Today, I started picking corn by hand with the horses. I love this job in any year, but this year I am especially enjoying it. My corn is spotty and weedy. The weeds would make the picker get all bound up. We have also had lots of rain so the ground is very soft. The horses are digging in in a few places, but the tractor would be buried up to its axles.
The horses fiddled around some on the first load. They acted like they didn't know where to walk, they ignored me a couple times when asked to stop, but by the second load they were resigned to just do the job. It is a joy to use them for this job. I walk beside them telling them when to stop. They stand while I pick up to them and move forward again when I ask them.
The weather was perfect today, perhaps even a bit hot, but I know winter is coming fast so I plan to keep at this job until its finished.