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Riding or walking
Posted by Bill Smith at 2015-02-23 07:28:44
In the latest issue of RH I have, there is a discussion on the merits of walking and the sins of riding (or so it seemed to me) an implement. FWIW- someplace in my huge collection of old farm books and pamphlets I have at least two references to studies done back in the day of the increased load a rider makes on an implement like a plow, harrow, cultivator. The gist of the studies was that it makes no practical difference in load in an implement designed for a rider when the rider walks. When you think about it, it makes sense that the additional, say, 200 lbs of rider will not equate to 200lbs additional weight to pull on a wheeled implement. That's the physics of a wheel in play.

Myself, I have genetically bad ankles and age hasn't improved things. I do a lot of walking and a spend a lot of time laid up and sore. A forecart is not a sin, it's a tool and IMO it is no more better or worse than walking. I don't think a thoughtful teamster is a bad guy for using one, and I don't think there is any morally higher ground gained from not using one.
Response by Uncle Joe at 2015-02-23 09:35:02
The article offered perspectives from five horsepowered farmers. Eighty percent proclaimed the advantages to using forecarts in their operations.

The writer of the single dissenting perspective qualified his remarks by telling readers he offered "a Dutch point of view on the matter," where farms are small and there are fewer horses for fieldwork. The question of morality was never discussed.

Joe
Response by Bill Smith at 2015-02-24 06:46:51
When I used the word sin it was supposed to have been in italics, ie- "sin". My bad. But I've seen the same thing mentioned here in the past, that somehow riding was wrong or less "pure" somehow. Seems kind of an odd way of looking at things to me. But then I don't get why people want 100hp PTO carts with 1000 rpm. By the time you get that big you may as well be using a tractor, or so it seems to me. Yet it's always presented as somehow morally or ethically "wrong" to use a tractor in horse circles. Seems odd to me.

I've also seen people lately refer to forecarts as "unsafe". I can see some rigs being mechanically usafe, but over all I'd say a forecart would be safer that walking beside a log you're skidding or riding a board on a harrow. I was hoping to see this discussed a bit.
Response by Mike in MI at 2015-02-24 07:32:46
I agree that using a forecart can make the job more pleasant, and in some ways safer. I can't fit it in the woods for logging 'cuz of the narrow trails, so that requires walking; I can walk around my arena while using the spring tooth drag, but more fun to ride and pull it. When it comes down to it, because many of us work alone and most are pretty good tinkerers, we make and use what's best for our individual situation.
Just my .02, Mike
Response by T Payne at 2015-02-24 08:15:42
I enjoyed the article. I didn't notice even a hint of judgemental jargon. I personally love to learn about other people's ways and methods, for the education. Certainly breeding and training and working animals is in many ways not a "one size fits all" undertaking. If we were to feel morally judged for having different ways, especially when none of that noise is intended, (or even if it is sometime) we run the risk of sliding into a cesspool of self righteousness, self doubt, and self pity. That's a wallow to avoid.
Response by Brian at 2015-02-24 09:23:28
One thing I like about the horse (or mule) farming community is that it's generally pretty accepting of the fact there's more than one "right" way to do things. As long as what you do is safe for you and your animals, it's perfectly valid.
Response by ken P at 2015-02-24 09:34:34
Some tools (riding plow, ground driven mower, etc.) need the 200# of weight (teamster riding) to work properly. With out the weight they are to light.

One Ox teamster (driving from the front left side ) when mowing hay needs a big bag of sand tied in the seat or mower slides and skips on the grass.
Response by KC Fox at 2015-02-24 10:36:29
Walking or riding as long as your using animals it don't make any difference. it is the way you do, I do it different not wrong just different. My grandmother would out walk most people and some horses when I was 16 she could out walk me and she was 80,but she never drove a car. she walked or rode in a wagon when she went someplace. Milk cows were 1-2 miles away and if they weren't in she went after them.
Response by Bill Smith at 2015-02-25 06:43:07
In my view this is sort of akin to the mixed power vs no mixed power argument. Some people seem to think that using a skid steer to hog out a winter pack of manure in a barn is "cheating" somehow. Maybe I just read too much into what they are writing, but it's pretty hard to to justify spending days or weeks with a pitchfork when a few hours on the skid steer gets the job done, at least on my farm. I've seen a lot of discussion on the merits, (or corruption depending on who's talking) of powered forecarts too. There are certainly limits and grey areas, but overall it comes back to either a sense of moral superiority or a twisted way of looking at things. I see the same thing talked about all the time in outdoor sports circles- that hikers and canoists are somehow "better" than ATVers and motor boat people. Maybe I'm reading too much into what the author is trying to say, but the feeling has been there for well over 20 years.
Response by KC Fox at 2015-02-27 09:36:00
I try to take the best of the ideas I hear about & the ones posted for my operation & how it will work for me. The rest I leave alone. Mixed power I use I have tractors from a H farmal to 4430 JD. A pitchfork to a power hyd forecart. use what works for me. Others do the same and I don,t bother thinking what there doing. they leave me alone and think what they will.
Response by Bill Smith at 2015-02-28 07:08:58
Yeah, I get that. It's the issue of ethics that comes across that gets me.

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