September 04, 2007

Heart warming romantic claptrap . I wish I could convey the sense of quiet confidence that settles over the man or woman who holds the reins of a good team as a storm moves in I wish I could convey the sphincter-puckering panic that settles over a man or woman who realizes they're sitting on a metal buck rake as a storm moves in. stolen frm the Blue--but added to inside.

As much as I love horses, going back to the good old days would never make it. I have two sets of double harness my brother-in-law gave me after his romantic Nebraska farming days were over. Draft horses aren't easy to raise and train, and plowing is WORK! There's a reason you couldn't keep 'em down on the farm after they'd seen Parie. So you head for the city--but not for this! The Fleethorse bus. At the turn of the century, American cities were home to over three million horses. The ones that lived in Milwaukee produced 133 tons of manure every day, those in Brooklyn, about 200. Waste and Want: A Social History of Trash In 1880, New York City removed 15,000 dead horses from its streets, and late as 1916 Chicago carted away 9,202 horse carcasses. Talk about your major pollution! The decline of urban horses

posted by BlueHorse 17 years ago
  • I wish I could convey the sphincter-puckering You have no idea what my sphincter is capable of. Do not challenge me lightly.
  • I took the article with a certain grain of salt. You can't just go back without an immediate, compelling reason. But I think the author does have a point about a Peak Oil scenario. We did it before, we might have to do it again. I'll take a horse over Lord Humungus.
  • When I was a kid the milkman still used a horse and cart to deliver milk (this was in suburban Adelaide). In the summer holidays we would get up early to rush out and see the horse. Man that horse knew the milk route better than the milkman did. I don't understand what the hassle with the manure is. It can be used for fertilizer - and if they can make paper out of elephant dung - why not horse? On the other hand we all know what happens when there is a bout of horse flu. As far as transport goes - I think that cycling is a really big issue. I wish it were better set up here - really they could close off entire lanes of roads just for cycles. Would be better health and air wise, and much safer than the maniac way people ride around here now (in Japan).
  • I don't know there, BlueHorse. I agree with a lot of the sentiments in the article (and nice to see props to my alma mater for their draft horse program!). I think he has some good points: Work horses did the job in the fields for centuries; they can definitely be used today, and there are benefits to doing so. City horses, well, not such a good idea today, mostly because our cities aren't built for horses any more. Our farms though could easily be converted. It makes me sad to see so many acres turned from fallow field into bland subdivisions. They try to make up for it by giving it a fancy name, usually one that touches on three natural themes like animals, places, and natural landscape features. Invariably, at least two out of three are missing from the actual subdivision. Crap like "Lakeview Forest" or "Fox Oak Hills" or "Swan Meadow Glen", names for empty former cornfields that are completely flat, denuded of any existing tree cover, and water (if at all present) is limited to one or two carefully constructed, landscaped ponds, with all the charm and odor of the usual over-fertilized sludgy green cesspools you most often see swallowing your tee shots on golf courses. Animals are unwelcome, unless on a leash. I say bring back the small farm. I'd love to see some organic farm collectives start using horsepower again, and remind the young people why we have that word to begin with. My dad brings teams of draft horses to the school farm once a year for Plow Day, and it is amazing to see them work. My jaded mechanical 21st century eyes are at least open to the possibility. I'd like it if we can turn the huge impersonal factory farms from subsidized money-losing industrialized machines into farms again.
  • On the Minnesota farm where I was raised in the 1940s, McCormick’s reaper was still drawn by two big Belgians They hooked up Toots Thielemans and Jacqes Brel to the reaper?
  • Oh, and BTW, GramMa, nice set of links!
  • Thanks for the wonderful image, TUM. Just recently attended horse-pulling contests at our State Fair. What an amazing thing to see--if ever there was a definition of horsepower, that's it. My mother, quite sharp and lively at 85, commented that she recalled various vendors in horse-drawn vehicles plying their trades on Mount Washington, above downtown Pittsburgh. Her family were the first to own a horseless carriage, but she commented on how very quite, and how much slower, life was prior to its arrival. There were even inclines (funiculars) in town designed to carry large wagons drawn by full teams. It will take an awful lot to get people away from burning fossil fuels. Folks have gotten mightily spoiled. Consider that prior to the invention of air conditioning, most of the American deep south was nearly empty. Now, millions of folks live in places where air-conditioning is a necessity. Similarly, the rise of suburbs exactly coincides with the rise of the automobile. Here, at least, it will take a drastic restructuring of everything from employment to leisure to make folks less car-dependent. That said, a return to animal-powered agrarian production--with better, more efficient equipment--seems like a great idea, but only when it is more cost-effective for the farmer will it be embraced on any scale. Gas will have to literally price itself out of common use for horses to reclaim the high road.
