The last horse man.

[vulcan]

Was watching this dvd the other night guess it was filmed a while ago anyone no if they still farm this way also remember a series on TV a few years ago called the farm time forgot or something similar any one else remember it?Can't find it anywhere on the internet.

 

[JP1]

Snippet

 

[JP1]

 

[JP1]

 

[colhonk]

Remember watching that. was a long time ago now.

 

[Wink]

Think I have that DVD somewhere but not watched it yet but saw the other one the last shepherds if that interests you.

 

[Barleycorn]

It's all very romantic now, but my father, born in 1901, said it was a happy day when they replaced the last draft horse for a tractor. The horses lives were virtually unbearable, and when times were hard in the 20s / 30s they were pushed beyond their limits, and certainly no animal welfare concerns then, except for protecting your investment.
In later life he hated watching horses ploughing in ploughing matches because it brought it all back.
The farm next door to us had to get the horses ready by 7.00, despite the stables being over a mile away. A long cruel dreary day ensued until 5.00 when they went home again.

 

[Osca]

It's all very romantic now, but my father, born in 1901, said it was a happy day when they replaced the last draft horse for a tractor. The horses lives were virtually unbearable, and when times were hard in the 20s / 30s they were pushed beyond their limits, and certainly no animal welfare concerns then, except for protecting your investment.
In later life he hated watching horses ploughing in ploughing matches because it brought it all back.
The farm next door to us had to get the horses ready by 7.00, despite the stables being over a mile away. A long cruel dreary day ensued until 5.00 when they went home again.

There used to be a little independant garage near here; a one-man business where I used to go for repairs and MOT preps and so on. When he decided to call it a day, the owner came round to all his customers to tell them personally that he was going to retire; he was a real gentleman; a really nice guy. He found me with the horses and suddenly came out with - "I used to work with horses. Not like this - but Clydesdales. I was ploughing by myself at seven years old!"
I had had no idea of this and pressed him for details. From what he said it was very hard. His father worked on a farm and at first he followed his father onto the land. By the time he was old enough to employ he knew what to do - but I've no doubt he was working before he was earning, so to speak. He said it was very hard for the horses - they worked constantly from dawn to dusk at the busy times. He wouldn't like to see those days return. He described being told to hold one of his team, as a young boy, only to find that that horse was deemed to have reached the end of its useful life and was going to be put down. He attacked the guy with the gun and had to be hauled off. He moved onto things mechanical as soon as he could and never looked back.

The only other old farm horseman I have talked to was down in Berkshire, where the farm used Suffolks. He remembered horses going out to the harvest field with bleeding shoulders from the collar - he also said he wouldn't like to see a return to those days.

 

[Hard Graft]

IThey were still farming 2 years ago with the horses when I was last on there place. They are a very nice family. I had a heavy horse at the time for forestry but for some farm jobs it was far better than any machine mainly stone picking as it would work by voice commands so you just told it by voice were to go and you just pick up stones

 

[farmerphilly]

I was once told that in 1912 there was no hay time and no harvest due to severe rain. Horses must have had it rough.

 

[JP1]

It's all very romantic now, but my father, born in 1901, said it was a happy day when they replaced the last draft horse for a tractor. The horses lives were virtually unbearable, and when times were hard in the 20s / 30s they were pushed beyond their limits, and certainly no animal welfare concerns then, except for protecting your investment.
In later life he hated watching horses ploughing in ploughing matches because it brought it all back.
The farm next door to us had to get the horses ready by 7.00, despite the stables being over a mile away. A long cruel dreary day ensued until 5.00 when they went home again.

My Great Grandfather Elijah died at my exact age 54. He was a horseman and worn out. I am told Elijah was sacked at one Essex farm in the '20s for stealing extra oats for his horses as they worked heavy clay

 

[Red Fred]

It's all very romantic now, but my father, born in 1901, said it was a happy day when they replaced the last draft horse for a tractor. The horses lives were virtually unbearable, and when times were hard in the 20s / 30s they were pushed beyond their limits, and certainly no animal welfare concerns then, except for protecting your investment.
In later life he hated watching horses ploughing in ploughing matches because it brought it all back.
The farm next door to us had to get the horses ready by 7.00, despite the stables being over a mile away. A long cruel dreary day ensued until 5.00 when they went home again.

