Rural Heritage August/September 2025

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Aug/Sep 2025

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VOLUME 50

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2025

NUMBER 4

Editor/Publisher Joe Mischka editor@ruralheritage.com Advertising ad@ruralheritage.com Editing Susan Blocker Subscriber Services subscribe@ruralheritage.com Regular Contributors

Departments

5 Publisher's Post 76 J.C. Allen Archives 82 Calendar of Events 85 Associations

90 My Card 96 Breeder's Directory 97 RH on RFD-TV

Rob Collins Ralph J. Rice Anne & Eric Nordell Donn Hewes Jerry Hicks Dick Courteau

RURAL HERITAGE ™ (ISSN 0889-2970) is published bimonthly. Periodical postage is paid at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and additional mailing offices. ©2025 Mischka Press. All rights reserved; reproduction of any material in this publication without written permission is prohibited. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $34.95 for one year in the USA and possessions; US$58.00 for one year in Canada, US$83.00 overseas. POSTMASTER send PS Form 3579 to: RURAL HERITAGE PO Box 2067 Cedar Rapids IA 52406-2067 CONTRIBUTORS: We welcome manuscripts, photographs, and drawings for possible publication. Email submissions are preferred. Guidelines are available on our website. Rural Heritage 3421 Mount Vernon Road Cedar Rapids IA 52403-3736 (319) 362-3027 www.ruralheritage.com

Features 8 Is Foaling for You?........................................................... Ralph Rice 14 Forecart Upgrade. ...................................................... Donn Hewes 18 Mud, Mud, Everywhere Mud..................................... Donn Hewes 22 Royal KC Draft Horse Show................................... Rural Heritage i Four Bonus Pages 26 Productive Struggle......................................................... Rob Collins 32 A Baker’s Dozen .............................................. Jacqueline Courteau 40 Brush Creek Plow Day............................................... Rural Heritage v Four Bonus Pages 44 The Mares — Part Two.................................................... Jerry Hicks 48 2025 HPD New & Interesting................................... Rural Heritage 58 2025 Lyndon Farm Team.......................................... Rural Heritage 64 Manning Farm Team Show....................................... Rural Heritage 70 Installing an Earthwork................................................. Joe Mischka ix Four Bonus Pages

3 Cover Photo and above: Taylor Johnson logs pulpwood with his Norwegian Fjord gelding, Ole, in northern Wisconsin. — Rural Heritage Photos

August/September 2025

The next issue will be the Oct/Nov 2025 edition which goes to press early September. Contributor and Advertiser Deaadlines for the next issue are August 20, 2025. Your Subscription We want you to enjoy uninterrupted service to your favorite magazine, Rural Heritage . If you have any questions you may contact us by: email:subscribe@ruralheritage.com; Cedar Rapids IA 52406 Remember, magazines are not automatically forwarded after an address change. The US Postal Service not only destroys your magazine but charges us for the notification. An issue lost because of failure to report an address change will not be replaced for free. We publish 6 issues per year: Jan 15 (Feb/Mar) Mar 15 (Apr/May) May 15 (Jun/Jul) Jul 15 (Aug/Sep) Sep 15 (Oct/Nov) Nov 15 (Dec/Jan) The US Postal System takes as long as 18 days to deliver to some areas, so please be patient. To Canada can take as long as 4 weeks and to overseas as long as 6 weeks. The expiration date above your name on your mailing label represents the abbreviated month and last two digits of the year: JAN26, for example, represents January 2024. If you renew within 25 days of the next issue date (July 5 for the Aug/Sep issue, for instance) you will get the next issue in the mail. If you miss that deadline you will need pay extra postage to get the missed issue. phone: (319) 362-3027 or mail: Rural Heritage PO Box 2067

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Publisher's Post I recall seeing on Facebook a photo of a large moose in harness and a man adjusting its belly band. Stacked logs were in the background suggesting it was being used to skid logs. I saw that photo many times on many Facebook pages before its authenticity finally succumbed to better sense. It was fake, of course. Before it showed up on Facebook, it made the rounds by email in early 2007.

Social Media can be a great platform for people to connect, ask questions, promote events, and simply join a group of people with like interests. For folks who use draft animal power, it can be a place to learn you are not alone. You might be crazy to want to farm or log with horses, mules or oxen, but there are others crazy just like you. Not that I think using draft animal power is crazy. But for those doing it in isolation, it can seem the world is determined to make you feel that way. Which is why I love reading comments and posts by draft animal people supporting one another. They may not agree on whether you should have halters under your bridles, dock your horses’ tails, or use plastic instead of leather harnesses, but they will respect you and your choices. That's why I get a little irritated with people who don't use horses, mules, oxen or donkeys to get work done, but are compelled to criticize the choices of people who do. “Get a tractor and stop abusing your animals,” is a common comment. Another is “If you're going to use a power cart, what’s the point? You’re cheating.” As if by using horses you must forego all modern technologies, or else. Or else what? You will be expelled from some club? After I posted a couple videos showing the two prototype pull-type combines being demonstrated at Horse Progress Days last month, a fellow chimed in with: “I just can not respect these folks. Will not use tractors. But instead uses an auxiliary engine. To those backward folks. GET A LIFE.” Of course, the folks in the video couldn’t care less whether he respects them or not. I just have trouble understanding what makes this person voice his disapproval. It’s as if he feels insulted or threatened by the fact they don’t farm the way he does. As if by using draft horses they are disparaging HIS methods of farming. I also get a kick out of the person who chimes in to tell us the folks in the video are doing everything wrong. Thankfully, there are usually others who reply to point out the people in the video are not professionals but simply demonstrating a process so others can learn how things were done years ago. Instead of criticizing, you might think they'd applaud the efforts of the folks trying celebrate our legacy.

