Here abouts he was an unheralded humble, tough as nails, giant in the quiet localized worlds of cattle ranching, country ways, auctioneering and friendship maintenance. He was a true artist, genius and champion in the craft and trade of auctions. He loved them and seldom more than when he was in the deepest sweaty catch-as-catch-can center of it all. He thrilled at the chance to make it all succeed.

A team of horses will typically skid about 3,000 board feet in a full workday. This volume consists of approximately 25 logs cut in lengths of 12 to 16 feet. The logs are dragged by draft horses hitched to a two-wheel cart. As the team begins to pull, the log raises where it’s secured by the swivel grab skidding tongs, which enables less resistance when dragging the log. It’s not uncommon to drag a log a half mile to the loading area.

All shoes whose ground-surface is provided with contrivances to prevent slipping upon snow and ice are called winter shoes. These various contrivances are produced by several processes called “methods of sharpening.” All methods may be gathered into two groups, – namely, practical sharp-shoeing and impractical. Only the first will be considered.

The boundary between health and disease of the hoof is difficult to determine, especially when we have to deal with minor defects of structure or shape of the hoof. Ordinarily, we first consider a hoof diseased when it causes lameness. However, we know that diseases of the hoof may exist without lameness. Therefore, a hoof should be regarded as diseased or defective when it deviates from what we consider as normal or healthy, whether the service of the animal is influenced by it or not.

Mike McIntosh invited us to join them at a threshing reenactment at Smith Rocks Ranch, so Eric and I went to Terrebonne. The result was a lot of perfect pictures so we share a few with you in this issue. The equipment and horses demonstrated all belong to the McIntosh clan. Mike, Joanna, plus Jamsey, Jacob and their wives (and children) were joined by Clay and Brett. Threshing is a regular occurrence for the family so everyone knows their part to perfection. Jamsey was mechanicing and running the JD belt-drive tractor to power the Case thresher. Jacob ran the JD binder and the ladies drove the bundle rack team. Mike, Clay and Brett kept the thresher going smooth and at the right speed.