There was an old boy here who used to tell me what it was like here in the '20s, and he said the same. In those days, there was a really marshy area in the meadows which was known as "The bottomless bog", and one of the horses went in there and they couldn't pull it out, so they shot it where it stood and left it in there. I always think about it when I go over the spot with the tractor as the bog is long gone except for a slight depression.

 

[Osca]

IThey were still farming 2 years ago with the horses when I was last on there place. They are a very nice family. I had a heavy horse at the time for forestry but for some farm jobs it was far better than any machine mainly stone picking as it would work by voice commands so you just told it by voice were to go and you just pick up stones

I like to see working horses but its good that we are not reliant on them for all the heavy stuff, whether agricultural or urban.

Actually, thinking about it, some years ago I talked to a man who was an almost fanatical animal rights supporter - PETA material - a result of working with forestry horses in his youth. His view was that they were just sent up there to be worked to death; next to no fodder provided; away in the forest there was no-one to see and complain. I don't know where he worked, though.

 

[joe soapy]

IThey were still farming 2 years ago with the horses when I was last on there place. They are a very nice family. I had a heavy horse at the time for forestry but for some farm jobs it was far better than any machine mainly stone picking as it would work by voice commands so you just told it by voice were to go and you just pick up stones

for many jobs they were ideal, cutting kale and feeding it out, drilling root crops, raking hay, polling wagons loading sheaves of corn, loose hay, working the hay pole,
scuffling turnips and mangolds. all jobs i took part in back in the fifties. We had a cart with SMV tyres that made a comfortable ride

 

[willy]

for many jobs they were ideal, cutting kale and feeding it out, drilling root crops, raking hay, polling wagons loading sheaves of corn, loose hay, working the hay pole,
scuffling turnips and mangolds. all jobs i took part in back in the fifties. We had a cart with SMV tyres that made a comfortable ride

What are SMV tyres?

 

[joe soapy]

SMV Slow moving vehicle

 

[llamedos]

Dont need to go back very far around here to find men who worked with horses, my uncle, still just about alive has done so throughout his working life and also in his time in the 2ww, he is not alone by any means, they all have one thing in common, they are knackered.
My granddad did the same, his father before him a wheelwright & hansom carriage driver, I am told granddad thought more of his horses than his children.
Milk was still delivered by horse and cart in the early 60s when I was a child.

Bad enough farming round here with all the modern toys.

Easy to look back through rose coloured specs.

 

[thatlldaespot]

About twenty years ago an old farmer friend of mine told me about an incident which had happened when he was a lad - his brother had a wagon drawn by a team of four horses, and he put a big load of barley on one day to take it down to the mill. It was a frosty winter morning, and coming up the hill through the village, the horses started to slip on the icy road, and he had to stop before they fell. The women came out of their cottages with buckets of ash from their fires and stoves, and sprinkled it on the road so the horses' feet could grip. And it worked, too.

Amazing what changes that farmer had seen in his lifetime - the roadside cottages are mostly holiday homes now, sadly.

I was also told in the 1970's by another farming friend that the changeover from horse to tractor wasn't easy - they thought they could use the tractor for some jobs, and keep the horses on for others, but once the horses weren't being worked every day, they quickly got fat and unfit, and when they were required to do some work, not only were they fresh and silly but their shoulders had got soft and quickly got rubbed and sore.

 

[David.]

I went on to watch the dairying in the 1960s film, there is nothing new under the Sun is there, extended grazing etc.
Have we really got any better off in the ensuing 50 years?

 

[vulcan]

Never really thought about the hard work it is and was for the horses guess they make it look like a good living on the dvd working with the horses wonder if the older guy in the dvd is still on the go seams like a character wonder if his grandson went on to farm with the horses any one no when it was filmed? Always like watching programs like this any one recommend any more or any videos on YouTube?