At the time, it was considered genuine by many. Today, in the age of Artificial Intelligence, it would suffer greater scrutiny. Now we have much more credible-appearing photos making the rounds. I’ve seen a couple photos of impossibly tall horses, mules and other animals standing beside a supposedly normal-sized person. Reminds me of a postcard I once saw of a man riding a corn cob pulled by a team. It is a shame that every photo we see today needs to be vetted as a potential deep fake.

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Ralph Rice

could be better than hosting ecents that attract new members and encourage more gatherings where teamsters meet with their teams? We feature a number of these events in this issue. ° ° ° ° H orse Progress Days always takes place right around the time we should be starting to put the Aug/Sep issue to bed. This year's event was in Clare, Mich., July 4–5. The Clare event is my favorite of the six rotating locations. It’s the smallest, both in terms of attendance and square miles, giving those of us there better access to the equipment demonstrations. The bigger events, like those held in Ohio and Pennsylvania, have a lot more vendor booths that offer products and services mostly unrelated to farming and homesteading. There were many new implements with innovative features. We're showing some of those in this issue. We'll also have an RFD-TV episode where Ralph RIce takes us on a tour of some of them. Of course, the October/November issue will have a complete roundup of the equipment and many articles about the workshops and seminars by our own intrepid Mary Ann Sherman. ° ° ° ° W e’ve been on the road a lot lately, with a lot more trips coming up. After spending four days backpacking with my nephew, Boyd, in Wisconsin, I'll be heading to the Wisconsin State Fair to talk about my my mom and dad,

° ° ° °

W e’ve been to a number of farm team contests over the past couple of months where teamsters compete with another in a variety of timed, skilled events simulating work done on the farm: skidding logs; feeding livestock; stopping and opening gates; cultivating; parallel parking; backing to a dock, etc. The Iowa Farm Team Challenge holds a number of events throughout the summer where contestants accumulate points and a high point prize is awarded at the end. So far this year, they've held events at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, Iowa Falls, Manning and New Virginia — all in Iowa. Most of the teams at these events are well broke, having performed daily chores and fieldwork for years at home. Once they arrive at a contest, however, the slow and deliberate walk they usually use on the farm gives way to a more energetic pace in the competition. Crowds enjoy watching the teams compete and the contestants take the competition seriously while maintaining good-natured rivalries. From everything the teamsters tell me, the teams are not adversely affected by exercise. Detractors might consider the competition to be reckless, risking injury and causing bad habits with their horses. Perhaps. But one thing I am sure of, is the events bring young people to the table. When most of us are lamenting the shrinking of draft horse clubs, what

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who are being honored on Aug. 7 for their contributions to the Wisconsin Draft Horse Breeders Association. On August 9, we'll be in Altamont, Ill., for the Millroad Threshermans show. Then we'll take a trip to Michigan to visit the historic Thumb Octagon barn as well as film a class on timberframing for young people. Labor Day weekend is always the busiest of the year with so many worthwhile events scheduled. Ogden Publications, who produce Mother Earth News and Farm Tractor magazines, invited me to spend some time in their tent at the Old Threshermans Reunion in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, Aug 28-29. Then I head up to Rollag, Minn., for the Western Minnesota Threshermans Reunion where this year they are featuring “Horsepower” as their headliner. Should be a great show. After that, it's Sodbuster Days in Fort Ransom, N.D., Sep. 6-7 and the American Brabant Association Rendezvous in Medford, Wis., Sep 26-27. Undoubtedly, there will be more trips added to the schedule which reminds me to ask our readers to please let us know of events or places you think we should be covering. Write to info@ruralheritage.com or call 319-362-3027. jm

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Is Foaling for You?

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squeamish to do it. Foaling is NOT for the faint of heart. Hopefully, everything will go smoothly, but if it doesn’t you need to have confidence in your ability or have a close neighbor or friend who does. Time will be your nemesis. Horses are not like cows. They are more fragile. The same can be said of foals over calves. You will be watching the clock from the moment the foal starts to come, until it is up nursing, pooping and mom has passed her placenta. All these things are critical for the survival of both mare and foal. You should know the mare’s breeding date, or close if she was pasture bred. Using a mare calculator will help a bit for knowing when to be on “foal watch.” These are merely a guide that calculates the 330 days of gestation. The average

