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🐴 Horses, Mules and Draft Animals

How to keep, feed, handle, ride, shoe and pack horses, mules and donkeys, and how to put them to work in harness — written for a time when there may be no feed store, vet or farrier. The manuals are in Horses-Draft-Animals\ (Care-Feeding, Riding-Training, Hoof-Care-Shoeing, Packing-Travel, Draft-Harness). Horse health, vital signs, colic and first aid are in Animals\ and the Animals and vet care section of the Illinois Valley page.

⚠️ Rules that prevent the worst accidents

• A horse can kill you without meaning to. Stay where it can see you, speak before you touch it, keep a hand on it as you move around the hindquarters, and never stand directly behind or in front of it.
• Never wrap a lead rope or reins around your hand or body, and never tie a horse with a knot you can't pull loose. Never tie with a chain lead. (4-H Horse Project PNW 587, p. 51; Basic Horse Safety)
• Wear a helmet and boots with a heel when riding.
• The old books here (1867–1940s) teach good handling and shoeing but also harsh "breaking" methods and dangerous old medicines (purges, firing, chloroform). Use them for skills, not for doctoring.

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🐎 Choosing an animal

• For a first horse, pick an older, calm, well-trained one over a young or green horse — the 4-H manual says 6 to 18 years suits most purposes, and "a young horse and an inexperienced rider do not learn together" (PNW 587, p. 24). For hard work, not much under 5; with good care many stay useful past 20 (USDA FB 779, p. 8). Check it sound before you take it: walk and trot it on hard ground, look for limping, swellings, bad feet and bad habits. (USDA How to Select a Sound Horse; points of the horse; where unsoundness shows; conformation)
• Age by the teeth: after about 12 years the front teeth turn triangular and slant forward. (USDA AIB 353, p. 18; PNW 587, p. 48; mouths from 4 to 8 years; 14- and 22-year-old mouths)
• Mules are tough, sure-footed, eat less and handle heat and rough country better; they tend to stand and fight rather than bolt. A well-trained mule is very steady; a badly trained one is hard work. Donkeys need shelter always — their coats aren't waterproof, which matters in our wet winters. (Donkey Care Handbook, p. 44)
• Who's who: a mule is a mare bred to a jack (male donkey); a hinny is a jenny bred to a stallion and is smaller and rarer. Mules are hardy but can still founder, and they fret if stabled long or kept alone. Donkeys live just over 30 years and should be kept with a companion. (Donkey Care Handbook, pp. 15–19; points of the donkey)

Older mouths from the side: at 14 years (left) the front teeth meet at a slant; at 22 (right) at a sharp angle, with triangular wearing surfaces (FB 779, p. 10).

📚 Go deeper: 4-H Horse Project (PNW 587) — choosing a horse, breeds, behavior; USDA How to Select a Sound Horse — unsoundness, blemishes and vices to check; Donkey Care Handbook — how donkeys and mules differ from horses; USDA Mule Production — breeding and raising mules.

🌾 Feeding and water

• Total feed: 1.5–2.5% of body weight a day, most of it hay or pasture. Never less than 8–10 lb of hay a day for a 1,000-lb horse; an idle horse holds weight on about 18 lb of good hay. (Nebraska G1781, pp. 1–2; FM 25-5, p. 101)
• Weigh a horse with a string: weight (lb) = heart girth (in) × heart girth (in) × body length (in) ÷ 330. Body length is point of shoulder to point of buttock. (G1781, p. 1; where to measure)
• Working horses: about 1.1 lb grain + 1.25 lb hay per 100 lb of body weight a day, grain split into 3 feeds. Keep each grain meal under about 5 lb for a 1,000-lb horse. Feed by weight: a quart of oats ≈ 1 lb, a quart of corn ≈ 1.7 lb. (USDA FB1419, p. 9; G1781, p. 3; UGA B1356)
• Water: 5–15 gallons a day, double in heat or hard work (an idle horse drinks about 10–12 — G1781, p. 4). Give an exhausted horse small drinks every 5–10 minutes until it recovers. In cold weather, take the chill off the water or salt the feed (1–2 oz) so it keeps drinking (prevents impaction colic). (UGA B1356, p. 2; FM 25-5)
• Salt: horses eat about 1½–3 oz a day of loose salt-mineral, which beats a block. Western Oregon soils are low in selenium — use a mineral that contains it. (Rule of thumb) (AIB 353; UGA B1356, p. 3)
• Army feeding rules that prevent colic: water before feeding (or wait an hour after); never grain a hot horse (hay is fine); a little hay before grain; change feeds gradually over 1–2 weeks; never feed moldy or dusty hay. (FM 25-5, p. 103)
• Body condition: keep them at 5–7 on the 1–9 scale — feel ribs, back and tailhead with your hands; a winter coat hides thinness. (G1781, p. 2; where to feel)

