Sign me up for this workshop
Harnessing true Horsepower (advanced)
August 18
10:00 am. - 4.30 p.m.
(Audit optio:n $40.00) Fee:85.00
Working with farm horses
This workshop is designed for those who have done the previous course
(“Intro to working with farm horses”), or have some basic
experience/knowledge of working with horses. We’ll start the day
at the Eco Centre for some advanced theory and procedures, mostly training,
harnessing and driving techniques. We’ll then move to the nearby
Bockus homestead for an introduction to training a horse to shafts (for
a cart or sleigh) and plenty of hands-on experience. We will cover shaft
driving techniques (cart or sleigh) and each participant will get to do
some field driving of a basic work cart.
Please note: maximum 10 participants for this workshop, so each will
have enough “horse time”. Each participant will receive a
certificate upon completion of the course.
co-ordinator: Larry Bockus
A Forestry graduate of the of Lakehead University, Larry has spent most
of his working days outside: as bushworker, forest technician, Utility
Forester and chain saw instructor – anywhere but at a desk.
Over the years Larry also learned the homestead skills that seemed all
but forgotten; it proved the perfect fit for his passion for self-sufficient
living in harmony with the earth. Larry started using a single work horse
in 1981 for logging and clearing land, then changed to light team horses
and ultimately heavy draft horses. Since 1986 all of the his horses have
been trained at the Bockus homestead – and very successfully so:
he has won more prizes and awards than can be mentioned in this space.
Larry uses horse for all farm work: logging, making firewood, hay-, potato-
and vegetable production, plowing, cultivation, skidding, pulling carts
and sleighs, spreading manure and general chores – and more. Most
of his horse-drawn equipment Larry designed and built at the farm, some
is restored vintage machinery. Larry doesn’t own a tractor, his
horses do a better job; they go where tractors cannot go, are more rewarding
to work with, don’t burn fossil fuel – and provide free manure.