by Ralph J Rice W atching a newly born foal run around the pasture under the watchful eye of its mother is a beautiful sight. It makes us all feel the promise of God’s creation and the newness of life. Seeing the baby nurse, sleep and play makes us all feel a bit younger, as the sun beams dance on a shiny new coat. Spring babies of any kind are a farmer’s reward for the work he/she does. It is easy to dwell on the positive things that new births bring. The happy times, sights and sounds, when everything goes well. You walk out into the field and there is a newborn animal … success. I caution the reader, as much fun as the babies bring, are you ready if things go bad? Sadly, where there is livestock, there is deadstock. Despite a farmer’s best efforts and care, things can and do take a turn for the worse. Thankfully, these times are relatively few, but be ready when it happens to you. You will second guess everything that you do, did and know. You will be heart shaken and sad, even mad at yourself, but the lifeless body before you says it all. The days of large animal, country veterinarians are gone. In fact, finding a large animal vet is getting tougher and tougher. We have been using the same veterinarian service for over 25 years. They are good, but it takes a lot of patience and planning on our part to get a vet to the farm. They will schedule an appointment about a month out. This works ok for check-ups, blood draws and mostly anything that can be scheduled, but if it’s an emergency, you are most likely out of luck. You will be referred to an “emergency clinic,” especially if it’s after hours. This might work for a dog that has been hit by a car or having seizures, but getting a mare with a stuck foal there is all but impossible. So, you will look around the stall and realize that her only hope relies on you alone. Are you ready for that responsibility? You can read all about foal positions and possible problems like “red bag” or the need for a Madigan’s squeeze. Perhaps you will only need to cut the umbilical cord or tie it off, but if you need to reach into the mare and reposition a foal, cut through the “red bag” or trim a cord, you can’t wait until she needs you most to discover that you are too

Waxing on the end of the mare's teats indicates foaling time is approaching.

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is 340 days, but nothing is absolute. The baby will come when it is ready. There are signs that help, but this is a fretful time for mare owners as we play every worst-case scenario out in our minds. This year, for whatever reason, our mares so far have all gone past their due dates of 350 days and beyond. As her delivery time gets close, the mare will look huge. The baby grows a lot in the last few weeks before foaling. Mom will look uncomfortable. We put ours on maternity leave two weeks before their due date. Exercise is important for the mare. Daily turnout is good, even pasture rest is recommended, as long as you can keep a watchful eye on her. Many mares foal on pasture without a problem year after year. I am not confident enough to just turn them out and wait. Foals roll under fences; foals get stuck halfway out of the mare. Some moms walk off without so much as even a nod towards the newborn. Much of this can be prevented and corrected by an attentive husbandry man or woman. Back to mare signs, you will see a softening of the area around the tailhead. The foal will “drop,” hanging lower in mom’s belly. She will even look a little “ribby” at this point as her skin stretches over her rib cage. Her appetite for hay or grass seems to be limitless. She is restless at times and almost sedate at other times. This is all part of the process. We keep a close eye in the days leading up to “foal watch.” Once we hit the 330-day number, the mare goes into a large foaling stall at night. She will stay in this stall during daytime, too, once “wax” appears on her teats. The “wax” signals a baby coming very soon 24 to 48 hours usually. The wax is sweet colostrum milk leaking out that seals over the opening, waiting for the baby to nurse. This is a sign that foaling is imminent. We have observed, (we have our mares’ box stall on camera) that the mares will switch their tails a lot during the last stages of labor. They sometimes resemble a helicopter action. Others simply walk around with their tails raised. It any case, at some point you will see a shiny white bag appear. The foal is coming. If possible, I check to see that two front feet and a nose are coming at this point. I don’t interfere, but I check, even touching, to be sure, then back out of the stall and leave the mare alone. Do not

The foal is out, the bag encircling the foal has been taken off its head, and everyone is taking a breath.

Within an hour, the foal rises on shaky legs.

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break the bag at this point, just let mom contract and push. She will usually lie down shortly after the feet and nose appear. She will lay on her side and push with her contractions. Again, I don’t interfere as long as there is progress. I just stand and watch, waiting to help when and if needed. Remember, foals are not like calves, they need to “squeeze” through the birth canal slowly to get their lungs and heart working, resist the urge to just pull the foal out. Calves, too, benefit from a slower birth, but for foals it is imperative. Once the feet and head are out of the mare, pull the white sack off the foal’s nose. If the bag has not broken, once the head has passed out of the vulva, rip it gently off the foal’s nose. It is still breathing through the umbilical cord, but in a few moments will be needing to breathe on its own. The sack left in place, over the foal’s head and nose will suffocate the foal. You don’t need to bare its whole head, just get it off the nose. The mare may make a short pause once the head delivers. Her next push will usually bring the foal’s mid body out. One more good strain should push the hips out. At this point, the foal has delivered. It is common for its back legs to remain in mom for a bit as she catches her breath and relaxes a bit. This is the time for you to take a breath, too. This is the time that I use to imprint the foal. I pet it. I spray 7% iodine or a vet spray on the navel and feet. The navel will have separated from the sack and will be about 3 or 4 inches long. A small amount of blood is part of the process. Spray liberally with the spray on the cord/navel area. I spray all four feet on the “foal slippers” as they quickly dry and become hooves. I talk to the foal and touch all of it’s ticklish spots. I rub ears, flanks, belly, nose, legs etc. The foal will usually be shaky and wiggly wanting to try and get up. The mare should rise shortly after birth. Let her smell and nicker to her baby. Licking the foal helps to promote oxytocin in the mare’s blood which keeps her contracting, encouraging the passing of the placenta. Here is where the “1, 2, and 3” rules come into play. The foal should be standing within one hour. It should be nursing within two hours, and the mare should pass her placenta within three hours. I like to see the placenta passed before three hours, but make sure it passes – and all of it. Do not

The foal is up, alert and taking first steps.

The foal is out, the bag encircling the foal has been taken off its head, and everyone is taking a breath.