For the weight string: heart girth is 27, body length runs from the point of the shoulder (16) to the buttock (38) (FB 779, p. 5).

Body condition at a glance (G1781, p. 3):

Score	Ribs	Back
1–3 (thin)	Easy to see	Backbone sticks up
4	Faint outline shows	Slight ridge
5 (ideal)	Can't see, easy to feel	Level
6–7	Felt with pressure	Slight crease
8–9 (fat)	Hard or impossible to feel	Deep crease, bulging fat

More feeding rules from the modern bulletins:

• Turning out onto lush spring grass: a few hours a day for 2–3 days, then half days for 2–3 days, then full time — or fill them up on hay first (G1781, p. 4).
• Never feed cattle feed containing Rumensin — it kills horses (G1781, p. 4).
• A horse that bolts its grain: put a few fist-sized rocks in the feed box (USFS Horse Packing, p. 3).
• Plan the winter hay: at 1.5–2% of body weight, a 1,000-lb horse eats 15–20 lb of hay a day — roughly 450–600 lb for every month off pasture (arithmetic from G1781's table). Add a margin for waste and a late spring.
• Donkeys are different: they do best on good barley straw (high fiber, low sugar), not rich horse hay (Donkey Care Handbook, p. 16; a homemade straw feeder).

Pasture in our wet climate (OSU EC1558):

1. Keep horses off pasture through the wet months. Wet soil compacts, the grass dies, and you buy more hay next year. Hold them in a sacrifice area (a dry lot) instead (pp. 4–5; photo).
2. Graze only when the grass is over 3 inches tall and the soil is firm. Move them when it's grazed to 3–4 inches; let it regrow to 6–8 inches before grazing again (p. 7; why: leaves feed the roots).
3. Keep clover and alfalfa under 30% of the mix to reduce colic risk (p. 10).

📚 Go deeper: Nebraska G1781 — feed by body weight, weight tape formula, condition scoring; UGA B1356 — 25 feeding rules that prevent colic; OSU EC1558 Small-Acreage Horse Farms — western Oregon pasture, mud and manure; USDA FB 1030 Feeding Horses — rations from home-grown hay and grain.

🦷 Teeth and worms

• Teeth: check at least yearly (twice for older horses). Sharp edges form on the outside of the upper molars and inside of the lowers — float (rasp) them (how to hold the float) or the horse drops feed and loses weight. (PNW 587, p. 46; Merillat Animal Dentistry)
• Signs of tooth trouble: dropping grain while chewing, holding the head sideways, eating slowly, whole grain in the manure, losing condition (G1781, p. 4).
• Worms: don't deworm blindly every 8 weeks. Adults need 1–2 treatments a year (one in fall for bots and tapeworms); youngsters 3–4. When dewormers run out: pick up manure, don't overgraze, rotate pastures and graze with cattle or sheep. (Penn State/SARE, pp. 1–2)
• Know your high shedders: most horses carry few worms; a few shed most of the eggs. Penn State's line: deworm a horse whose fecal egg count is over about 300 eggs per gram; over 500 is a "high shedder" (Penn State, pp. 1–2). Foals need a special schedule — ask the books, not guesswork.
• Kill eggs without drugs: a manure pile that heats to 130–150 °F kills most parasites, flies and weed seeds (OSU EC1558, p. 16; covered piles); dragging or harrowing pastures in dry weather spreads droppings so eggs dry out (p. 15).
• Donkeys can carry lungworm with no signs and pass it to horses — worm them together (Donkey Care Handbook, p. 16).

📚 Go deeper: Penn State Managing Equine Parasites — the egg-count method and when to treat; 4-H PNW 587 — teeth and aging; Merillat Animal Dentistry — floating and dental work by hand (old book: skills only).

