DHJ:: “Doc–can you measure the power and endurance of horses and mules?"

"Doc – can you measure the power and endurance of horses and mules?"
© A.J. Neumann, D.V.M.
published in The Draft Horse Journal, Autumn 2003

I have thought about writing on the subject of the “power of the horse” for a long time. It has been very interesting to me to research and discover what the working horse in harness and horses under the saddle have been able to accomplish from the past up to the present. There is not a more fitting place to publish this article than in this “Work Horse Issue” of The Draft Horse Journal.

My good friend Jim Strotman of Waverly, Iowa, has an article in this issue which quite accurately records the miles walked by horses as they were used to farm his uncle’s place near Waverly in some years gone by. It is a very interesting story about the mileage put out by these draft animals, which were used on the farm, to produce the “horsepower” which was necessary to operate the business.

What is “horsepower” and what does it mean? Today the term horsepower is used to describe the power of an engine or motor. We have all heard the term used and we refer to horsepower almost daily. In fact engines in all forms of automobiles, tractors, motorized equipment of any kind are all rated by their horsepower. An engineer named James Watt, in England, created the mathematical formula defining one horsepower over 200 years ago. At that time, the steam engine was just being introduced and Mr. Watt decided to perform an experiment. So in 1783, his experiment was performed by hitching a draft horse to a rope with pulleys, which in turn was fastened to a 100 lb. weight, suspended in a well. The draft horse was driven forward at a walk. The normal walking speed of a draft horse is 2.5 miles per hour or 220 feet per minute. Watt observed that the horse while walking forward at 220 feet per minute could easily raise the 100-pound weight. Watt then reasoned that one horsepower was equal to 220 feet per minute times 100 lbs. or 22,000 foot lbs. of work per minute. Watt changed his formula by adding another 11,000 foot lbs., or 50% of the original 22,000 foot lbs, which made it 33,000 foot lbs

This formula is still used today to calculate horse power, and it simply means that one horsepower is equal to the amount of power used to raise 33,000 lbs. a distance of one foot in one minute.

From 1923-1926, Professor E.V. Collins of Iowa State College undertook a program whereby he conducted a good deal of research to determine what a farm team could be expected to pull on a daily basis. Professor Collins developed a number of machines to measure the draft on various farm implements. The working capacities of different farm teams was often influenced by the fit of the harness, feeding, conditioning of the animals, fitting of the collar and soil types and conditions. Of all of these factors, he found the fitting of the collar to be the most important..

Collins developed a specially-built machine to test the maximum pulling power of a team of horses. This machine was called a dynamometer. It was built on a truck. Preset weights were suspended between vertical shafts. A team was hitched to them and the weights were pulled up much like lifting a weight out of a well. An oil pump was so rigged through the power takeoff to create resistance to the drag of the truck, thus maintaining an even pull on the preset weights.

Each team was required to pull the machine a full 27.5 feet without stopping. A starting load of 1500 lbs. was used which was gradually increased until only one team could pull the load. Of course, this was the winning team.

By the use of the dynamometer machine at fairs and horse shows, Collins secured the data he needed to determine the maximum pulling power of draft horses. This data was then converted to determine the number of sound draft horses, which were to be used to successfully operate various pieces of farm equipment. It is interesting to read the tables entitled, “Equivalents of the Dynamometer,” which were the results of studies on horsepower at Iowa State College in the early 1900s. For instance; a team lifting a load of 2000 lbs and moving it 27.5 feet is equivalent to starting a wagon load of 13 tons on the pavement or pulling four 14 inch plows, 6 inches deep in stubble ground. On the other end of the scale a team which could lift 4,700 lbs. and move it 27.5 feet would be equivalent to starting a wagonload of 30.5 tons on the pavement or pulling twelve 14 inch plows in 6 inches of stubble for 27.5 feet.

The present world record for lightweight teams less than 3200 lbs. pulling on the dynamometer machine is held by Benham Bros., Osgood, Indiana; and Ledyard and Keegan, Camden, and Montgomery, Michigan. The pull was 4,125 lbs. This record was set in 1990 at the Hillsdale County Fair in Michigan. In 1971, the record was 3,750 lbs. on the dynamometer for this class of pulling horses.

The world record for a lightweight team under 3,000 lbs. is currently held by Harold Gilbert, Shelbina, Missouri, with a pull of 3,725 lbs. set in 1971. The first record for this class of pullers was 2,050 lbs. set in 1923 at the Iowa State Fair.

The world record for a heavyweight team was set in 2002 by Charles (Boomer) Clark, Belfast, New York, with a pull of 4,650 lbs. at the Hillsdale County Fair. The first world record of 2,300 lbs. for the heavyweight teams was set in 1923 at the Iowa State Fair.

And so Professor Collins wrote, “Plowing requires more power than any other one farming operation, the draft of a 14 inch plow plowing 6 inches deep in sudan grass requires 500 lbs. of tractive force, which from the testing results requires three horses to be used for the days work.”

Others, down through the years were interested in how much weight a horse could draw when hitched to a carriage or wagon. As a result of experience and common sense, the following rule of thumb came into being, and it is remarkably accurate.

The weight of the horse or horses to the weight of the loaded vehicle is as follows:

One third of the loaded weight over the front axle and two thirds of the loaded weight over the rear axle.

