Technology

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

I wish horse pulls were illegal. They way they tain them to raise up and hit the harnesses is beyond cruel. Like to that with owner of the horses what they did to their horses.

not sure if that happens at your local horse/oxen pulls but i have never witnessed that at ours. they highly frown upon it here. they will give them a couple tries to get it moving but they don't whip or beat them to get them to move the stone sleds.

i think they also judge the handler on their control and motivation of the animals. heh, i'd be the one out there with the carrots/feed bag coaxing them to move!

 

[seedcorn]

You won't witness it at the pulls. It's when they are training them. They use shockers to get them to do that. To get them to lift up and lunge is not a normal act.

One "trainer" used electric shots. He's dead and I hope he is getting same treatment in xxxx.

I apologize for typing this but some things curdle my blood. This is one of them.

 

[897tgigvib]

James Watt was ALL WRONG about what a mechanical horsepower is. In fact, I guess he must have been seriously and entirely wrong, and must have been seriously mentally challenged!

I have used a 17 horsepower lawn tractor in absolutely perfect condition. It was actually about as strong as about 3 horses.

My lawn tractor is called 20 horsepower. Now, it has some kind of fuel pump or carburetor problem, and is not quite as strong as one single horse.

Since James Watt's mathematical formula is entirely incorrect, I vote for all math and technology books and manuals that have his formula in it to have a big huge bold lettered disclaimer both before and after it stating that the formula is wrong, and should be treated as a lie.

The right way to calculate horsepower is to hook up the estimated number of horses to the vehicle and have them pull it up some predetermined steepness of a hill and see how many horses it takes to go a certain distance at a certain speed, and then do some simple math. For PTO horsepower, some similar tested measure should be done.

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I truly believe that all these so called 300 horsepower cars will turn out to actually be more like 100 horses, nascar's 800 hp vehicles will be more like 280 horses.

What the motors have is endurance by far compared to any animal. Endurance is another test though.

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I think my good ole gal, she's an '81 ford fairmont futura with a 200 cubic inch straight 6, and closing in on a third of a million miles, I think she has about 25 horses, maybe 30. Going up the hills around here in L, some places she can't quite make 25 mph. On the incline of hiway 20 going to town, I prefer to do it when there is very little traffic. Always some hotrod wants to go faster. (urge to get out and charge the hotrod for the gas money it takes for me to go faster before I stomp the gas pedal just to satisfy some hotrod...)

Anyhow, in short, whenever I see something with a rated horsepower, I always add the following formula that James Watt failed to add:

HP DIVIDED BY 3 = REAL HORSES, maybe, and usually less than that.

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It's similar to alcoholic beverages proof, calling 200 proof 100 percent. It just LOOKS like more. Trust the ole neanderthal. We know these things, and no amount of hooey washes them clean.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

great comparison there! now if we could compare the cost of feeding those horses to the cost of gas, and fluids to feed the beasts-um-vehicles!

 

[bobm]

You know Marwhall that not all horses are created equal and not all will perform as the one next to it. Example : My uncle had 2 Cleaveland Bay mares (Quenie and Dolly both the same size) to work on his farm in Michigan. Now Dolly would outpull her barnmate something like 1/3. You see she had the better attitude to do work, while Quenie was just plain lazy. If there was a slight incline when pulling the hay wagon , she would go into idle mode, leaving Dolly to do 75% of the pulling.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Mentally challenged! James Watt came up with a formula to charge customers for using his engine based on how much work he claimed it could do compared to a horse. I think he was working in a pump bringing up water out of a well. Funny how he came out on the plus side of that calculation.

I remember two of the plow horses we had. They were not the Budweiser horses or anything purebred like that, just two ridge country plow horses. Old Bob is the one that taught me how to plow a cornfield or a garden with a double shovel or triple-foot. All I had to do was give him an idea of what to do and he did the rest. I just had to hold the plow up.

Dad didnt use Painter (Ridge country talk for panther) for plowing. Painter was too fast. Hed wear you and himself out. Old Bob moved at a real nice steady pace that he and you could keep up all day. And you could get a lot of plowing done at a steady pace.

The two were used together to pull the wagon, mow and rake hay, and pull a turning plow, things that took a lot of strength.

 

[digitS']

So. Both would do the work of 1 horsepower thru their workday. It was just that O'Bob would work a long day and be waiting at the truck for you to stop and buy him a beer on the way home.

Painter would knock it all down in 3 hours and have to take the rest of week off because he'd hurt himself. One horsepower but needing a relief painter for the next day.

I have wondered about stationary work with a horse. You know, they used them for working mills, round and round but I was wondering about the name "Steam Donkey" that was used in logging around here. You don't suppose that an actual donkey (or, something) was used at one time?

It would be like using the horse for log skidding as Hoodat describes but using cables and winch. . .

Steve

 

[seedcorn]

Marshall, your engine will have that much power but the tractor will lose a lot of the power between power transferrance. Plus if it is belt driven, there 70% of your power plus lack of traction from the lack of weight and tires.

Watts was looking at how many horses it would take to accomplish a task. Assumed all horses were spent when relieved of chore.

 

[Ridgerunner]

It may be something like others have mentioned too. Not all horses are created equal. Remember James Watt was a Scotsman. Scotland is the home of Shetland ponies. I seriously doubt they used the big plow horses to walk round and round to power a pump if a smaller pony that ate a lot less could do the work. That may help explain the difference in a plow horses power and what actually came to be known as a horsepower.

I have Scottish ancestry so I feel comfortable saying Ive worked with Scotsmen that took pride in being thrifty and canny in their business deals. If you are setting up a formula to get paid, you might want to base that on a Shetland pony horsepower versus a 1700 pound plow horsepower. Pure speculation on my part.

Steve, your comment about Ol Bob wanting a beer reminded me of another story. When I was 5 and my sisters were 7 and 3, Dad took the horses to a neighbors farm to do some plowing. It was summer and the neighbor had kids our age so Dad threw us on the horses backs and we went with him. We played with those kids until Dad was finished and we were ready to go home. He unhitched the horses and put us kids on their backs, me on Ol Bob and my sisters on Painter.

But Dad really wasnt ready to go home. He stood around talking and talking to the neighbor. The horses were ready to go to the barn though. I dont know what started it, but they took off running for the barn, which was about 1/3 mile away. My 3 year old sister bounced around behind my 7 year old sister and eventually fell off. She was holding tight to my other sister and drug her off-balance when she fell. My older sister stayed on for a couple hundred feet more but couldnt regain her balance and fell off. This was on a gravel road.

I stayed on until we got right in front of the house, where my mother was on the porch doing laundry. She saw Ol Bob step on a loose rock and fall down.

Both horses were fine and went to the pasture gate where they stood waiting to be let in. My sisters had a few scrapes but were not really hurt. Dad had to take me in to the emergency room to get three stitches in my forehead. I got a pretty nice scar out of it.

My older sister made sure I know that she was pulled off; she did not fall. I made sure she knew I stayed on until my horse fell. Dad had to explain to Mom why he let those horses run home.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

Clydesdale originate from Scotland too. but the name was first recognized in 1826 and that makes them a young breed of horses for Scotland. so they do have their own draft horse that could have been compared to. but i do admit, they could have been using the Shetland or another one of their pony breeds for the math-could have been an Eriskay or Highland pony.