🦶 Hoof care and shoeing

• Pick out the feet every day (how). A healthy frog feels like firm rubber (parts of the hoof). Thrush (black, stinking rot in the frog) comes from wet, dirty footing — trim away dead tissue, apply an antiseptic, and get the horse onto dry ground. In our wet winters, give horses a dry gravel or wood-chip standing area. (TM 2-220, p. 97; PNW 587; OSU EC1558, p. 2)
• Hooves grow about ⅜ inch a month. Trim barefoot horses every 6–12 weeks, donkeys and mules every 6–10; the Army reset shoes every 3–6 weeks (untrimmed vs. trimmed). (NMSU B-707, p. 2; Donkey Care Handbook, p. 14; TM 2-220)
• Going barefoot (when shoes and nails run out): leave the sole, balance the wall, round off the outer edge so it doesn't chip (using the rasp), and check weekly. Most horses do fine barefoot on soft ground; hard rocky work wears feet faster than they grow. (TM 2-220, p. 98)
• Making and fitting shoes: TM 2-220 The Horseshoer teaches forging shoes from bar stock, fitting and nailing (nailing and clinching), and even shoeing in the field with a ground fire and a rail for an anvil. Lungwitz's Text-Book of Horseshoeing is the standard reference (the foot from the side; farrier). Pair with the Blacksmithing guide.

The same front foot before (left) and after (right) trimming: the long toe is cut back and the pastern angle changes (FB 1419, p. 20).

Taking shoes off for good (TM 2-220, p. 97):

1. Pull the shoes, then trim to balance and round the edge of the wall. Leave the dead sole.
2. Expect the hoof to break away and the horse to go a bit tender for the first few weeks. It isn't serious and passes as new horn grows.
3. On rough, rocky pasture, leave the front shoes on for the first few days while the horse settles, then pull them.
4. Even shod horses do better with 2–3 months a year barefoot.

Mud is the enemy here. Wet ground softens hooves and soles, leading to cracks, stone bruises, abscesses and thrush; mud also causes "mud fever" (scratches) — crusty scabs on the lower legs (OSU EC1558, p. 2). For the dry lot, lay down twice as much footing as you have mud: landscape fabric, 3 inches of ¾–1½-inch crushed rock, then 6 inches of gravel or sand or up to 12 inches of wood chips (p. 5; photo).

Field tips from the Army farrier: store horseshoe nails wrapped in an oiled cloth in a watertight can, and a worn rasp can be re-sharpened with a three-cornered file and re-hardened (TM 2-220, p. 99) — see the Blacksmithing guide.

📚 Go deeper: The Horseshoer TM 2-220 — care of shod and unshod feet, field expedients; Lungwitz Text-Book of Horseshoeing — hoof anatomy, trimming, forging and diseased hooves; NMSU B-707 — how to judge a good trim; USDA Farm Horseshoeing — shoeing with simple tools. Pictures: Horse hoof, Horseshoe.

🤠 Handling, saddling and riding

• Leading: from the left side, right hand near the halter, slack folded (never wrapped) in your left hand. If the horse rears, let go with the hand nearest the halter so you stay on the ground. (PNW 587, p. 51)
• Tying: use a quick-release knot (drawing; step by step), about 3 ft of rope, tied at or above withers height to something solid. Any rope around the neck gets a bowline (it can't tighten), never a slip knot. Untie before taking the halter off. (PNW 587, p. 51; Basic Horse Safety, p. 3)
• Saddle fit: with pad and rider on, the gullet must clear the withers. After a sweaty ride, even sweat marks = good fit; dry spots = pressure. A sliding saddle needs a breast collar, not a tighter cinch. Dry spots with raised skin lead to saddle sores and white hair — fix the fit now (UF Saddle Fit, p. 3).
• Cinching: snug it gradually until a flat hand just slips under, walk the horse a few steps, then recheck after a short ride — many horses puff up their bellies. On the trail, stop after 1–2 miles to retighten. (PNW 587; Animal Management)
• Mounting and riding: mount from the left, reins short enough to stop the horse (holding the reins), sit deep with heels down. The 4-H manual (PNW 587) and FM 25-5 walk through riding step by step.
• Starting young horses: handle foals early and teach them to lead before weaning. Light harness or saddle work at 2–3 years; no heavy work until they're nearly mature. First tie with a neck rope through the halter ring, tied with a bowline. (USDA FB1368)
• Holding a horse for treatment: have a helper hold up another foot while you work on a leg; a twitch on the upper lip works for short jobs — tighten it only enough to stay on and take it off as soon as you can (PNW 587, p. 30).
• Tack repair: cutting leather, hand-stitching with waxed thread and riveting are in TM 10-430 The Saddler and Hasluck's Harness Making (sewing awls; stitching clamp).