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human birth. I hope you will arm yourself for success, prepare for the worst and stay engaged. Don’t enter the decision of foaling lightly. Be prepared for whatever the outcome may be, stay vigilant and cautiously optimistic. I like to give our mares and foals about eight to 10 hours to bond well. It gives me time to see all the actions repeated. I mean the foal nursing on both teats, getting up and down easily while mom watches over her baby intently. Once I am satisfied that all is well, I turn them out on pasture. Green grass is good for mom. The clean fresh earth makes a good bed for a baby. I worry less over things like “navel ill,” an infection of the navel caused by the closed box stall, that won’t clean itself! I still check on them regularly and feed mom grain twice daily for about a week. The mare will go through her “foal heat” about seven to nine days after foaling. The foal will almost always get a loose stool when this happens. While mom eats grain, I can play with and pet the foal. I even go so far as to halter the little one. Just for a few minutes. Once she has gone through her foal heat, I bring them into the barn in the morning, stall them in the heat of the day and return them to pasture in the evening. The foals soon learn to come into the stall and get their halters put on, just like mom. I start to tie them up as mom eats. I stay nearby and pet those ticklish spots while talking softly to them. Yes, it’s a luxury because I have the time to do it, but it pays big dividends later. They learn to lead easily. They learn to trust me. We build a good relationship. This all began by imprinting at birth. Raising foals is the easy part of foaling. Once they get here, the fun begins. It is the getting them here that can be the hard part. Breeding and foaling is not for everybody, but I am sure grateful to the folks who do it. Think it over carefully. Is foaling for you? If the answer is“yes,” then proceed slowly and wisely. Congratulations and good luck. Editor’s Note: As Ralph emphasizes in this article, foaling is not for the faint of heart. As this issue came together, another of Ralph's mares foaled, this one a maiden mare. She is less cooperative than one that has foaled before might be, and the colt is requiring extra care to get him to stand and nurse. He continues to improve, but, as Ralph points out, “he's not out of the woods yet.” We'll have the rest of the story in the next issue.

pull it. If she does not pass the placenta, call your vet immediately. (I am a horse farmer not a vet, go by her or his recommendations and treatment. I know how to do things but will not share those ideas or techniques because I am not licensed or qualified to do so.) Injectable oxytocin will most likely be given to keep the mare contracting. Banamine may be given to ease her pain a bit. Again, follow your vet’s advice and treatment. Hopefully, you will have a healthy foal up nursing and running around. Make sure it poops to pass the meconium (first poop). The meconium is a very black sticky goo that comes out in a blob about the size of a smashed apple. A Fleet enema for people can be administered to the foal just to flush things out. This poop will usually pass in the first 24 to 48 hours. I personally like to see it just after the foal nurses, signaling all is working well inside. Don’t get in a big hurry to feed the mare. Offer her a good long drink of slightly warm water. Give her a little fresh hay to nibble on if she wants it. Clean the stall well, getting rid of placenta, baby sack, bloody straw, manure and baby poop. Bed the stall with fresh straw and step out. Let mom and baby bond. Just watch closely to see the baby nurse. Make sure it is “latching on” not just making sucking noises as he sucks on mom’s udder. A good mare will stand with her leg back a bit even nudging her baby on the butt to find the dinner plate. I recommend that the prospective breeder keep a foaling kit on hand. The kit should include hand sanitizer and paper towels, iodine or “Vetericyn” spray. A few old towels, rubber gloves if you’d like, a pair of sharp scissors, a ball of cord string or twine (in case you need to tie a navel off). A length of 12 to 15 feet of soft rope kept nearby in the event you need to perform the Madigan squeeze technique on a dummy foal is a good idea too. I could write about the horrors of bad births and possibilities for many pages, but I digress. If you are considering foaling, I strongly suggest that you educate yourself to the best of your ability on the subject. I recommend finding a vet who will work with you, even at night. One who will arm you with the knowledge and medicines needed to help save equine lives when you are the only thing standing in the gap between life and death. A successful birth is truly a celebration for a horse owner. It can be very rewarding and downright satisfying. There is simply nothing like it other than a

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Few sights are as lovely as a mare and new foal heading to pasture.

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Forecart Update

by Donn Hewes O ver the years, before they sold off their implement lines,Pioneermade a lot ofthese old forecarts.and you often find them being overlooked (or undervalued at auctions) in favor of the newer sleeker looking carts. One arrived on our farm when Becky Frye moved here and started Horsetail Herb Farm. It was sort of a derelict with no pole, one flat tire, the brakes locked up and the front railing wobbling loose. I just ignored it for a couple years. I woke up one day this spring and said to myself: ”I don’t have a forecart with brakes, and maybe that would be handy.” If I set it up for three horses it would be perfect for bringing full hay wagons into the barn. This cart has drum brakes which

was an upgraded model, back in the day, versus the external band brake that most had back then. After we wheeled it into the shop, Becky’s partner, Corey, made quick work of taking the brake drums apart, cleaning and loosening everything and putting it back in working order. We were off to the races. The original design of these carts was pretty clever with three pieces of channel (U-shaped steel) forming the base of the floor and each one offered a different pole placement option. The pole only moved over about 16 inches, but you could move the evener a couple inches the other way if you wanted more room between the evener and the pole. I like 18 inches with the eveners and horses I have. They also always had the floor at an

Donn's newly-remodeled Pioneer forecart is hooked to three-abreast red horses and ready to haul a heavy load.

