Farm Fresh Blog

I cannot begin to tell you how much fun it is to learn draft horse skills when you have an experienced horse.  Ona never gets flustered when I fumble getting her harness on and off.  Those suckers are HEAVY. Fortunately my horse is short. Gently hoisting that harness onto her back is tricky and I cannot imagine trying to harness one of the Percherons by myself. 

Yesterday we had our first lesson in pulling a log.  I worried that since Ona had been a carriage horse, this might not be something she was familiar with, but I shouldn't have had concerns.  She was a champ and made me look like I knew what I was doing. 

 No, this is not us pulling the log.  I wanted to get pictures but Other Half argued that we had around 200 pictures from the day before and we did NOT need pictures of Ona pulling the log. (Now I wish he had taken them!)

In reality, although I call it a log, it's actually a long pole with an eye hook in the end. The weight isn't necessary because she's out of shape, and I just need something for her to pull while I practice my driving. There are real cut trees out there that we'll work our way up to when she's in better shape and I feel more confident!

That shouldn't take too long, Ona is a patient mare and a wonderful teacher!