I love the stuff. It's nice and stiff too, but can be bent if needed...but it's really a heavy gauge. I use large staples to attach it to the fence posts. (and typically some good gauge wire when it ends in a gate post...just because the horses tend to be harsher on it there, while waiting to come in....)
bug out horse?
- Thread starter gman89
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We just got us a horse (white and black paint), rescue horse. she will be useful after SHTF and if there is an EMP. Its not very fast, but can get you most anywhere you need to go, just need to stop often for grass and water.
Mmmmm horse burgers 
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If you have a mare you can get her bred and have a replacement horse too.
I never thought about having to break it. I guess it would be easier if you raised it and started early, but I really wouldn't know where to begin with training.
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Raising and training horses isn't that difficult. It just takes a little time and patience. I've trained a lot of horses over the years, both saddle and draft horses. Training actually starts as soon as the horse is born. There are a lot of good books on the subject, and most horse trainers are willing to offer help and advise too. Learn to "listen" to the horse and he'll tell you everything that your doing wrong, as well as what you're doing right. Start early and do something with the horse every day. Earn their trust first and training is much easier. There's no need to "break" a horse. Owning a horse doesn't need to be expensive either, assuming you have enough pasture. Learn how to do some simple vet work and how to trim their hooves yourself. Simple.
Everything Arctic said! Trust is paramount, when my Morgan was very young (granted, Morgan’s are some of the easiest to work with) every morning I would lead it around to what ever work I was doing on the property getting him a custom to all the noises and the other animals, eventually I no longer needed to put a rope on him, he followed me around like the dogs. Kids played around him under him, I would put one of the kids on him and he would follow me around, by the time I got around to putting a saddle on him and mounting it he was far more manageable.
Trust is a major major thing, I have two Morgan’s and several other makes and models [emoji6] but in my opinion the Morgan are the best for the beginner, I’m sure opinions may differ on this but in my experience that’s been the case.
While I'd love to learn how to be my own farrier, for now, I'll trust the experts. As for "breaking" this is true, If you have it from birth, no need, but you are still dealing with feeding and caring for it for years of non-use. While sure, in a SHTF scenario, I may just depend on pasture grazing only, right now, I want to give my horses more years, with feed and hay also. Just putting it out there. Plus, a horse is an anchor. You want to leave for the weekend? OK, who is going to feed, water, and turn out, bring in the horse? Not as easy as leaving a cat or dog for a day or two.
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Shoeing horses isn't what I was getting at. Trimming and filing hooves is simple and even a kid can do it. Part of my training always included working around their feet every day starting at an early age. My heavy draft horses were trained to pick their feet up on command. Usually I'd only shoe my work horses in the winter. I had special shoes that I had welded cleats to the bottom to help with traction on the ice. In the spring I'd pull the shoes off and trim the hooves. The only other time that I'd shoe my horses is if I'd be using them on hard rocky ground or if they had split hooves. Otherwise they were barefoot. Every farm/ranch operation is different. In my case the only time my horses were in the corral was if I was going to be using them. The rest of the time they were turned loose on open range for grazing. Taking time off during summer wasn't a problem as I' only needed to feed them in winter.
I don't need to shoe mine either...just a time thing. I get up at 5:30am to bring them in so they can feed (hot FL sun in summer/august, barn is 10-15 degrees cooler). I leave the house at 6:30am, drop the wife off at 7:30am, then I'm at work just before 8am. I get off work at 5pm, but she's off at 6pm, so by the time we get home, it's 7 or 7:30pm, depending on traffic.
We have time to fix dinner (I'm putting the horses out while she does this, or vice-versa), and maybe watch one TV show while we are eating, before going to bed to do it all over.
It's why we try to have fun on the weekends, but the weekends are also our only days to actually DO anything around the ranch too.
We have time to fix dinner (I'm putting the horses out while she does this, or vice-versa), and maybe watch one TV show while we are eating, before going to bed to do it all over.
It's why we try to have fun on the weekends, but the weekends are also our only days to actually DO anything around the ranch too.
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Makes sense for your location and your type of operation. Having to go work away from home makes a big difference too. I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing here if I had to go to work off the ranch. Fortunately for most of my working career I had 3- 9 months vacation each year. With this time off I was able to work at home doing what I liked, horse logging, trapping, hunting/fishing and raising livestock.
I tried shoeing horses once but it's too hard on my back. Trimming and filing hooves only takes about 10 minutes per horse, and that's enough for me.
Yeah, it likely wouldn't be hard to learn. I can get mine to put their hooves up on command, so I can pick them out, and do some maintenance, I just don't feel confident trimming them, and $20 per horse each 6 weeks is cheap enough not to bother....
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