Subject: Re: Ox shoes/sling-- Mike's comment

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 27 Apr 1996 11:21:44 -0400

Mike..

that was great information on the ox shoes.  Having driven oxen, it is a
subject near and dear to my heart.  I was just wondering where you are
located?.  From the description, I would put you in the hills of Mass, NH or
VT.  I expect the folks who were using them were either back to the landers
or hobbyists.  I can't imagine anyone in their right mind using oxen for
anything practical these days as horses are far faster in the woods.

Thanks..

Kent   :o)
[email-masked]

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From: Michael Spencer <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 27 Apr 96 15:02:55 EDT

> I would put you in the hills of Mass, NH or VT.  

South shore of Nova Scotia.

> I expect the folks who were using them were either back to the
> landers or hobbyists.

Nope. People who farmed and worked in the woods with oxen all their
lives. I'm the only back to the lander around hree with draught animals
and I used horses.  (I don't have them any longer.) Tradition here is
the head yoke, lashed to the horns with long leather straps. Bells are
a must. Somewhere around here I have some patterns for ox bells,
which are smaller than cowbells and larger than horse bells.

My nextdoor neighbor used his oxen in the woods until just a few years
ago. At about age 75, he fell and bruised hismself badly but continued
to work in the woods for several weeks before he decided the pain was
too great and consulted a physician. He had broken his hip and had
been working in it all that time. Following hip replacement and
several months of recovery, he was back in the woods until his mid
eighties. He was also the local maker of custom fitted head yokes, axe
handles, rakes and other traditional wooden tools. He's since
died. I'm very very nice to my axe handle because I'll never have
another as good.

> I can't imagine anyone in their right mind using oxen for anything
> practical these days as horses are far faster in the woods.

Depends on what you think of as "woods". Having used a very
experienced and wiley horse to twitch logs in western Massachusetts, I
once thought the same. But the western half of Nova Scotia was formed
by an ice age glacier that scraped it bare and then dumped detritus,
leaving glacial drumlins -- hills -- separated by broad rocky
areas. The chance for a horse of breaking a leg in the woods is far
greater than on the loamy or sandy soils of most of the US eastern
seabord. If a horse breaks a leg, it's a writeoff. If an ox breaks a
leg, it's some very fine beef. (Horsemeat is acceptable in parts of
Western Canada, but here it's regarded as only one step above long
pig.) 

Another factor is the feed requirements for horses. It's easier to
produce suitable feed for oxen in our poor soils and cool, damp
climate than for horses.

- Mike

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Michael Spencer               (902) 543-8375
[email-masked]
URL: http://www.mit.edu:8001/people/mspencer/home.html
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