BlO—Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, October 9,1982
Kids, here is the fourth part to our
story about a real ol' time blacksmith
The story was written by a blacksmith
living in the 1900's in Indiana
Blacksmiths were innovators in
methods and tooling. However, in
our shop we also designed and built
equipment. Much of this was
gladly accepted. Engineers came
many miles not only to see our
work but to observe and study it in
use. When a product you designed
is broadly accepted, where ever it
is, or whoever it servces, it is
always yours, your very own.
With Mama, experimental work
was challenging and interesting.
She may have had the most
creative, engineering mind that
ever served this earth. The
benefits of our blacksmith shop
could not be honestly evaluated
without including her. It was not
necessary for Mama to come to the
shop because we communicated by
drawing pictures and making
sketches. Since I can remember,
she and I enjoyed making sketches
for each other. She was much more
skilled at this than I ever became.
She believed you could accomplish
more if you were unconcerned
about recognition or com
pensation. The odds are your
Mama can make you look ex
tremely good if you give her the
slightest chance.
Fanners would often drop off
plowshares to be pointed and be
told when they would be complete.
For shoeing a team, they would
stay until the team was shod.
Sometimes there were two to five
teams to be shod that day. It took
at least two hours for one man to
shoe a team properly, and the
better part of the day for two men
to set four wagon wheel tires. We
often had an audience with no
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place for them to go, so they would
visit until their work was com
plete.
Every smith was exposed to
gossip. It would be awful if as
many women confided, bragged
and lied like some men. Maybe our
Supreme Court should consist of all
women. The smith heard so many
lies that he became expert in
distinguishing the truth. It is like a
solid or glancing blow with a
hammer. The sound has a different
ring.
The smith knew who moved into
the Jones’ place, where they came
from, how many horses they had
and their condition, how many
children they had and what year of
school they were in. He knew who
would be the next township trustee
and what the job would cost him.
He knew more about the com
munity than all four ministers in
town. He was listening while they
were preaching.
The horse on the left in a team is
called the near horse, the horse on
the right is called the far, or off
horse. They are never referred to
as left or right. In horse language
Haw means angle to the left. Gee
means angle to the right. A horse
can be completely reversed in
direction by repeating the proper
word.
Many colts were broken to
harness at age two instead of the
conventional age three because the
farmer needed the extra hor
sepower. The two-year-old seldom
had enough maturity to compete
with the older horses and the strain
and heat induced a gradual loss of
sight which often resulted _in
permanent blindness by age five.
Some horses went blind later
because of overwork, but asking
too much too soon was the major
cause of blindness in draft horses.
LI6REY
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LTBROWKI
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LI GREEN
Farewell, Mr, Blacksmith
7-22-82
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About one in four was blind.
A blind horse teamed with a
seeing horse will step up, step
down, and go around just like he
could see. When they are in the
pasture, chances are the seeing
horse will continue to see for his
blind teammate. A deaf horse will
start, stop, speed up or slow down
as directed when teamed with a
hearing horse. When they are in
the pasture, chances are the
hearing horse will continue to hear
for his deaf teammate. We had a
large black mare that was blind
and other horses ignored her in the
pasture. She appeared extremely
awkward until a small pony
started looking after her. After
that she seemed perfectly normal.
In many Ways the communication
and compassion between horses is
better than that between humans.
A blind mare in the pasture
during latter months of pregnancy
can appear to be the most awk
ward forlorn animal you will ever
see, but two or three days after her
seeing colt is bom you would have
to be a close observer to recognize
her as abnormal in any way. As
long as this colt lives, when he is
put in a pasture with other horses
and one is blind, he will help this
blind horse.
The performance of a blind or
deaf horse when teamed with a
sound horse can be so perfect that
an observer would never notice the
handicap. The team’s com
munication is uncanny. Once, the
near mare was blind on'a mule
team that pulled a cart to deliver
rock to the crusher in a rock
quarry. The only people who knew
this were those that had been
apprised of it. It would be both
unthinkable and impossible to use
a blind team for this job.
9
This ol' time blacksmith only appears to fit this description
because at age 89, George Winters of R 1 Palmyra is a
modern-day smithy, still hammering at the anvil.
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