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Rather than add a "Z" bracket to raise the pole of the cart, Donn simply raised the pole receivers with risers and found he also had a place to put a tool basket.

angle which was just how it was and everyone was used to that. Today, we would like a level floor and a higher pole that the horses are less likely to get a leg over. At first I planned to make one of the “Z” brackets that are popular additions to these carts today. They allow you to reposition the pole from center to left or right and also give the pole a little height. As I was starting to sort out some steel tubing, I realized I could make two risers and a small tool

basket for the same effort as making the “Z” bracket. The tubing in the risers is 2-inches square with a 3/16-inch wall thickness. The matching pole sockets measure 2 1/2-inches square with a 3/16-inch wall thickness. These sockets accept the 2 by 2 x 3/16 inch steel poles I prefer. One thing to remember when setting up a cart this way, is that the three abreast tongue should be 6 to 8 inches longer than the centered two horse pole. If you wanted to use

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This angle shows the welded railing, inserted pole and three horse evener.

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the same pole in both positions you could make the receiver on the side stick out to the front that distance. I already had a tongue with a yoke bolted on that would work for three horses, so I didn’t bother with that. I can find another pole if I want to switch it to a two horse cart but I don’t have any plans to do that. The safety railings on these old carts were held on with one bolt on each side and often got bent or came loose. I just welded it back on at the end. Nice to have a good railing. One last point on attaching yokes. A three horse hitch is one place where every yoke must be attached to the end of the pole. Safety chains are fine for two horse teams, but three horses can really take a yoke off the front of a pole even when they are properly hitched so a yoke must be attached.

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by Donn Hewes W hat a great week to sit inside and write about the mud on our horse-powered farms and how we deal with it. The forecast for the next five days is showers followed by rain, followed by thunderstorms, followed by a brief clearing (may miss us!) followed by more showers! Why would I want to write about this, you might ask? There are two important considerations that I want to share. First is the mud’s impact on our horses, and second is the rain and horses’ impact on the land. If you think I am going to suggest that I don’t have mud and you shouldn’t either, guess again. I haven’t won the Mega Millions yet. Having kept four to eight draft horses at a time for the last 25 years in central New York State, I have seen some mud. My biggest concern for a long time has been its impact on the horses. This is what I have found: some mud is worse than other mud. The mud doing the most damage to my horses was where they were eating while standing in it, or standing in it while waiting (waiting to eat, waiting to go in, etc.) While they stand in this mud, they poop and this becomes a concentration of manure, mud and gravel of various sizes. It is this concoction that caused all kinds of hoof problems for me as I was getting started years ago. I battled a long string of abscesses, hoof rot, mites, and white line disease well into the summer from paddock conditions that started in the spring. Mud, Mud, Everywhere Mud

Heavy rains have made the paddocks, and the lanes leading to them, a mass of pugged ground.

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Rock and Dulcinea on concrete in the barnyard.

It turns out that standing on (or packing your hoof full of) straight manure was much better for a horse's hoof than the mud and gravel mixed with manure. It also turned out that transiting through mud or getting your hoofs wet didn’t have the same negative effects as standing in the mud containing the highest concentrations of manure. The barnyard (smallest enclosed area for horses in the worst weather) has a mix of outside concrete and an inside covered area. This is just enough area for horses to move around freely. While I usually only confine the horses for eight to 16 hours a day in this way; there are times, like now, where they will spend a few days in this paddock and then be led out for a brief walk in the rain. Over the years, I have experimented with ways to reduce how much concrete I use. I have had good luck making pads 2½ or 3 inches thick if I cut them into small enough squares. The smallest I have done

is 2-by-3-foot squares that are 2½ inches thick. That has worked great for at least 15 years. Outside, I scrape manure into a pile (somewhat under a roof) until the weather allows me to pick it up with a skid steer, and inside I have one deep bedded area where horses will lie down. I start this bedded area with shavings the horses can pee into and then add more bedding hay every day to keep the horses that want to lie down clean. I build up and then clean out this pack about once a month before starting over. So why do I turn horses out at all when it is too wet, or there is nothing to eat in the pasture anyway? There are a few important things to consider here. First, if you own any young horses, they need exercise – the more the better. It is essential for 1- and 2-year old horses and really any horse that is growing. To some extent, the opposite is true for older horses: they won’t go far or do much when there is nothing

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Duke stays out of the mud standing on straw covered concrete.

to eat and no place to go. Some movement is better than none for all horses, and this is why I prefer loose housing to stalls at a time like this. In addition, I have a variety of paths that lead away from the barn to pastures and paddocks that horses can be turned out in until they get too damaged. I am constantly battling the mud in these paths, roads and paddocks. I will discuss my varied strategies for fixing or improving these spots in a later article. For now, suffice it to say; by late winter and early spring some of them can get pretty muddy and pugged up. Here is the most important takeaway: horses that travel through this muddy path to get to a more distant pasture or paddock don’t suffer the hoof

problems they would if I left them standing in the mud. If you can find a dry patch of ground, or an area with better drained soils, make a lane, road or path to get there and back from your horse barn. When I started writing about mud in the beginning of May, little did I know this would turn into one of the worst spring and early summer mud seasons ever. I had hoped to include a few photos and descriptions of the horse turn-out path improvements I am planning to make. Like adding some drainage, some fabric, maybe even some experiments with burying wool. Alas, I have barely been able to turn horses out much less make any road improvements. I hope I can follow up this “Mud: Part One” this fall with more road and path photos.

