as being kept inside), handle him a lot,
get him used to wearing harness, trotting round on a
leading rein (if you are going to ride him he should have a
mouthing bit and a breaking harness for a week or two),
then try him in chains in front of something that doesn't
matter, such as a set of harrows.
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PASTURE ...
Horses living out don't want very good fattening pasture.
It is bad for them. The wider range of grazing they have
the better, and they do not thrive on land where only
horses are kept. They do far better running out either
with, or after, cattle. A horse kept out all the time and
worked occasionally and lightly is most unlikely to get
ill. One worked hard and continuously must be stabled and
fed 'high', and it takes a skilled horseman to keep him fit
and working. You are being forced to keep him unnaturally,
i.e., on food that is richer than his digestion was evolved
to cope with. But a horse out on grass should give you very
little trouble, if any at all.
BUYING A HORSE ...
There is no mystery about this-if you want to do really
heavy work, perhaps till a farm of fifty or a hundred acres
or more with horses, you will have to buy proper heavy
horses, Shires, Clydesdales, Percherons or Suffolks.
Personally I should never have any hesitation-I should
plump for Suffolks. They are the kindest, most noble, and
most beautiful animals that ever walked. But if you just
want to pull a one-horse plough get a good strong cob. Go
to a horse sale and buy one, or to a good dealer who won't
cheat you. Have a vet look at him first if you feel like
it. At a reputable horse sale animals are 'sold sound'-that
is you have a come-back if there is anything wrong with the
animal. Do not, until you are an expert, buy a horse from
anybody but a man with a reputation to lose unless you have
the animal vetted. If you are a beginner buy a fairly old
horse already broken and trained. You don't want both to be
learners. If you have a good horse, and are kind to him,
and work a lot with him, you will get very fond of him and
he will of you. He will be a source of great pleasure to
you. He will be pleased to see you and will try to please
you. And he will cultivate your large garden or small
fields as well as any tractor and better in many ways.
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