  • Grrrrr! Frogs, don't get me started on suburbia and subdivisions. I've watched the riparian areas and fertile, easily irrigated farmlands around the Boise River get swallowed up and paved over the last 20 years, and I'm ready to spit. How STUPID! Now we have insurance going through the roof because the half-million $$ homes right on the river are flooded on a regular basis, and we have to put flood control measures into effect to save the other idiots who built on the 100-year flood plain. the farming has moved out onto the easily damaged, less fertile, and hard to irrigate soils of the desert and the price food and hay has gone sky high partially as a response to this. In addition, we have pollution draining down into the river from vehicles, lawn fertilizers/pesticides, people who are still not on city sewage, runoffs from parking lots of chain stores and malls. Yes, there were a few dairys, but the manure issue was handled by the miles of farmland surrounding the river. Most of the area was in small farms, and there were quite a few plow horses still in use, and many small "custom" machine operators that would do plowing, threshing, mowing, baling, etc. Now I'm watching the same thing happening to the wonderful orchards in Emmett, New Plymouth and Fruitvale about 15 miles away. Used to be all kinds of fruits grown as it was the perfect soil and climate. Now we're sprouting houses. And why do these people all have to have a H U G E lawn in an arid climate? And they don't flood irrigate like the farmers did, they pump it out of the aquifer. Gallons of water wasted, tons of fertilizer, herbicides, and pesticides, and grass clippings get hauled to the dump. DOH! Xerescaping, people. And you don't have to mow! Urban idiots come into a rural area because they love the rural life. First thing that has to go is the gravel road in front of the house, because it's dusty. Of course, it's not paved, because the county doesn't have the tax base, but they'll bitch at every council meeting anyway. Second, those stinky cows, horses, and noisy roosters have GOT to go. Haying and harvest is noisy and creates too much dust. Turns out the kids really didn't want to have a pony, so we sold it, (or maybe just keep it in the back and don't bother to worm, inoculate, or trim it's feet) and now you people that ride your horses down the road are a hindrance to our driving our SUVs 60mph and getting to town faster. The old farmer's cafe is disgusting. DAMMIT, WHEN ARE WE GOING TO ZONE FOR A STARBUCKS AND A MCD's!?? *is forcibly gagged and dragged off soapbox See, I told you don't get me started.
  • There are niches, where horses are used, and I love the idea. I should point out, however, that in my neck of the woods, humans are the draft animals to a large degree. Weeding cotton, sowing crops, preparing grape vines for production, picking fruit and vegetables - they do that for minimum wage, and don't get overtime till they've worked more than 10 hours a day or for more than 6 days a week. And, all that is really HARD, but it's not done by the farmers. I've seen the labor crews hired from contractors, dressed in many layers of clothing and with masks over their faces in 100 degrees Farenheit heat to keep from being affected by the chemicals present when weeding fields, and all the crews were made up of women. 10 hours a day, six days a week. And, I'm not discounting the work done by crews that are typically male. They work the same long hours with no holiday pay, no vacations, and few benefits like insurance. The farm equipment they use can be dangerous to the point that farmers can hardly meet the workman's compensation premiums. And the work is HARD,even if the equipment is the latest technology (for which the farmers pay hundreds of thousands of dollars.) Modern farming seems to me to be so far from the pastoral life of generations ago that "forty acres and a mule" and the jingle of harnesses seems pretty attractive. Too bad it wouldn't feed us.
  • As a country boy born and bred (high elevation pine forest, tip of North Idaho), I agree with everything said. But you're missing the point, here. The Fleetwood bus. I NEED one! You could fling horseshit at tailgaters. Horseshit!
