The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Pets & Working Animals => Horses, ponies, donkeys & mules => Topic started by: Blacksheep on January 01, 2012, 01:24:34 pm
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I would like to find a way of my horse being able to carry a couple of bales of hay to take down to the sheep and have been trying to search for a pack saddle for this purpose but not found anything for sale in the UK - does anyone know of any supplier here or ideally I would like to find a secondhand one to buy? Thanks for any help with this or other ideas of attaching the bales securely.
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goggle it and look at the pics then modify a cheap saddle to suit cant be that difficult with a bit of thought and a good leather worker or bits of rope :farmer:
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thanks for your reply Robert, it might come to modifying a saddle although ideally I would like something like this military pack saddle to be able to attach the bales reasonably securely http://www.custompackrigging.com/assets/images/Products/FullSize/item07.jpg (http://www.custompackrigging.com/assets/images/Products/FullSize/item07.jpg)
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you could jig something up like that if you are good with a welder and bender still have to atach the bales on and protect the horses ribs :farmer:
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I have a pack saddle you can have. I also have 2 collars and what looks like a 2 wheel trap ( in bits hung from the rafters) - looks old with wooden spoke wheels.
The only trouble is I live in Limousin. I plan to give away a few other things in the New Year such as a hand worked thresher machine, electric motor with mill and stones ( newish) and old 2 man saws.Might be worth hiring a van .
Cheers Martin
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Here?
http://www.thordale.co.uk (http://www.thordale.co.uk)
(under "kibbers and tack")
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We've got a klibber from Journeyman leather. There's a photo of our Shetland, Bugsy, taking out haynets with it on the website diary. We only have small numbers of stock so just put out some haynets every day rather than full bales.
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I am wanting to do the same thing, Blacksheep, and have failed signally to turn up anything suitable for Fell and Dales ponies to carry a load. There are people who pack with Fells, I just keep missing the Packs and Tracks days ::)
David Murray recently packed most of Hadrian's Wall with two Fells, one wearing a military pack saddle and the other a reconstruction of a Roman pack saddle. I caught up with him one morning to see how these performed and did like the military one very much - but it wouldn't be suitable for toting hay bales without some amendments. David has had his for some years and used it on expeditions all over the world. He reckons it's worth thousands.
There's a pic of both pack saddles on his expedition website here:
http://www.shadow-of-the-wall.co.uk/photo_diary_2.html (http://www.shadow-of-the-wall.co.uk/photo_diary_2.html)
So, like you, I'm still looking...
I also wonder about practicalities - for instance, if I'm delivering one hay bale in one field and the other in another, do I have to split the second bale to give the pony an even load for the second leg? Would some sort of pulled A-frame be more suitable? Or should I just get a trailer/cart?
Please let me know if you do turn up anything!
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thanks all for the replies. Sally likewise I would be interested to hear how you get on if you source a suitable pack saddle, for us I think a pack saddle would be easier than a pulled frame as my horse has not been broken to harness and is likely to fuss a bit about working on his own on the farm away from his field companions. I also want to keep the equipment needed as straight forward as possible so that it is a relatively easy job to get him ready to help transport the bales down the fields. Hopefully once he gets used to the routine and being away from his companions on the farm ( he is fine out on his on a hack on his own though!) he may then be trainable to work in harness on the farm, he can certainly start the voice training and hopefullylearning to ground tie whilst doing some pack work. Good point re once you have unloaded one bale, although I think we will be dropping them off in pairs to each feeding location, our hay cratches all taking 2 bales so hopefully wouldn't be a problem.