Way To Break Horses To Drive

2012 - Volume #36, Issue #3, Page #42

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Dave McMahen doesn’t worry when he takes a newly broke team out in public for the first time. By the time he has finished training his teams on his “breaking cart”, they’re ready for anything and have spent hours in harness.
  “The key to this design is that neither people nor animals can get hurt during the training,” says McMahen. “It’s a great way to teach people how to drive and horses to work as a team.”
  The breaking cart has a steel frame with expanded metal floor and front panel. It’s built on an old logging truck rear end, complete with hydraulic brakes that allow McMahen to adjust the load to light, medium or heavy draft.
  He used 2, 3 and 4-in. steel tubing for the frame and mounted two tires on homemade swivels on the front end. In training mode, the cart is tethered by a 60-ft. long, 4-in. steel tube pole anchored at a center point. The center point is a truck axle buried in concrete with the wheel hub sticking out.
  The pole is attached at the hub, while a vertical leg fabricated from 6-in. pipe extends upward about 5 ft. A length of 2 by 2-in. steel tube runs from the top of the pipe to the center point on the pole to brace it.
  The pole connects to the center of the cart frame. Aided by a support wheel, it keeps the cart moving in the same path around a 120-ft. diameter circle.
  To break a new horse to drive, McMahen first locks the cart in place. This ensures that a horse in training can’t take off before it’s fully hitched. He then removes the outside shaft of the cart to bring in a trained horse and an untrained horse. Both are cross-tied to the cart behind them with single trees and to the frame ahead of them and to either side at their heads and tails.
  “They can’t rear at the front or kick up at the rear,” explains McMahen. “If one horse isn’t pulling its share, I just detach the other horse’s single tree so the first has to pick up the load.”
  Once the pair is pulling like a team and settled into their job, McMahen has his wife assist. She alternately drives past and at the team with a bike, tractor, truck, car and ATV. Honking, slowing, stopping and speeding up all get the team adjusted to what it may experience on the road while safely retained in harness.
  “I keep a chain on the platform with me and shake that every so often, too,” says McMahen. “I can rattle it or drop it on the steel floor panel to get them used to random noises.”
  McMahen uses the cart to train the team to wait in place as well. He can lock the cart and team in place and walk off for a long lunch without concern the team will get hurt.
  “They get used to resting in place,” he says. “Then when they are ready to take on the road, I can just pull three pins to detach from the center pole and drive away.”
  McMahen says other unbroken animals can be trained to lead while a team is being trained to drive. He simply ties the lead to the rear of the cart. Hooking a second team to the front of the cart lets him train a set of four to pull together or teach someone to drive a team of four.
  “It cost me about $10,000 to build, but it has been well worth it,” says McMahen. “It’s so safe, I can have my grandsons up on the cart with me, helping to train a new horse.”
  Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, McMahen Mini Mules Farm, 6295 Old Highway 7, Dover, Ark. 72837 (ph 479 264-7247; info@minimulesfarm.com; www.minimulesfarm.com).

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Way To Break Horses To Drive LIVESTOCK Horses/Mules Dave McMahen doesn’t worry when he takes a newly broke team out in public for the first time By the time he has finished training his teams on his “breaking cart” they’re ready for anything and have spent hours in harness “The key to this design is that neither people nor animals can get hurt during the training ” says McMahen “It’s a great way to teach people how to drive and horses to work as a team ” The breaking cart has a steel frame with expanded metal floor and front panel It’s built on an old logging truck rear end complete with hydraulic brakes that allow McMahen to adjust the load to light medium or heavy draft He used 2 3 and 4-in steel tubing for the frame and mounted two tires on homemade swivels on the front end In training mode the cart is tethered by a 60-ft long 4-in steel tube pole anchored at a center point The center point is a truck axle buried in concrete with the wheel hub sticking out The pole is attached at the hub while a vertical leg fabricated from 6-in pipe extends upward about 5 ft A length of 2 by 2-in steel tube runs from the top of the pipe to the center point on the pole to brace it The pole connects to the center of the cart frame Aided by a support wheel it keeps the cart moving in the same path around a 120-ft diameter circle To break a new horse to drive McMahen first locks the cart in place This ensures that a horse in training can’t take off before it’s fully hitched He then removes the outside shaft of the cart to bring in a trained horse and an untrained horse Both are cross-tied to the cart behind them with single trees and to the frame ahead of them and to either side at their heads and tails “They can’t rear at the front or kick up at the rear ” explains McMahen “If one horse isn’t pulling its share I just detach the other horse’s single tree so the first has to pick up the load ” Once the pair is pulling like a team and settled into their job McMahen has his wife assist She alternately drives past and at the team with a bike tractor truck car and ATV Honking slowing stopping and speeding up all get the team adjusted to what it may experience on the road while safely retained in harness “I keep a chain on the platform with me and shake that every so often too ” says McMahen “I can rattle it or drop it on the steel floor panel to get them used to random noises ” McMahen uses the cart to train the team to wait in place as well He can lock the cart and team in place and walk off for a long lunch without concern the team will get hurt “They get used to resting in place ” he says “Then when they are ready to take on the road I can just pull three pins to detach from the center pole and drive away ” McMahen says other unbroken animals can be trained to lead while a team is being trained to drive He simply ties the lead to the rear of the cart Hooking a second team to the front of the cart lets him train a set of four to pull together or teach someone to drive a team of four “It cost me about $10 000 to build but it has been well worth it ” says McMahen “It’s so safe I can have my grandsons up on the cart with me helping to train a new horse ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup McMahen Mini Mules Farm 6295 Old Highway 7 Dover Ark 72837 ph 479 264-7247; info@minimulesfarm com; www minimulesfarm com

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