  • Yup, I have three "freebies" in my corral right now. Two could be considered rescues, as their conditions were certainly upgrade in a major way. Things are going to get worse before they get better. People, horses are NOT pets. Horses are large working animals. Half the problems in the horse industry are caused by hard-hearted people that see horses a disposable income-producing machines, and the other half are caused by soft-headed/hearted people who think a horse is a big lap-dog to be spoiled and kissy-kissed. The horse is a working animal that can be used for pleasurable pursuits, but it's large, dangerous when untrained, and expensive to keep. Sorry, but I strongly believe that there is a place for the slaughterhouse. Sure, it's sad when old dobbin can't gee up any more, but the costs of owning a horse that provides no useful function can be prohibitive. Not to mention the quality of life issues for an old horse that has no teeth, or is blind, suffering from Cushings, founder, or other debilitating illness. Yes, some of this can be managed, but it's expen$ive. The problem of overpopulation in horses has been caused by backyard breeders and irresponsible people who own poor quality mares that they insist on breeding in the name of running a horse "farm" for profit. Then they realize there IS no profit and dump untrained, poorly managed animals onto a market that is super-saturated with good quality, well-trained horses. Don't get me started on the bleeding-heart rescues that save all the starving lame and old horses when there are starving young, sound, good-quality horses that go to slaughter. The rescuers seem to think they're doing such a wonderful service by putting four times the amount of money into one old toothless, blind horse past his natural lifetime instead of saving four young animals. It's a heart warming story to tell, though. But what do I know? Maybe it's better that they focus on the old ones and let the young ones go. At least the old nags aren't going to be around for as many years eating hay that keeps going up in price. Sure, I think it's sad that an old horse who's worked hard can't live out their life in a lovely green pasture, but that's just not a reality for most people in this economy. AND IT NEVER WAS A REALITY!!! Horses that were past the age of usefulness have always been put down or turned out to starve. Very few ended up in lush green pasture retirement. Thanks to many things, the useful age of a horse has been extended from 13-15 to up to 22-25 years old. In some cases, even longer. Horses used to die much younger than they do now because we didn't have super drugs and pelleted feeds, but these things are expensive. Putting an old horse down is expensive, and many places won't allow you to bury a horse, even if you would happen to have the land available. Many people can't find a dealer to dispose of the carcass. Sorry, meat's meat. I'm all for stringent rules covering the HUMANE transport and slaughter for ALL animals. If someone wants to eat horse meat, what's the difference between that and beef? At least the horse then fulfills a useful function. Most likely I'll have my old friends put down by the vet and carted off to the renderer's, but I certainly won't badmouth anyone who choses another method of disposal. It's a tough enough decision without that.
  • Does it come with "full release"?
  • Gimme a break!
  • I'm impressed! That's one stout pony.
  • Is it uncommon to cross-breed a quarter horse with a draft horse? Tonk certainly seems like the ideal horse for that kind of environment.
  • Lucky for the bear she wasn't on a buffalo.
  • I wonder if she was aware this was a problematic situation...? It's stupid though. I'm sure horseys like her massages. Mine love to be brushed and rubbed and monkeyed with, too. I've done leg rubs on bowed tendons and sore muscles, and I think it helps. Can't hurt, at any rate. Would I pay good money for 'therapeutic massage'? Doubtful.
  • That's neat! At age nineteen, she's no doubt very fit, and that type of exercise is probably easy on her legs and joints. I beg to differ with the statement that horses swim natural. Had a friend whose horse went in to water, turned turtle, and drowned--bingo! Just as fast as that. Old cowboys have told me you always be ready for a horse to drown if you haven't seen them in water before. Very little floundering, just down they go. Other horses love water and swim like fish. Some will even lay down and wallow if it's not deep enough. (I'm lookin' at YOU, Swish!)
  • Had a friend whose horse went in to water, turned turtle, and drowned--bingo! Just as fast as that. That's terrible. How weird that they react so differently.
  • "Some horses just don't get it," he said. The one shown is beautiful.
  • Ohh, thank you. This will take some time to read. Will report back with my thoughts! *salutes*
  • Everyone thinks it's so cute, but he really needs an equine mom. There's plenty of nurse mares out there. Even if they just find a gentle old gelding 'babysitter' it would be much better for him. Poor baby :(
  • Dumb. Just dumb. Horses don't belong in the house. Now I'd move into the barn, but that's another issue altogether.
  • Its female rider was also rescued. Minor afterthought.