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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Another keeper...thanks

> Bridle with a pony D-ring snaffle.

I know what that is...

  Surcingle is a type of belly band with
> rings on each side and two rings on the top that you snap the
> over-check (goes up between the ears, down between the eyes and then
> the leather piece splits and snaps to the bridle so they can't
> suddenly dip their head to the ground) and crupper (goes back and
> under the tail).

I think she has one of those, too.


  Depending on how loosey
> goosey the critter is, you can use two long lines (one snapped to
> each side of the bit) from the center of the ring.  Some you have to
> walk behind from the get go.

I would not describe Jack as loosey goosey.  He is a great conserver of
energy.<G> I think I would be walking behind him


> And, depending on the critter, some were ready for a human to be in
> the cart in a week, some took a month.  Most of the donkeys and
> ponies were good in a couple of weeks, depending on age.  Some of the
> horses took a bit longer. And some of the horses didn't take a week
> (the gypsy horses for one).


I have a lawnmower and cart.  The cart is 4x6, two wheeled.  I can never
crank the lawnmower.  Would I somehow be able to adapt that cart, maybe
weld on some metal, to adapt it for Jack?  Is a two wheeled cart like
this large enough?

I've been watering my Paulownias by hand.  My friend came down and we
put the barrel on the back of her golf cart and filled it.  We drove the
water to the trees and then bucketed the water to the trees from the
barrel.  If I had a donkey,  could I have put water and fertilizer in
that 2 wheeled cart and hauled it down to the trees?  I've read
guidelines that a donkey should only pack 20-30% of his own weight, but
how much can they safely pull in a wheeled cart?

How hard would it be to train him to pull a moldboard plow?
I honestly doubt I would try to plow.  Mostly, Jack would be a guardian
and a pulling animal that would help move things-move the chicken
tractor, move rocks, move logs, firewood, etc.
I'm just wondering if I could adapt a cart I have or if I would have to
make or get something else.

Bev, really wishing that her Homestead friends lived closer.  It would
be so cool to have Lynda and Marie nearby to help me train a donkey.


--
"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public
debt  should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered
and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed
lest Rome become bankrupt.  People must again learn to work, instead of
living on public assistance."

--Cicero, 55 BC
http://erthnsky.blogspot.com/