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47th Annual Fall Mid-Ohio Draft Horse & Carriage Sale October 6-10, 2025 Mt. Hope Auction, Mt. Hope, OH $50.00 consignment fee for horses and ponies. Unloading tack, field equipment, and carriages on Monday & Tuesday (October 6,7, 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM) CONSIGNMENT OPENING: JULY 1, 2025 NEW:Catalog for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday will close when full. Final Deadline: July 31. Catalog for Thursday & Friday Horses: Final deadline is August 9 Please mail consignments & entry fee, including a copy of registration if horse is registered: Mt. Hope Auction, PO Box 82, Mt. Hope, OH 44660 *Belgian Consignors: Designate horse as puller or pulling bred to be put in appropriate sale. Catalog will be available at www.mthopeauction.com

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10 8:00 AM - Cataloged Belgians followed by Uncataloged Draft & Crossbred Horses SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11 7:30 AM - Regular Horse Sale 1:00 PM - Riding Horse & Pony Sale

MID-OHIO DRAFT HORSE EXPO October 6-10 in the Event Center Contact Paul Money: 330-473-7046

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8 Tack, Carriages, Field Equipment, & Antiques 6:00 PM - Haflingers THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9 8:00 AM - Cataloged Percheron Sale followed by cataloged Pulling Bred Belgians

MONDAY, OCTOBER 6 1:00 PM - Cataloged Pony Sale TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7 8:00 AM - Mixed Breed Horses 1:00 PM - Special Standardbred Breeder Sale followed by Weanling/Yearling Sale

2025 Spring Highlights

$23,000.00 Yearling Reg Percheron stud, MM Acres Jasper, from Mervin W MIller, MIllersburg OH, to Leonard Beachy, Mio MI

$30,000.00 Yearling Reg. Percheron Mare, Den-Bars Veronica, from Aden A Hershberger, Dundee OH to Albert J Miller, Fredericksburg OH

$17,500.00 3 yr old Reg Percheron mare, ADW Zanes Izzy. from Allen D Weaver, Holmesville OH to Slate Acres Stables, Baltic OH

$20,000.00 5 yr old Reg Belgian mare, Mindys Jewel, from Crist C Miller Burton OH to Willis U Burkholder, Dundee OH

$15,500.00 Yearling ETR Belgian filly,Suzy Q's Fiona, from Weaver Brothers, Apple Creek OH to Jonathan Miller, Millersburg OH

$14,000.00 5 yr Belgian gelding from Andy Hershberger, Lakeville OH to Daniel M Miller, Millersburg OH

Call: 330-674-6188 | Fax: 330-674-3748

www.mthopeauction.com

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by Joe Mischka H aving been absent from the Kansas City Royal complex for over 25 years, the sights and sounds of draft horses (and mules) returned as the facility enjoyed its last year in operation before being moved to another part of the city. Neal DeVasher is one of the organizers who helped coordinate the farm team part of the show. “There's basically two shows going on at the same time, with classes playing leapfrog,” he said. “We have a full show of hitch horses up to the six. And we are having, during the hitch shows, we are in the classic series for carts, a qualifying show for that.” “So we have a timed obstacle course, a timed log skid with heavy penalties for mistakes, so it’s not just a wild rodeo. It’s a very controlled environment,” he explained. “We have a judged obstacle course that is precision driving. And the obstacles are, you take the mail out of a mailbox and put it back, straddle a pole, keep your team in line as you would do when you”re cultivating. Then we have them parallel park, cross a wooden bridge and then we simulated water with a blue tarp.” The entries would then circle a barrel as closely to the object as possible and back into a dock and fan right and left as if delivering freight in traffic in the city. Royal KC Draft Horse Show “And then my favorite is the farm teams, and that's what I am in charge of,” Neal added.

Doyle Prawl of Hamilton, Kans. competed in the log skidding contest at the KC Royal Show.

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One team has unloaded all its feed and is ready to make the turn to return while the other is still unloading.

When both teams reach the turnaround at about the same time, it can be a game of chicken.

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Keenan Musa rides one of his family’s Belgians during the draft under saddle class.

Two Percheron teams compete in the Feed Team Race.

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One of the six horse hitches leaves the arena.

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A blue tarp is stretched between some construction cones to simulate a water hazard.

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The farm team entries lineup while placings are announced.

All the six-horse-hitch entries lined up as the winning ribbons were awarded.

The feed team class is perhaps most exciting when the cargo has been dropped off and they make the 180-degree turn empty.

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Kalona Horse Sales Kalona Sales Barn, Inc. 121 9th St. Kalona, IA 52247 Family Owned, Established Market since 1947 KALONA FALL DRAFT HORSE & CARRIAGE SALE October 13 & 14 , 2025 th th Catalog Deadline: September 15 th KALONA WORKHORSE SALE February 2 & 3 , 2026 nd rd Expecting 800 - 900 Horses.

WWW.KALONASALESBARN.COM KALONA SALES BARN, INC. 319.656.2222 We look forward to seeing you!

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Productive Struggle THE LUXURY OF USING OXEN

by Rob Collins A s the teaching and farming season at Tillers International heats up for 2025, I think back to an Oxen Basics class in the mid 2000s. We were listening to Tillers’ then-farm manager, Dulcy Perkins, talk about the various misbehaviors the oxen were showing that day. She reframed the experience by saying, “Some

places hold classes with perfectly trained animals, and they demonstrate what those animals can do. But when you go home, the animals won’t be perfect for you at first. We don’t want to give the impression that working animals is easy.” To this day, I try to pass that wisdom on when I’m teaching, particularly around oxen, although that idea is embedded in Tillers’ model of hands-on, rural skills education.

