Would it be common in the old west

[Alpo]

For a horse to be broke to both ride and pull?

 

In the movie they are sneaking the prisoner out of town.

 

They have a wagon full of hay. They come out and put a saddle in the wagon. Then they bring out the prisoner and put him in the wagon and cover him and the saddle with hay. They have one horse attached to the wagon.

 

They take the wagon a few miles out of town and meet up with a couple of other guys and a horse for the prisoner. They take the saddle from the wagon and put it on the horse that was pulling the wagon, and the guy that was driving the wagon mounts that horse and away they go.

 

But I pretty much thought that horses were either broke to the saddle or they were broke to the wagon, but not to both.

 

 

[watab kid]

i cant think that a broke horse for riding would object to pulling but might not work well with others 

[John Kloehr]

A horse can be trained for both. Different skills and such, for instance leads versus reins, saddle vs harness, rider weight vs pulling, ... Each "skill" requires training. Short answer is yes, they can do both.

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

2 hours ago, John Kloehr said:

A horse can be trained for both. Different skills and such, for instance leads versus reins, saddle vs harness, rider weight vs pulling, ... Each "skill" requires training. Short answer is yes, they can do both.

Not trying to second guess Alpo here, but I think what he's asking is would a horse that's saddle broke, and not specifically harness broke, take to being harnessed. I never thought about it, but now I want to know too. (Oh crap, Alpo's rubbing off on me!)

[John Kloehr]

1 hour ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said:

Not trying to second guess Alpo here, but I think what he's asking is would a horse that's saddle broke, and not specifically harness broke, take to being harnessed. I never thought about it, but now I want to know too. (Oh crap, Alpo's rubbing off on me!)

While I don't know a lot about horses, my dad did. Separate skills and separate training. Plow work would be similar too and easier to train than pulling a wagon. Also to work with the rider for herding cattle, particularly rounding them up; a good horse comes to understand the job and work with rather simply for the rider. Another training is to have a horse not spook on gunshots. Again, from field work he did as a South American cowboy. Once here in North America, his skills in welding and fabrication were more valuable, he did miss meeting up with native cowboys in the morning to sip maté around a fire.

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

Kinda timely question...

 

Just a few days ago I watched some old Western (golly gee, could it have been a 1968 Bonanaza, Season 10, Episode 2, "Child," with Yaphet Kotto playing the part of Child Barnett, a mysterious ranch hand who helps Hoss after he is wrongly accused of murder...? ) 

 

Anyway, the sheriff and his posse of sidewinder townsfolk are pursuing Hoss and Child.  They pull into a stage station, and swap their tuckered out horses for fresh stock - trained to harness only.  Surprisingly, they actually had a brief discussion about it!  And indeed had some difficulties with the critters.  

 

[Alpo]

I have wondered, on occasion. The stage driver - John Wayne - will jump down onto the back of the closest horse, and then stand up and jump onto the horse in front of it and then stand up and jump on to the front horse, gathering up the reins. And then he will ride the front horse, whipping it with the reins.

 

Seems like them half broke stage horses that all they're used to is a six horse hitch would not be happy with somebody jumping on their back and then standing on them.

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

45 minutes ago, Alpo said:

I have wondered, on occasion. The stage driver - John Wayne - will jump down onto the back of the closest horse, and then stand up and jump onto the horse in front of it and then stand up and jump on to the front horse, gathering up the reins. And then he will ride the front horse, whipping it with the reins.

I've always wondered, when they do that, why not just pull on the harness of the REAR horse? They are connected, right? If that rear horse slows up, the rest of them will have to, too. 

[Alpo]

56 minutes ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said:

I've always wondered, when they do that, why not just pull on the harness of the REAR horse? They are connected, right? If that rear horse slows up, the rest of them will have to, too. 

AndIN the ones I've seen it's not they're trying to slow him down.

 

Usually the driver gets shot, and drops the reins. So the shotgun guard jumps out on the horse and itTHEN goes to the next horse and finally goes to the front horse and gets the reins all caught up and then uses them to whip the horses to make them go faster.

 

I saw a cartoon - Larson, probably - where the horses are runaways and the guy jumps on the back horse and then jumps to the middle horse and then jumps to the front horse and grabs the reins and pulls back to slow him down.

 

Then it shows a better way. The horses are runaways, so the driver pulls his gun and shoots a couple of the horses. That would pretty much stop the coach.

[Blackwater 53393]

Some families only had one horse. It would likely be both saddle and harness broke.  Folks who had two horses might have either one or both trained to saddle and or harness.

 

When I was much younger, the man I worked for had several horses. Almost all of them could be saddled and ridden or paired up to pull a buggy or wagon that he used in parades and around his place.  He owned a tractor dealership and the family he married into owned thousands of acres, several quarries, a trucking company, and concrete and asphalt companies.  
 

They were all heavily involved in local events with sponsorships and promotions!

 

 

[Jeff, #21334]

My percherons i can ride or drive I've never hitched my quarter horses to a buggy but I think 1 would be ok not the other one unless he was really tired 

[Wrangler Bob]

Training would seem to be the answer. Thinking of branding time, horses dragging the critter to the fire will sometimes get a little antsy pulling. but repeated work they mellow out. I don't have any experience driving horses hitched to a cart, wagon or sled. But I would think it would be similar. Draft breeds would excel in that format; quarter horses and light breeds not so much. I've ridden draft breeds; smooth and comfortable but don't respond to quick turns or movements. But they can pull like no other. My horses, quarters and appys didn't care for pulling anything behind them, just needed more exposure.