📚 Go deeper: 4-H PNW 587 — handling, safety knots, tack, saddling and riding; UF Saddle Fit — checking tree fit and sweat patterns; The Saddler TM 10-430 — hand-repairing saddles and tack; USDA Breaking and Training Colts — gentling and starting young horses.

🩺 Health checks and first aid

Normal vital signs at rest — the sources differ a little, so learn your own horse's normal by taking it twice a day for a week (PNW 587, p. 28; vital-signs chart):

	Temperature	Pulse (beats/min)	Breaths/min
4-H PNW 587	99–101 °F (102+ = sick)	32–48 (over 50 = distress)	8–20
Raising Healthy Horses	99–101.5 °F	40–48	10–14
UGA B1356	99.5–101.5 °F	32–36	8–12

Take the pulse under the jawbone for 15 seconds × 4. A pinched fold of neck skin should flatten in 1–2 seconds; gums should be pink and moist; a healthy horse passes several piles of manure a day (PNW 587, p. 28).

Act fast (no vet coming? treat these as emergencies) — temperature 102 °F or more, signs of colic, a deep puncture, a wound near an eye, joint or tendon, severe lameness, choking, off feed 12–24 hours, worsening cough, persistent diarrhea, or a mare in trouble foaling (PNW 587, p. 29).

Colic (belly pain) — looking at or kicking at the belly, pawing, rolling, getting up and down, sweating, little or no manure, pulse over 60 (PNW 587, p. 31; UF VM275, pp. 3–4; a horse in colic):

• Take away all feed. Let it stand or lie quietly; walk it only briefly if it's throwing itself around — don't walk it to exhaustion.
• Don't syringe in oil or water, and never put a hose down its nose or throat — the fluid goes into the lungs. Don't repeat painkillers without advice.
• Water: sources disagree — UF lets the horse drink; the 4-H manual says no food or water until the vet sees it.
• If it recovers on its own, no feed for 12–24 hours, then small meals over 3–5 days, and watch for manure (8–12 piles a day is normal) (UF VM275, p. 4).

Choke (feed stuck in the gullet) — saliva and feed running from the nose (photo), retching, sometimes a lump you can see or feel in the neck. It can still breathe. Remove all feed and water, keep it on bare ground or muzzle it, gently massage a visible lump; many cases clear in a couple of hours. Watch for fever over 101.5 °F or coughing in the days after — food in the lungs causes pneumonia (UF VM275, pp. 4–5).

Wounds: hose with cold water, pat dry, apply antiseptic. For heavy bleeding use a pressure bandage, not a tourniquet; a horse can lose up to 4 gallons of blood without severe stress. Watch for proud flesh (red, lumpy tissue) in wounds over joints (PNW 587, p. 30).

Eyes: rinse gently with saline (1 teaspoon salt in a pint of boiled water — Raising Healthy Horses, p. 9) or weak-tea-colored dilute betadine. Never alcohol or chlorhexidine near the eye, and no steroid ointments. Put on a fly mask (UF VM275, pp. 5–6; a painful eye).

Swollen face, noisy breathing (snakebite, bee sting): horses can't breathe through the mouth. Cut two pieces of soft hose as long as from the inner corner of the eye to the nostril, lubricate them, slide one into each nostril and tape them in place (UF VM275, p. 6; photo).

Donkeys hide illness. A dull donkey off its feed is an emergency — it can fall into hyperlipaemia (fat flooding the blood) and die. Coax it to eat with fresh grass or favorite food and warm water. When a donkey loses its companion, let it stay with the body until it loses interest, and watch it closely for three weeks (Donkey Care Handbook, pp. 108–110).