Tom Mahoney’s team of Brown Swiss pull a road grader at Tillers in 2024.

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If you missed the inaugural column in the last issue, welcome to a series on the happenings at Tillers International, based in Scotts, Mich. Last time, I dubbed Tillers “The Oxen University” for our work in researching and teaching low capital agricultural skills. In this issue, our focus turns to the luxury of teaching with, and about, oxen. Of course, it’s worth keeping in mind that for our international work in the developing world, oxen really are a luxury for many farmers, who instead have to farm with rudimentary hand hoes and dibble sticks. But for this column, we’ll stick to why it’s a luxury to get to use oxen stateside in classes. I’m finishing my 29th year of teaching high school, so I spend lots of time thinking about teaching and learning. The longer I teach, the more I focus on productive struggle: the concept that learning happens best, and fastest, when things are appropriately difficult. This week, my

psychology students were discussing the idea of hiring teachers with high GPAs. A sophomore in class said, “If the teacher always got good grades, they might not understand why students need to struggle to learn.” Amen. In this context, oxen are ideal in a teaching setting. Oxen misbehave, but they do it slowly, at least compared to horses. Whereas horses tend to kick and bolt when they perceive danger, oxen usually telegraph their thinking before they act. Almost every time we teach an oxen class, we have some version of this exchange: A student will be walking along saying “Whoa!” repeatedly while the animals keep walking. An instructor will say, “Stop your feet and stand still while saying whoa.” The animals then stop, and everyone has a good chuckle. That slow misbehavior does much to help students learn how to solve problems in short order.

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The 2023 Oxen Basics Class at Tillers International experiemented with putting together a four-ox hitch made up of Rob Collins’ Shorthorns and Devons.

A 10-week-old team of Devons are desensitized to traffic.

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Tara Starling with Tillers’ Pollux experimenting with a 3 pad collar and hay lift.

Additionally, oxen generally tolerate new teamsters and situations. Last fall, I took my Devon team to a harvest festival in the Plain community near Centreville, Mich. At one point during the morning, I noticed that we’d drawn a crowd and that eight kids were in physical contact with the team – including one touching each horn – while the team stood chewing their cud. It’s often the people who are most nervous at the start of a class, rather than the animals. Usually, a long walk driving the lanes of the farm next to the oxen is enough to settle the humans. The oxen reassure the people more than the reverse. The luxury in all of this is that the average beginner can quickly learn to handle a team. By the end of a week-long class, students often do real

farm work and teach others with minimal direct supervision. They often go home and successfully start their own oxen teams from calves. Imagine doing the same with horses after just a week of learning. A luxury indeed. In a class setting, oxen allow for experimentation, a hallmark of Tillers’ approach. Students who want to try something new – driving from behind, driving with lines, hitching multiple teams together, training a pair of calves – can give it a shot. If it works, we’ve all learned something new. If they fail at it, we’ve also learned something new. A student, George Franklin, asked me in a class one time, “Aren’t we confusing your team and teaching them some bad habits?” I had to admit that they were. But, oxen are forgiving enough that it wasn’t

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anything I couldn’t train back out of the team after the class. Along those same lines, the forgiving nature of oxen allows students to get into a little trouble, which I find helpful. We can only practice being

resilient when we’re a little over our heads in a task. Tillers’ “attitude of experimentation” and use of oxen weave together seamlessly. Stop by, and we’ll get in a little trouble, but only a little.

A student drives a young team through a small gate from behind.

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A Baker's Dozen More Lessons From an Old Timer

One. Don’t leave something thinking you’ll get right back to it—take the extra few minutes to put it away. How often have you put down a tool when you realized you needed something else, gone back to the house to get that something, got distracted, and never got back to your job, and later can’t find the tool and have no idea where it’s gone? Unless you’re going just a few steps, or you’re 100% certain that you will immediately return to your task, take the time to put things away. At least gather them in one central place to await further progress. This is also true of hoses and gates. Don’t leave water running while you attend to something else— or at least, set a timer! Never leave the feed stall open thinking you’ll be right back—because you might not be. The few seconds it takes to put things away can save hours of trouble and heartache later. When working on any project, decide on a place to set down your tools—a tarp, a bucket, a designated file on your desk—and make it a habit to put them down only in that place. Tools that get set down on the ground, even for “a minute,” tend to disappear. Papers set down in the wrong stack hide forever.

by Jacqueline Courteau. Illustrations by Maeve Courteau I n the last issue, I reflected on a dozen lessons learned from my Dad, Rural Heritage contributor Dick Courteau, author of the “Old Timers Tips Just Passed Along” column. Here, I offer another baker’s dozen of lessons I learned from him through words and deeds, working side-by-side in the barn and garden. Many are familiar from our shared rural heritage. I’m offering this as a tribute to old timers like my dad and the rural dwellers who lived their lives according to these rules.

