The Facts on Drafts: What are they?

Question

I would love to pick someones brain on Draft horses. What are the benefits and disavantages for them? How hard is it for the owner (me-potentially) to learn how to drive a one-horse cart or sliegh? What are thier eating habits like? Have you ever owned one? A website that's loaded with information would also be good. Thanks!

Answer 1

  First of all, I'll start with the positive aspects of  draft horses. Despite

their size, they are as a general rule , quite gentle. If this is your first draft horse, I would buy a farm broke horse in it's early teens. Bear in mind that there are fifferent kinds of harnesses. A breast strap harness is used with a cart while a work harness is used with a sled. Driving a horse is not a formidable task, though you will need someone to show you how. Whoever you purchase the horse from should be able to assist you. Now for the disadvantages. The average daft horse will consume between5-8 gals. of grain per day. When pasture isn't available, they probably will consume 1/2-1 bale of hay per day. Their

  feet needs to be tended to every 8-12 weeks. I am a semi-retired farrier. In my area, you would probably be charged $35 for a trim, $75-$100 for shoes.    I hope this is helpful.

Answer 2

I don't know much about draft horses except that they are reputed to be gentle giants and that they eat a lot. I have never owned one but I do have fond memories of a gigantic team of Belgian draft mules my great-grandad had and they were definitely gentle giants. I guess it was the memory of those mules that caused me to buy Sweet Misery, my Appaloosa mule. But she is just a dwarf in size in comparison to my grandpa's giant Belgian mules. I think working draft horses are amazing to watch and the team draft horse pulls at our county fair easily draws as big or even bigger crowds as the tractor pull competitions. If given the choice of watching tractor pulls or draft horse pulls I would most certainly choose to watch the draft horses and one of the most exciting pulls I have ever seen was an exhibition pull by a 4-horse team of massive Belgians pulling a huge weighted sled carrying 22,000 pounds. That is more than 5,000 pounds per horse and they pulled it to the finish line on the first pull and I would venture to say that those horses had as much strength in their front shoulders as most saddle horses have in their hindquarters. That was way more exciting than any tractor pulls I have watched.

Answer 3

   Here are few links that have great info for you to read.  I have trained a few & they had a very good disposition, clam &  level headed. Hope this helps!

http://equisearch.com/searchresults/?ter...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft_horse

http://www.draftresource.com/Draft_hotli...

http://www.easterndrafthorse.com/History...

http://www.draftresource.com/Draft_breed...

Answer 4

i used to raise draft horses(Clydesdale's,Belgians and Percheron's) and Bobbi pretty much hit the nail on the head.depending on the breed and weight they can consume quite a bit of groceries and they know how to put their foot down and have been known to use their size to get what they want so you need to teach them young or buy an older well trained draft.trimming my drafts cost me $100 to get them shod would cost $150 and it may vary from region to region and you will need to find a farrier to do them or learn to do your own and believe me it can be back breaking work and one of mine sidestepped while getting trimmed and broke my previouse farriers ankle(that is when i learned how to trim and shoe drafts myself).drafts can be trained to do multiple driving but you will want to pick the size of the draft that would best suit your needs.you dont want a wheel horse for carts and you dont want a lead horse for sleds,good luck on your search

Answer 5

Can you ride a horse and drive a car? It's the same principle. Good hands and know where your whells are. Way too much fun! The hardest part (after lifting it!)is getting your harness fitted right.. And a two horse team isn't too difficult to graduate to once you have the one horse down. Your farrier bills can run up to $200 per horse.  Do some excercises for your upper back , shoulders and arms as you'll be using them a lot .

Answer 6

Oh My, you poked me in the right place.  Draft horses are rounder boned and cooler blooded than just about every other category of horses.  By that I mean, they are (on the average) calmer, and more adaptable to traffic and the obstacles that it presents.  Further, they are large, so they are able to pull more, hence, "draft" horses.  Disadvantages?  Yes, there are some..they are larger, so they eat more. Because they eat more, they p**p more.  They usually cost more to get a farrier to work on them.  They require larger stalls. They are awesome companions.  Every state has a Draft Horse State Association, so if you want to Google your state, you will find your local Draft Horse Association and the contact information.  If you contact these folks and make an effort to participate in their activities (which are always family orientated) you will also find a lot of nice folks that enjoy drafts and making an attempt to preserve the traditions that they represent.  How long does it take to learn to drive?  Forever if you don't have the right instructor...not all that long if you have an open mind, a good ear and a small ego...and a good instructor...Yes, we have a Carriage Company that provides carriage services for weddings, parades, engagements, birthday parties, anniversaries, engagements, etc.  We used to do it in a big way, when we lived in Dallas, we have now become older and returned to my old hometown, so, even though we are still in the business, it's just not as large.  Lot's of nice folks own draft horses, if you go out of your way to find them, you won't be disappointed.

http://hometown.aol.com/carriagecc/Chris...

Here is a link to one of the pages of our website, several of the photos are of  TeddyBear, a Percheron Gelding bringing in Santa Claus in Forney Tx...(near Dallas.

EDIT***** Sorry, I couldn't resist...just think about it 5 to 8 gallons of feed per day, gee whiz!  How realistic is that?  Do you realize how much grain that is?  Either the contributor just made a mistake or doesn't know his a$$ from his elbow. Get a clue folks, do you know how much grain 8 gallons is?

SECOND EDIT*********  I forgot to mention, at least with the Percherons, they were used, to carry the knights in armour.....this breed originated in France.

Answer 7

I go out with a woman that owns a draft horse so have some direct experience with them. Its a Percheron mare named Kelpie. I have to say I think Percherons are totally cool. They look big and strong and have huge necks that show off their power.

http://gentlenaturalhorseman.blogspot.co...

I think it should not be too hard for you to learn how to drive a cart. You can also ride draft horses, although I've heard some people claim you can't. But I have ridden Kelpie and seen people ride other draft horses.

They are kind of cool to ride. They are a little bit more mellow, so if you are thinking of taking off to the races a draft horse probably isn't for you. But their big size seems to make them a bit smoother trotting. I thought Kelpie was very smooth in the trot. I haven't cantered a draft horse but I have heard that is a great experience, but draft horses are built for moseying along at a slower pace so trotting is more like what you're going to be doing with most of them. Kelpie is tall besides being bulky so you are way up high riding her, which is cool too. But I think cantering is probably not going to be in the works on most draft horses, although Kelpie surprises me with her energy from time to time. Recently at a Parelli clinic she reportedly did a standing jump over a 4 foot fence.

I have found that due to their big size you have to get your energy up a bit more than you would with other horses. A big issue with kelpie is keeping her out of people's personal space.

I also sponsored a Percheron gelding at a rescue ranch for awhile. He looked really cool, but he was really aggressive and out of control if mares were around. But if you were firm with him once or twice he respected you and was pretty easy to handle after that. Its generally their huge size that makes them like that. You have to be that much more firm to get their attention, because basically they don't notice a tap of the carrot stick.

As far as eating habits the two I've been around ate what the other horses ate. Where they are boarded the horses have a large hay stack they can graze on all day, then they get a couple scoops of grain at night. I suppose the draft horses are eating a bit more hay than the smaller horses, but other than that their eating habits seem similar.

David

http://gentlenaturalhorseman.blogspot.co...

Answer 8

I think Bobbi hit it on the head. The only thing I will ad is that Draft horses were originally used to care Knights in the heavy into battle.