When a horse can't be saved, the UF guide shows humane gunshot placement and how to confirm death (UF VM114); see also the Illinois Valley page.

📚 Go deeper: UF First Aid for Horse Owners VM275 — colic, choke, eyes, breathing, wounds, do's and don'ts; Raising Healthy Horses — normal values, medical kit and diseases; Where There Is No Animal Doctor — livestock medicine with no vet; 4-H PNW 587 — vital signs, first-aid kit, vaccinations. Pictures: Horse colic.

🎒 Travel and packing

Walk / trot	about 4 mph / 8–9 mph
Steady day's travel	20+ miles on easy ground, 10–15 in mountains
Rider	no more than about 20% of the horse's weight (250 lb max)
Pack load	200–250 lb per 900–1,000-lb animal; 300 lb only short-distance
Load balance	side packs within 2–3 lb of each other

(FM 25-5; FM 25-7; USFS Instructions on Horse Packing, pp. 2, 20; Montana outfitters manual)

• On the road: rest 5–10 minutes every hour; every 2–3 hours unsaddle, let the horse roll and graze. Walk them up steep hills. Only hardened horses can do 40–50 miles a day for days on end. Condition animals 2–4 weeks before hard travel. (Animal Management)
• Packing: sawbuck and Decker pack saddles (Decker, sawbuck), hitches and loading are in the 1943 Forest Service manual (written for Oregon and Washington) and FM 25-7, which also shows improvised pack saddles and a travois (pack saddle improvised from horseshoes).
• Lighter loads when breaking in a pack string, on long or fast trips, or on steep rough trail. Check balance by lifting one side so the load rocks: it should ride free, not settle to one side (USFS, p. 20).
• Sore backs and poor feeding are the most common reasons pack stock break down (USFS, p. 2).
• In camp: water before feeding, hay before grain, feed small amounts at least three times a day. Turn animals loose in a corral or pasture at night if you can — a horse tied out on a cold night can't move to keep warm (USFS, p. 3).

Top: a sawbuck saddle with breast strap in front and breeching behind; bottom: a pack saddle improvised with horseshoes as the crosspieces (FM 25-7, p. 164).

📚 Go deeper: USFS Instructions on Horse Packing (1943, Oregon–Washington) — pack stock, sawbuck and Decker gear, loads and hitches; FM 25-7 Pack Transportation — lashed loads, march rates, improvised saddles and travois; Montana Packing Services Reference Manual — modern conditioning and Decker packing. Pictures: Diamond hitch.

🚜 Harness and draft work

• What an animal can pull all day: about one-tenth of its body weight in steady draft (a big horse pulling 150 lb at 2½ mph ≈ 1 horsepower). Donkeys pull about a fifth of their weight for 3–4 hours. A cart donkey should pull no more than twice its weight, cart included, on the flat. (Peace Corps Animal Traction, p. 20; Donkey Care Handbook) Sources differ: Starkey quotes 15% of body weight as normal pulling power for horses (Starkey, p. 118).
• Collar fit: a flat hand should just pass between the collar and the windpipe (drawing). A short collar chokes; a long one bruises the shoulders. Give each horse its own collar and wipe it after every use. Sore shoulders are the #1 harness problem. (USDA FB1419; FM 25-5; where collar sores form)
• Harness, hitching, driving pairs and teams, carts, plows and sledges: FM 25-5, Mounted Instruction for Field Artillery, the Peace Corps Animal Traction manual and Starkey's Harnessing and Implements (harnessing options). Big-team hitches and eveners: Sommerfeld's How to Hitch Horses (five-horse evener; eveners for four horses).

Preventing sore shoulders, step by step (USDA FB1419, pp. 17–20):

1. Fit: flat hand at the windpipe, fingertips at the sides of the neck just above the shoulder points. A narrow collar pinches; a wide one rubs.
2. Skip sweat pads — they cause more sore shoulders than a clean, smooth collar.
3. Set the hames snug so the pull comes about one-third of the way up from the point of the shoulder (point of draft; hames).
4. Spring toughening: for the first 2–3 weeks of work, wash the shoulders after work with warm water and mild soap, then rinse with cold water with a little salt in it.
5. At midday, lift the collar forward, wipe off sweat and dirt, and let the shoulders cool.
6. Allow for winter hair and extra flesh when fitting a collar in spring — the fit changes as the horse works down.