Old Timer Dick Courteau

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old workhorse as a training teammate to hitch your excitable young trainee to, and while there, you see a beautiful Clydesdale yearling—and you’ve always wanted a Clydesdale! It feels like a perfect opportunity! Take a serious pause: is this really a project that you can take on right now? What happens to your other horse in training? There’s only so much time in a day. Can you really use this new opportunity? A related issue is adding extra tasks while it’s convenient. You might decide to do additional errands on your trip to town. Or go to the hardware store for supplies for one project and decide to also pick up materials for another. Sometimes this is efficient—saving fuel or time by not doing multiple town trips. Sometimes it leads you astray, distracting you and dissipating efforts. Trying to get too many things done in one trip might take so long that you run out of time to do the originally planned project. Stocking up for your next project before taking the time to plan it carefully, might mean going to the hardware store again anyway. And when you start a project related to the first because you’re already at it —a time-management technique known as “time batching”—sometimes you fail to finish anything. This is not to suggest that you should never take on side projects or group your errands—only that you should pause to consider how they affect progress toward your main goal.

Two. Do what needs to be done—rise to the challenge. When you see a job that needs doing, who better to do it? Unless there’s someone to delegate it to— someone who really should be doing it—step up to the plate yourself. Sometimes a job might seem impossible. But if it’s something that needs to be done, push yourself to do it. You’ll figure out a way. Ask for help along the way if you need it. If you’re new to training a team, find an experienced teamster to work with at first. If you’re not a mechanic, find some instructional videos to guide you on that chainsaw or tractor repair. When you put your mind to it, you can do more than you ever thought possible. Three. Every job will take longer than you think—and you need to do what it takes to get it done. How many times have you started that job that will “just take two hours,” only to find yourself still working on it two days later? Some people estimate time well, but for many of us, the inner optimist overlooks the project’s magnitude or forgets key steps and thinks it will be simpler than it is. I multiply my time estimates by three or four, which usually gets it about right. If it’s taking longer than expected, and the job is worth doing, take the time to get it done. For example, if you want your team trained and ready to pull farm implements, and you’ve estimated you might do that in three weeks, you might find that it actually takes two or three months. Keep at it until you get there. Four. Beware adventitious opportunity. Maybe you’ve gone to a horse auction to pick up a steady,

Five. Making do—or doing well? My dad passed along the attitude that “a job worth doing is worth doing well.” While that’s often true, he also demonstrated that sometimes you just have to do a quick repair until you have time or materials to do the job well. The key is to step back and reflect: Is

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this a job worth doing well, or does it just need to be done to get by? Beware “temporary” solutions, though: if your provisional repair functions just well enough, you might end up not fixing it for a long time.“Temporary” tin-covered wooden shacks built on the Iowa State University campus as soldiers’ barracks during World War II remained as student housing for more than 50 years—the construction was just good enough to forestall further building. Maybe that did end up being a great use of materials after all. Which gets back to that basic question: when is making do good enough? Six. Make do with what you have. Rural residents from cash-strapped places and times have long practiced using materials on hand, combined with ingenuity, to meet needs. Long before the environmental movement developed the slogan “reduce, reuse, recycle,” rural folks did that—and “repurposed.” Country folk were masters of improvisation. Need a feed bin for animals? Find a hollowed log in your woodpile, cut it in half lengthwise, and nail sections of scrap lumber to the ends. Or fashion a hanging feed bin from an old tire by cutting around the rims (to leave loops for hanging), then carve off ¾ of the tire so that the remaining 1/4, turned inside out, makes a nice size for an animal to eat from. Another tire feeder option is to use the tire in half parallel to the treads, turn it inside out, and nail a board to where the wheel was. Indeed, rural dwellers found all kinds of uses for old tires. Tire swings are a classic, of course—the simplest a tire suspended from a rope, which I swung on during my childhood. Later my dad made carved seats, like those feed bins, for siblings. Now, elaborate horse swings assembled from various tire parts sell for a pretty penny online. Larger tractor tires were white washed and used to enclose flowerbeds. Tires were cut and placed on protruding corners as safeguards. These uses have declined in recent years, perhaps due to recycling and harder-to-cut steel-belted tires. Baling twine/wire is another old standby. Indeed, fixing something with “baling wire and chewing gum” meant a common inexpensive repair. “Bubble gum and (shoe)strings” indicated things just barely held together with leftover materials, done on a shoestring budget. Baling twine is supplemented by electricians’ tape or duct tape for many repairs: patching holes in

waterproof boots or holding soles onto leather boots; wrapping rope ends to keep them from unraveling; “hemming” the edge of a saddle pad or horse blanket to keep it from fraying; and repairing a halter or bridle. Caution! though—tape should only be used for supplemental straps, not for major stress points, where a break could allow an animal to get loose. And beware the “temporary” fix. Make it a priority to properly repair harnesses and other tack. Dad also used electricians’ tape for book binding repairs, which he elevated to an art. Some treasured family books still remain on the shelves after decades, bound with those distinctive black strips.

Seven. Beware the “soft trap.” Dad learned to be wary of getting too comfortable with “labor-saving” devices, technology, and creature comforts. Pulling a plow down a furrow with a team requires physical exertion and doesn’t allow you to sit in an air-conditioned tractor cab—but the team works reliably with a lower cash outlay and fuel costs. Riding a horse or mule down a trail isn’t as smooth as riding in a Cadillac— but the equine can get you to more places and with pleasurable partnership. Living within limits requires tradeoffs and discomforts. Keeping animals keeps you tied down to a place and schedule, and lots of folks dislike the perceived drudgery. But others find satisfaction amidst the hardships and wouldn’t have it any other way. Eight. Small is beautiful. E.F. Schumacher’s 1973 book by that title advocated for keeping work small-scale

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