To Build a Fence

It's time for a new fence at the Nye home-place.

Karm and Karla were called on to help get the job done. I hitched the team and put them on my little hitch-cart. I bought this two-wheeled vehicle at an Amish farm sale when I got my first team of work horses. That was in 1993. It was old then, and it looks just the same as it did the day I brought it home 25 years ago.
I hooked onto a wooden sled (also known as a stone boat) rolled my logs on, and the horses pulled them.

 Karm and Karla hauled the logs and braces out to the corners of their pasture. I rented a post-hole-digger from a local rental place and made some deep holes for my large corner posts.

In the photo below, you can see my old electric fence, Karla grazing, my pickup truck, and the post-hole-digger.

Once we got our equipment in place, the horses were sent out to pasture, and I put a gas engine to work.

I now have my corner post set. If it ever quits raining, I'll get back on this project and share some finished product photos.

Horses on Ice

 Horses are amazing creatures. I always thought of them as my fair weather friends until I moved into an Amish community.

It is so easy and fun to play around with horses on a fair summer day. Horses are built to live outside 365 days a year. Many people imagine how they would feel to live outside and think that horses should be brought into the living room. Not only are horses able to live comfortably outdoors, they are also able to work the whole winter through.

 My Amish neighbors depend on horses and their horses thrive in all conditions. In fact, my own horses began to have hoof troubles and my vet and my Amish neighbors concluded the same thing: "They need more exercise."

It's really tough for me to get my horses hitched up during the winter months. I work in town, delivering mail and don't get home until after dark. My Amish neighbor agreed to take my horses over the winter and keep them in healthy condition. So far no hoof problems... amazing.

 Last Monday we had a big ice storm here in Iowa. I had a tax appointment in Kalona and braved the bad conditions to get to town. I drove slowly down an ice-covered road in my big four-wheel-drive truck. As I drew close to my Amish neighbor's place, I saw their young sons heading out of their lane in an open cart, on their way to school. (I would have taken a picture but I needed both of my white-knuckle-hands on the wheel) Their horse was trotting at full speed. Amish have a special horseshoe they put on their horses in the winter with carbide pieces. Those horses can literally run on ice without slipping.

 As I came into Kalona I notice there were fewer cars than usual, but the normal amount of buggies heading into town.

Attention Horse People

 If you wake up thinking about horses. focus all day on a horse issue you need to fix. (i.e. getting hay, wormer, equipment, or thinking of your training methods.) And fall asleep dreaming about horses. Then, you have a whole lot in common with me!

I love to read about horses and people who work with them. That is why I wrote several adventure novels about horses.

 Under the Heavens is about a teenage city guy who goes to spend a summer on his Amish relatives farm. Lenny is planning to stay away from horses. Little does he know, that is impossible on an Amish farm. From sunup to sundown his summer is filled with horse adventures

Grandpa is a horse whisperer and determined to teach his grandson horse-sense.

Catbird Singing is about Lenny's second trip to this Amish Horses wonderland. On this visit he finds out that if he wants to date girls, he will have to hitch up and drive high strung buggy horses on the highway.

The girls are a little too cute to resist and he has to find a way to get along with some ornery horses.

 Horses are a way of life on an Amish farm.

These books are based on my 35 years of living in an Amish community. When I bought draft horses from local Amish farmers, they didn't just sell me horses. My Amish friends seem to enjoy watching a city boy struggle to do what is second nature to them.

They don't just laugh though. They make every effort to help me succeed. That is the basis of my books.

If you love horses, you have to own one of these books.

Under the Heavens:if you love to read about life on the good-old-fashioned farm. Plowing, making hay, and then going to a young folk's gathering in a buggy.

Catbird Singing: if it sounds fun to read about a young man's funny adventures courting Amish girls while hanging onto a set of driving lines.

Either book can be read first even though they are part of the Amish Horses Series. If you love the first one, go ahead and get the other.  Book III is on the way!

P.S. Whispering to Horses is a short story about a man who hates his Amish neighbors... until he actually gets to know them. Horses are the heart of this story as well.

Click on one of the links and read a few reviews!

Horse Drawn Communities

Who would have ever thought, that in 2015 we would still have hundreds of horse drawn communities in the USA?

People often ask, "Why is everyone so fascinated with the Amish?" or "Why are there so many Amish novels?"

All you need to do is actually spend a little time visiting in one of these communities and you will have those questions answered.

First of all: In order to function and survive as a horse drawn community, there must be a very close knit group of extremely devoted people. Otherwise it would fall apart at the first streak of bad weather.

 Next: Horses are not that easy to use as your main source of transportation. Unless you have a lot of experience and patience it will end in disaster.

Another thing: The community must be living within close proximity with each other. You can only trot so many miles in one day.

My theory on why Amish are so successful surviving in this lifestyle:

Our Amish American's are not people who reverted back to old ways, they are a group that were living this way in the 1800's and just haven't changed much.

There is something special about this lifestyle. There are plenty of plain groups that have left "horse-power" behind, and many of those groups have kept old-fashioned values.

Nonetheless, horse drawn communities have a closeness and simpleness that can't be duplicated.