A good fit: just room for a flat hand at the windpipe (left) and for the fingertips at the side of the neck (right) (FB 1419, p. 17).

Harness care: hang it in a dry room; wipe the collar face after every use; once a year take it apart, soak 15 minutes in lukewarm water with mild soap, clean, oil and restitch. Keep a repair kit: punch, rivets, awls, needles, waxed thread, a clamp, spare leather, snaps and buckles (FB1419, p. 18).

📚 Go deeper: USDA FB1419 Farm Work Horses — collar fitting, sore shoulders, harness care; Peace Corps Animal Traction — choosing and training draft animals, yokes, plows and carts; Starkey Harnessing and Implements — harness systems and draft-force data; Hasluck Harness Making — making collars and harness by hand. Pictures: Horse harness.

🧯 If this goes wrong

Problem	Likely cause and fix
Losing weight	Check teeth, worms and the amount of hay first (G1781, p. 4). Score body condition weekly.
Won't drink in cold weather	Warm the water to air temperature twice a day or add 1–2 oz salt to feed (UGA B1356, p. 2).
Chewing wood, eating bedding	Not enough long hay — at least 8–10 lb a day for a 1,000-lb horse (G1781, p. 2).
Scabs on the lower legs	Mud fever — get the horse onto dry footing and keep the legs clean and dry (EC1558, p. 2).
Laminitis (founder) signs after bedding change (a foundered foot, cut open)	Black walnut shavings — even 20% in the bedding — cause founder; remove them at once (WSU, p. 27).

📚 Go deeper: UGA B1356 — feeding mistakes that cause colic and founder; OSU EC1558 — mud, manure and horse health; Animal Management (1908) — sore backs, saddle and harness galls (old book: skip its medicines).

☠️ Local dangers

• Toxic plants: tansy ragwort, poison and water hemlock, foxglove and bracken fern — hungry horses on overgrazed pasture eat them. (Wild-Plants\ and Animals\ sheets)
• Wildfire: evacuate horses early and in daylight; practice loading into a trailer ahead of time. See the Illinois Valley page.

Plant	Watch for	Why it matters
Tansy ragwort	Yellow daisy-like flowers in flat clusters, ragged leaves, bad smell	Horses are especially sensitive. As toxic dried in hay as fresh — and tastier. Liver damage shows up months later (WSNWCB, p. 24; photos)
Poison hemlock	Hollow stems with purple blotches, fern-like leaves, rank smell when crushed	Less than a pound can kill a 1,000-lb animal in 2–3 hours; stays toxic in hay up to 3 years (WSNWCB, p. 34; photos of both hemlocks)
Water hemlock	Wet ground; thick, chambered stem base	A single mouthful can kill in 15 minutes; roots most toxic (WSNWCB, p. 34)
Bracken fern	Big triangular fronds, in woods and open ground	2–5 lb a day for weeks causes staggers; also toxic in hay (WSNWCB, p. 36; photos)
Yellow starthistle	Gray-woolly plant, yellow flowers with inch-long spines	"Chewing disease" — horses can't eat or drink; poor outlook (WSNWCB, p. 26)
Foxglove	Tall spikes of spotted pink-purple bells	Heart poison, fresh or dried (WSU, p. 28)
Yew	Flat glossy needles, red berries — garden shrubs	Hedge trimmings thrown to stock kill fast (WSU, p. 2)

If you suspect poisoning (WSNWCB, p. 4): move the animal to shade with clean water and clean hay and keep it calm; collect a sample of the plant (gloves, sealed bag with a dry paper towel); find the source. Pulled or sprayed plants become more tempting as they wilt — bag them and put them in the trash, never in compost or the pasture. When buying hay, break open several bales and look for weeds; refuse gray or dusty bales — the dust is often mold (p. 56).

Wildfire plan for horses:

• Go-kit: halters and lead ropes for every animal, feed and hay, water buckets, medical and vaccination records, ID, wire cutters, shovel and flashlights (Oregon ODA).
• When you evacuate, photograph each trailer load and record which animals go where (PNW783, p. 8).
• If they must stay: put them in a heavily grazed (low-fuel) pasture, leave sprinklers running, open the gates so they can move, leave 7–10 days of feed and water, and shut off power and propane (PNW783, p. 8).
• After the fire, check burns, smoke damage, feed and water before bringing them home (ODA Caring for Livestock After Wildfire).

