Draft Horses & Mules: Harnessing Equine Power

Description

It's no wonder: these powerful animals can accomplish an astounding array of tasks. They pull carriages, assist with heavy logging, serve as a vital educational link to the past, and are increasingly popular for showing and competing. Many small-scale farmers appreciate that these animals offer a clean-energy alternative to modern farm machinery; a team of two draft horses can cultivate several acres of land in a single day, enriching the soil as they work. Unlike mechanical equipment, a good team actually appreciates in value over time."Draft Horses and Mules", by Gail Damerow and Alina Rice, distills the great tradition of these impressive animals into a definitive guide. Designed for new or intermediate owners, the book shows readers how to choose an ideal team, feed and house them, maintain their health, ensure effective equine - human communication, select and use equipment properly, and employ the animals in a variety of agricultural, logging, and demonstration tasks.

Gail Damerow has written extensively on raising chickens and other livestock, growing fruits and vegetables, and related rural know-how in more than a dozen books, including the best-selling Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens, The Chicken Encyclopedia, The Chicken Health Handbook, and Hatching & Brooding Your Own Chicks. Damerow is a contributor to Chickens and Hobby Farms magazines and a regular blogger for Cackle Hatchery. She lives in Tennessee with her husband, where they operate a family farm with poultry and dairy goats, a sizable garden, and a small orchard. Alina Rice observed, worked, and trained draft horses while growing up on a small southern farm where her family made hay and cultivated the land with two Belgian teams.