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[Clansgian AT wmconnect.com]

> Well, I admire him.  I'd love to hear about how you found him if you  
> ever feel like telling the tale.  Our Halflinger has the looks but not  
> the heft.

Halflingers are great!  That's what I'd be leaning toward if I needed more 
horses. Of couse, a neighbor, a horsedrawn neighbor like us, brough over his 
Belgian for Denise to train.  The two of them together were beyond belief as 
far 
as the load they could tug.

Duke was an Amish horse and developed a lameness that made him below par for 
their rigorous regimen.  He was sold to a local vet who paired him with an 
exact match (Doc).  When his lameness grew and he could not pair with Doc, 
they 
were going to sell him for meat (back before the idiots got that banned in 
the 
US).  The vet's wife, an old associate of mine, could not bear it and brought 
him to us.

Herself, Denise, treated him herbally, trimmed his enormous 
dinner-plate-sized hooves carefully over months, and took all the annoyance 
and stress off him. 
 His lameness disappeared completely and has not returned at all.  He's 
perfectly sound except for a little moon eye which seems to be waning away 
now.

That is, he didn't cost us anything.

Not that I'd hesitate to buy one.  There's a draft horse auction here twice a 
year and while a well trained (usually meaning Amish trained) Belgian will go 
for as much as $4000, this past year many feasible Belgians and Halflingers 
sold for $800.  You don't get much tractor for that money at any rate.

Do you use your Halflinger in harness or do you ride him or both??   </HTML>