📚 Go deeper: WSNWCB Protect Your Horses and Livestock from Toxic Plants — color ID and symptoms; WSU Tansy Ragwort — identifying and controlling ragwort; USDA Plants Poisonous to Livestock — western poisonous plants with photos; PNW783 Wildfires, Smoke and Livestock — evacuate or shelter in place.

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Old military feeding rules assume plenty of oats and hay; scale rations to what you can grow, and watch body condition.

🖼️ Pictures & diagrams

Look before you try it. 🖼️ = drawings in the books on this drive; 📷 = photos in the offline Wikipedia.

The animal

• Points of the horse — USDA FB 779, p. 5; FM 25-5, p. 89; Equine anatomy
• Points of the donkey — Donkey Care Handbook, p. 15; Donkey; Mule; Hinny
• Where unsoundness shows — FB 779, p. 6; Equine conformation
• Age by the teeth — FB 779, p. 7; p. 8; p. 10; AIB 353, p. 18; Horse teeth
• Weight tape and body condition — Nebraska G1781, p. 2; p. 3
• Dry lot, mud footing and pasture regrowth — OSU EC1558, p. 4; p. 5; p. 8

Feet and shoeing

• Parts of the hoof — NMSU B-707, p. 2; Lungwitz, p. 67; FM 25-5, p. 161; Horse hoof
• Inside the foot — FB 1535, p. 5; under a donkey's foot, p. 123
• Picking out the feet — Donkey Care Handbook, p. 91; p. 94; Thrush
• Trimming, before and after — FB 1419, p. 20; FB 1535, p. 7; p. 10
• Hoof cutter, rasp, nailing and clinching — FB 1535, p. 8; p. 9; p. 11; a well-fitted shoe, NMSU p. 3; Horseshoe
• Founder — Lungwitz, p. 184; Laminitis

Handling and first aid

• Quick-release knot — 4-H PNW 587, p. 51; Donkey Care Handbook, p. 84; Halter hitch
• Holding the reins; tack — FM 25-5, p. 47; Bridle; Western saddle
• Floating the teeth by hand — Merillat, p. 197; Equine dentistry
• Vital signs and the physical exam — UF VM275, p. 2; p. 3
• Colic, choke, eye pain, breathing tubes — UF VM275, p. 4; p. 5; p. 6; Horse colic
• Toxic plants — WSNWCB, p. 25 (tansy); p. 35 (hemlocks); p. 37 (bracken); Tansy ragwort; Poison hemlock

Packing

• Decker packsaddle and Decker tie — USFS 1943, p. 22; p. 24; p. 25
• Sawbuck saddle — USFS 1943, p. 25; FM 25-7, p. 163; Pack saddle
• Diamond hitch — USFS 1943, p. 27; FM 25-7, p. 162; Diamond hitch
• Improvised pack saddle and pack-saddle designs — FM 25-7, p. 164; Starkey, p. 82; Travois

Harness and draft work

• Collar fit and collar sores — FB 1419, p. 17; FM 25-5, p. 157; Horse collar
• Collar, hames and point of draft — Peace Corps Animal Traction, p. 91; Hasluck, p. 127; Starkey, p. 33; Horse harness
• Swingletrees and eveners — Starkey, p. 29; p. 21; Sommerfeld, p. 9; Whippletree
• Sledges and carts — Starkey, p. 83; Draft horse
• Harness-making tools — Hasluck, p. 26; p. 28; Horse tack

🔗 Related guides

• Illinois Valley — Start Here — local vets, wildfire, animal vital signs and euthanasia
• Cattle — training and working a team of oxen
• Dogs — working dogs around stock
• Blacksmithing guide — forging shoes, nails and tools
• Root Cellar guide — dry, rodent-proof storage for grain and feed
• Food from Scratch — growing and storing grain
• Nuclear Fallout guide — sheltering stock and protecting feed and water
• Make-Do Household guide — leather, rope and repairs without stores
• On Foot: backpacking and travel — how much to carry, packs, feet and blisters, water and food on the move, camps, river crossings and safety on the road.