A while ago a course in the organic centre brochure caught my eye 'Working With Horses'. I began to mull over the benefits of having a working horse on the smallholding, which was quite difficult as I had very limited 'horsey' knowledge ie absolutely no idea what a working horse could actually be used for on a farm. It's funny, but sometimes when something crops up for the first time in my life it seems to keep coming up, when I've never thought about it before. No sooner had I started thinking about this previously unvisited subject in my head, I saw an article in Sustainability magazine about ... working horses. I devoured the article within minutes and read it over again and again. The facts and figures were fascinating. I got in touch with Sandra Schmid, the author, and she painted a realistic picture of the kinds of job a cob horse or donkey might be able to help with.
A horse would certainly fit in well with our long term plans for the woodland. There are other jobs a horse could be used for too ... preparing vegetable beds, ploughing and planting areas in which to grow grain and fodder to feed the horse itself and our other livestock, perhaps even to go shopping in our local village. The benefits of using a horse instead of the car for short trips, or a tractor, is that we can (with it's help) grow it's fuel requirements in the field, what's more the 'emissions' can be composted and recycled in the veg garden! On top of that a horse can replicate itself and make more horses for you to use or sell, I've not come across a vehicle that can do that yet.
In the meantime Dan went on the working with horses course and immediately became enamoured with the whole idea too, which was exactly why I sent him on the course rather than myself!
Jim Cronin and his son teaching the 'Working With Horses' course at the Organic Centre, Rossinver
Of course there are expenses to consider; feed, housing, fencing, shoes, tackle, carts and vets bills. We will be doing some maths and thinking about the pros and cons, then we'll probably throw that piece of paper out the window and fall in love with some lovely little Irish cob and that'll be that.
I have a painting my grandfather did back in the 80s of some working horses in the woods around our house. They were being used to drag out the thinnings from the Coilte run forrest around us. The painting has the horses standing patiently while the lads brewed a cuppa on a small fire at the side of the gravel road.
Posted by: thriftcriminal | August 03, 2008 at 07:56 PM
Hi Bec,
A working horse sounds great, another great thing about a horse is they know there way home, i.e. you can now go to the pub and have a Guiness and the horse will get you home.
Also the cons of a horse is if anyone has an allergy to horses, sound weird but me and my sister do. My Mum is horsey mad she use to have one when she was a kid and can do circus tricks on horses. The other great benifit is having the horse manure and a friend for life.
Clip clop clip clop
Posted by: Eloise | August 03, 2008 at 08:57 PM
Oh now I can see the desire for a horse in the family - working or none - or better stil (for me anyways) a donkey :o) I shall look forward to hearing news one way or the other as to whether you have fallen in love yet or are choosing not to take that route.
Posted by: Amanda | August 03, 2008 at 10:08 PM
It's funny you should say you will probably throw the paper out the window as that was my thought too. Just get one, what decent smallholding doesn't have a beauty like the one's you have pictured. And I'm sure you could add kids parties to the list, little girls would love a horse ride around the field.
Posted by: Maddy | August 05, 2008 at 11:47 PM
Do definately consider getting a horse!! I have three and I had a tractor for a while to harrow their sand arena but it wasn't used often enough so it would get air-locked and diesel is not cheap anymore. I have 'asked' one of my horses to pull a harrow and she does really enjoy the work and I love working with her. We can get the whole sand arena harrowed in appx. half an hour which is about the same time or less than it took with the tractor. She is a small (14HH) heavy horse and really appreciates the extra feed she gets for performing the task. Would suggest you do take a short course on natural horse handling. I train with Vanessa Bee of Positive Horsemanship. She does a course called "Pony Power" which trains you to be able to ask the horse to work for you. She also has some wonderful courses in Natural Horsemanship from "Basic Skills" to "Ready to Ride" and it is all done without naturally without being heavy handed with the horse. You don't even need to buy a horse. There are soooo many discarded horses in Ireland who need a good home and would be only too happy to help you with your tasks. Check out the ISPCA for horses looking for home. Cheaper and more rewarding than a tractor!!
Posted by: Liz Cunnane | August 06, 2008 at 11:51 PM
Do definately consider getting a horse!! I have three. I had a tractor for a while to harrow their sand arena but it wasn't used often enough so it would get air-locked and diesel is not cheap anymore. I have 'asked' one of my horses to pull a harrow and she does really enjoy the work and I love working with her. We can get the whole sand arena harrowed in appx. half an hour which is about the same time or less than it took with the tractor. She is a small (14HH) heavy horse and really appreciates the extra feed she gets for performing the task. Would suggest you do take a short course on natural horse handling. I train with Vanessa Bee of Positive Horsemanship. She does a course called "Pony Power" which trains you to be able to ask the horse to work for you. She also has some wonderful courses in Natural Horsemanship from "Basic Skills" to "Ready to Ride" and it is all done naturally without being heavy handed with the horse. You don't even need to buy a horse. There are soooo many discarded horses in Ireland who need a good home and would be only too happy to help you with your tasks. Check out the ISPCA for horses looking for home. Cheaper and more rewarding than a tractor!!
Posted by: Liz Cunnane | August 06, 2008 at 11:55 PM
How wonderful to have a working horse on the farm but do do the sums carefully as they can prove v. expensive and inevitably as my friend who currently has 18 horses says "They steal your hearts then break them".
Posted by: carolyn | August 07, 2008 at 12:26 PM
I would like to know more. I understand plowing with horses, my neighboor has used horses to plow for a long time.
Can horses be used in place of a backhoe? Is there a phone number of someone in the states I could talk with. I'm not an internet person and get more from talking.
Thank you. Jasmine 828-297-4677
Posted by: jasmine shoshanna | December 27, 2008 at 04:24 PM