Nigh Ox Newsletter

December 2001

Draft Horse Basics,
Logging, and Plow Day

Farming, Living History, and International Development brought a large crowd together for this spring's Draft Horse Basics class. Students from Indiana, Vermont and Michigan came for the four-day class last April.

Tillers included Logging in this class, so after two days of driving practice, the 15 Horse students were joined by another 10 who wanted to get a feel for working in the woods. Not only the powerful horses, but also oxen, were used to skid some fallen ash and oak to an open field, where students wove through cones.

Fred Herr, at home in the woods, demonstrated the usefulness of the logging arch and its ability to lighten the load for the animals when he hooked onto a 15 foot oak log estimated at about 3000 lbs. Duane Westrate had a little fun showing off how much effort the horses must exert when dragging such a log on the ground. The students were then shown a manageable way to load a log onto a wagon for transport with the animals.

There are few things so breathtaking as a large tree crashing down through the upper story of a forest. Dick Reynolds' ability to take down an old cherry, partially rotted and dangerously unpredictable, without damaging other younger trees, was quite impressive.

The last day of the class, Plow Day, is Tillers' chance to invite neighboring teamsters to come and participate in the spring task of tilling the Humphrey Products Community Gardens. Doug Hale and his daughter Tammy brought their team of young Belgians out. They were very generous in allowing others to try the team with their sulky plow. Duane Westrate came again and hitched his three horses to his own sulky plow. Adam and his hitch of three Belgians also came and plowed. Between the three of them, they were able to get a fair chunk completed. Rob Hewlett brought his young single Brown Swiss and took a pony plow out for a few rounds. Dale Parsons brought his yearling Holsteins and they also tried out the little plow. Thanks to all our class participants and thanks to all the teamsters who made for such a great learning experience.