 There is something wonderful and intriguing about Amish life. Use of the horse seems to be central to keeping life slower paced, and somehow maintaining an old-fashioned existence.

My blogs give a glimpse into this world, however, if you really want to "feel" it you need to see it first hand.

I hope my novels are the next best thing to being there. Give Under the Heavens a try!

The 10 Most Beautiful Horses (I've ever seen)

Everyone has an ideal horse in their heart, mine happens to be a coal-black Percheron. On the weekend of July 4th, I attended Horse Progress Days in southern Indiana. This eight-horse hitch came prancing out and my heart about stopped. As you can see from the photo... that little Amish boy on the other side of the road had the same reaction I did!

Before they came prancing out I saw them being groomed and harnessed, so I knew already that I loved them.

I was taking a few pictures, when these girls came out and climbed aboard and started braiding their manes and tails. The girl's mother is just out of view. I asked her, "Are you okay with me taking some pictures of this?" She said, "Sure go ahead."

I was happy because I thought this was a perfect moment.

As you can see, these girls know how to braid manes and tails, Unfortunately I was making sure to get a photo of the girls on horseback and missed the one working on the tail... but you can see her hand. In the photos below you can see their finished work. The girl at the head and the girls at the tail also rode along in the wagon into the arena. I said to an Amish guy beside me, "I'm surprised that he has his daughters beside him and not a big strong guy, in case of trouble." He smiled and replied, "I saw those girls working with their horses earlier, they know what they are doing!" These girls look really petite, but I also noticed that they had no fear.

After the horses left the arena, I hurried over near the barn where I saw the girls braiding their manes and tails. I knew I would get to see them up close and hopefully get a good pic to show ya. There is nothing quite like standing on the road as an eight-horse hitch of gorgeous Percheron horses fly by! I could feel each hoof-beat and hear them breathing. Shivers went up my spine!

When they left the arena and headed down the road, a big guy did get on the front seat and the girl climbed into the back as you see below. If something scares eight horses, you need at least two strong people pulling on those eight lines.

You may have wondered why I said, "The 10 most beautiful horses I've ever seen." The eight horses in the hitch were about as pretty as any horses I've ever seen. But when I got home, my own two horses looked almost a beautiful! Maybe just because I'm so happy that they are mine! Karm always greets me with a whinny and warms my heart.

Heart of an Amish Farm

Horses are the heart of an Amish farm.

No matter how little you know about the Amish, one thing is obvious, horses are a big part of daily life in their world. It would be very difficult for most modern people to step into that lifestyle, mostly because of working with horses. I was driving home from work the other day and passed an Amish girl driving a buggy. I noticed her horse was galloping, which is not common for a buggy horse, and usually a sign that there is trouble. Not far down the road was an Amish farm, so I turned into their lane and watched to see if she was going to need help. Her horse was galloping so near the ditch, at one point the wheels on one side had slipped down a foot into the ditch, I was sure her buggy was going to overturn. Somehow she got her horse back under control. By the time she passed me her horse was trotting along fine.

I took this picture from my dinning room window

My novel, Under the Heavens, is all about a teenage boy from town that goes to spend a summer on an Amish farm. His greatest challenge is learning to work with horses. Throughout the story it becomes quite clear, that if you're Amish, working with horses is just part of everyday life, whether you like them or not.

Here is a short clip from a letter I received from an elderly Amishman that read Under the Heavens.

Every letter I've ever gotten from an Amish person began with a scripture verse.

I liked how he used this verse to lead into his statement of thankfulness for "... the useful horse."

In the old days, hoof-beats were the heartbeat of America; those days are gone. Today, we can get a glimpse of what that life was like, by visiting an Amish community. If you step onto an Amish farm, you will soon figure out that horses are at the core of that lifestyle. The heart of an Amish farm.

Where Horses are still King

 There was a day when horses ruled the earth, so to speak.  In the 1800's, horses powered most of the world, at least on land, while steamboats ruled the waters.  Shortly after the turn of the twentieth-century their reign ended, as they stepped to the side of the road while automobiles and tractors took over.

 When we used horses everyday as our main mode of transportation and when they powered our farming operations, we knew them well.  Nowadays, even many horse owners barely understand their friend, the horse, and struggle to work peacefully with their charges.

What I have discovered, living near an Amish community, is that there is no replacement for working with horses everyday, if you want to understand them.  I love my own horses, but when bad weather hits, they stand in the barn.  Imagine if the only way you could go anywhere, in any weather, was to harness up a  horse and hitch it to a buggy or wagon.  Wind, rain, cold, heat, storms or being in a hurry, all are enough to make a preacher swear... when he is in a car. Try all of that behind a horse.

Generation after generation of farmers, passed down horse handling skills to their children and grandchildren, as they worked together on the farm.  Now, we try to learn those same things from a manual or DVD.  It is always better to learn first hand from a master, not to mention what we've lost, in not spending time with our extended family.  My Amish neighbors are still part of this historic loop, that we have stepped out of in order to improve our lives through modernization. 

 There is still a place where horses are King,

among the Amish

Pictures provided by my friend, Jerry.  If you would like a print of any (but the boy and draft horse,) contact me at amishhorses@outlook.com and I will get you in contact with Jerry.