Heavy Horses

Charley, our young Suffolk Punch gelding, turned 18 months old in October and is growing into a very handsome and good-natured horse. He's begun (slowly) to show signs of his mature personality, and he promises to be a smart, calm, and willing work partner. Charley came to our farm just over a year ago, and it seems a good time to reflect on some of the progress we´ve made together.

About a month ago, we spent a weekend reconstructing a homemade round pen for my training work with the horses. Our "round pen" has gone through a few evolutions to find a design with construction sturdy enough to keep the horse and myself safe and secure within the pen. I've had the unfortunate experience of watching a horse sail over the fence and gallop away in the midst of a training session, undoing a lot of careful training work.

I had an eye-opening experience with my horse, Jake, a couple weeks ago. In a matter of less than a minute, I discovered the result of our years of hard work together. More than any planned training exercise, what happened that day illuminated our relationship with stunning clarity.

Jake is my five year old Suffolk Punch draft horse. He came to our farm at nine months old, and I've worked hard to train him for work on our farm. He’s been working pretty regularly since he was 3 1/2 years old, dragging pastures, harrowing the garden, logging, and other jobs. Someday he’ll be teamed with our other young Suffolk, Charley, for more work such as tedding and raking hay, pulling hay wagons, and bigger logging jobs. Jake is an extremely intelligent horse, calm, willing, a strong, steady worker. He’s personable and friendly and funny and a joy to work with. He still has a bit of growing up to do emotionally at moments, but those moments get farther and fewer between all the time.

The summer has almost come and gone before we’ve had a chance to take a breath and enjoy it. But I’ve gotten a good amount of work done so far this summer with Jake, my Suffolk Punch draft horse. Jake came to us as a nine month old colt, with few manners other than being halter trained. He was weaned from his mother at nine months and gelded at a year and he’s grown into a strong, intelligent horse. I trained Jake for work on our farm and he’s been working since he was three years old. In the last two years, he’s pulled out most of our firewood each year and many logs for the various building projects on the farm, dragged pastures and hayfields, and harrowed our garden each spring and fall.

Our one year old Suffolk Punch colt, Charley, was gelded a little over a month ago. We have an excellent vet who is extremely skilled, efficient and humane. Within an hour after the vet's arrival, Charley was back on his feet, though groggy and quiet. Charley would receive antibiotics and an anti-inflammatory for several days after the procedure, but other than that, the vet expected him to be pretty much back to normal within a day. He was stiff and clearly somewhat sore for several days, but his spirits were good and he moved around normally. Horses (and animals in general) have an amazing tolerance for pain. The instinct is very strong to keep moving and to conceal weakness or vulnerability.

Charley is our ten-month-old Suffolk Punch colt. He came to our farm when he was five months old, and I've been working on simple training basics since he arrived. On a daily basis Charley and I work on building good manners, trust, and respect. He stands quietly with his head lowered to accept the halter without throwing his head around or bolting off. He's well socialized to people and other horses. He’s trained to stand tied in a tie stall and to stand quietly when groomed. He leads willingly and without pushing into my space or pulling back on the lead. He moves back on voice and touch commands and moves his front and hindquarters with a gentle touch and “step” command. I have also carefully prepared him for his first hoof trimming.

Jake has been easygoing and rather unflappable since his first day on our farm, and he's remained that way since his first day of real work.

So it was a big surprise when he suddenly bucked and kicked while pulling in a log about three weeks ago. Jake is a four and a half year old Suffolk Punch gelding, who I've raised and trained since he came to our farm at nine months old. He's always had enormous self confidence and is extremely intelligent.

My biggest challenge in training Jake has been to cultivate his calm, self-assured personality while also stimulating his desire to learn and work. He's friendly and funny and big-hearted, but sometimes he can be like a cranky, sullen teenager, barely tolerating any requests to "do something." He's outgrown much of this by now and has proven to be an exceptional working partner, though he's only been working just over a year. He has always accepted new challenges, new tasks, new situations with quiet good humor and intelligence and a willing attitude. So I was pretty shocked when he suddenly bucked and kicked that day on the woods road.

Three months ago, we brought Charlie, a Suffolk Punch colt, home to our farm. He is now 8 1/2 months old and growing beautifully. He is a particularly handsome colt, and friends and family visiting our farm have often commented on his beauty. The other very noticeable thing about Charlie is his remarkable calmness and quiet friendliness, even despite his youth and the fact he is still a little stud. Charlie was weaned at three months, so I plan on giving him up to a year of growth before I geld him. The testosterone is good for bone growth and will help give him a solid physical foundation for strength and robust health.

editor's note: this is the fifth and final installment of our special supplement from Lynn Miller. View Part IV here.

We're mowing at a brisk walk, about 3 miles an hour, which is my preference. Even with these McD high gear #9 mowers timed, tuned and sharpened properly, going too slow can cause plugging in certain fine, wet, and/or wiry grasses. This is also why, when I'm opening a new land, possibly with wet lodged low spots, I prefer a team that will respond to my commands to walk faster AND be willing and able to stand quietly for a long stretch if I should need to clear a plugged cutter bar, or do some field mechanicing.

editor's note: this is the fourth installment of our special supplement from Lynn Miller. View Part III here.

I repeat the process for the second mare. To read back over the process description, it seems complicated, however, I have repeatedly timed myself and when all things are as they should be, it is simple and harnessing one horse takes between one and two minutes.

With the next, older pair of mares, there is a slight deviation in routine. One mare's neck is relatively small for her bulk, and her head is quite large, with lots of width at the eyes. This means that, though she's perfectly willing to let me try, it is close to impossible to put the collar on over the head (whether rightside up or upside down). So for her, I unbuckle the collar at the top, unclip the sweat pad from one side and pull it out of the way. I then pass the collar up at the neck, bringing the pad over and into place before buckling the collar together. The remainder of the harnessing routine remains the same as with the previous team.

editor's note: this is the third installment of our special supplement from Lynn Miller. View Part II here.

Next the harness: With no exceptions, each regular member of the working lineup has his or her own harness and collar. Today all the horses in the barn are mature and have worked long enough that I do not expect significant changes, day-to-day, in their collar fit. Sometimes, fat horses early in the working season will go down one to three collar sizes (inches) within a month to month and a half of hard work. Their necks carry a significant percentage of excess weight and as they sweat and work off that weight, the neck becomes thinner and shorter in depth.