Of course when figuring the weight to be drawn, one must add the weight of the carriage or wagon to the load weight for the final drawn weight. Road conditions and the condition of the animals involved play a major role in this formula. This plan was used very successfully by carriage and freight companies of the day.

The United States Army was very interested in the loads a draft animal could draw or the weight a pack animal could bear. The army was constantly experimenting with its wagons and packs. The draft and pack animals were mostly mules.

I now quote from a 1917 Army manual as it deals with animal power, referring especially to mules.

“The capacity of an animal to exert a tractive effort decreases as speed and time increase. As a basis, it may be assumed that an average draft mule can pull on a level 80 lbs. (traction) at 2.5 miles an hour for 10 hours every day, or, in other words, can pull 80 lbs. over 25 miles of average level roads every day. If a pull of 160 lbs. is required, it can be made over 12.5 miles a day only, the lesser distance being covered by a slower gait or longer rests, or, as is usually the case, partly by each. An animal can exert two and one-half times the normal pull for a few minutes at a time, and five times for a few seconds, provided in each case the demand is not repeated too frequently.

The load, which can be hauled on any pull, depends mainly on the kind and conditions of the road and a little on the wagon, especially as to width of tire and size of wheels. For the standard Army wagon and on a level dirt road in good condition the load corresponding to 80 lbs. standard pull may be taken at 1,000 lbs. per animal. Of this 300 lbs. will be wagon, leaving 700 lbs. net freight. Any reduction of this load to lessen the pull must come out of the 700 lbs. To reduce the pull to 40 lbs., 500 lbs. must be taken from the freight, leaving 200 lbs. only to be hauled. This 200 lbs. pulled over 25 miles would equal 5,000 lbs. pulled over one mile, while if the full load of 700 lbs. is hauled over 12.5 miles, which can be done with the same effort, the result equals 700 x 12.5 or 8,750 lbs. hauled one mile. If the length of the march is fixed, the animals can be relieved only by reducing the pull; otherwise it is better to relieve them by shortening the march.

On hilly roads there is no traction on the downgrades and an increased gait is usually taken without appreciable extra exertion. This saves time, which may be spent in rests, allowing greater effort on the upgrades. Up to 8% grade, the load can be retained by reducing the distance. Up to 3% grade, the distance can be maintained by reducing the pull. Above 8% both pull and distance must be reduced. The reduction of pull may be accomplished by removing part of the freight, by doubling up teams, or by putting men on drag ropes.

The foregoing is based on the supposition that the animals have the full ration every day and remain in good condition as when they started. In emergencies they can do more work than indicated, but will go off in condition and some will give out entirely. In campaigns, animals are overworked as a rule, and finish in very poor condition. When marches are intermittent, mules may be pushed, since what they lose in two or three days overwork can be made up by a week’s rest with good care, and they will be fit when again required.”

An Army Escort wagon weighed in at 1,500 lbs. and could carry a maximum net load of 3,000 lbs., making a gross load of 4,500 lbs.. These wagons were generally drawn by four draft mules.

The Ass or as we often call it a Donkey is an animal which is usually affected by its treatment and surroundings. In eastern countries where it is often kept by the rich and is well fed and cared for, the animal generally becomes spirited in action and refined in appearance. In other areas of the world it becomes the poor man’s horse and is often made into a beast of heavy burden and made to suffer cruelty, malnutrition and other hardships. The Ass under these circumstances often becomes obstinate, dull and stupid, much like human counterparts who suffer the same privations. It is often said that no domestic animal, in proportion to its weight, can bear a heavier load and continue to labor longer without adequate food and a proper diet.

The donkey has been used under harness with astounding results. The following story involves such an animal. It was a half-bred Spanish and English Ass of about 12.2 hh, which belonged to a Mr. Wilson of Ipswich, England. The records show this Donkey was harnessed to a light gig (2 wheeled cart) and driven from Ipswich to London and back again, a distance of 140 miles in two days. The records show no whip was used on him and he performed the whole journey with ease, at the rate of seven miles an hour. It is recorded that the donkey made this trip many times at the same rate of speed.

There have not been many stories or factual accounts printed about the power and endurance of the draft horse. To illustrate the speed, endurance, power and stamina of the horse we must search the records for those factual accounts, which deal with a horse and rider. We will start with an old tale, which is still being told by the Arabs of Jericho.

It seems there was an Arab chief, Aban el Marek, whose tribe attacked a caravan at night and were returning home with their plunder when they in turn were attacked by some Turkish tribesmen belonging to the Pasha of Acre. The Arabs were defeated, a number killed, some wounded and some taken prisoner. Among the latter was the chief Aban el Marek. He was bound hand and foot and left outside the main tent. During the night he heard his horse neigh. The animal was picketed some distance from where he lay. Wishing to see his favorite horse one more time and hoping to set him free he dragged himself to where the animal was tied.

With his teeth, the injured and bound man untied the knot that held his horse and set him free. Instead of galloping away, the story goes, the animal bent his head and took his master’s clothes in his teeth, lifting him up and set off for home at full speed. The horse did not stop to rest but carried his master to the mountains of Arabia and brought him to the door of his tent where he laid his master down at the feet of his wife and children. The horse immediately dropped dead from exhaustion. The horse became famous and still is talked about today.

Colonel John C. Fremont’s ride illustrates the endurance of both rider and horse as well as the power and stamina of the latter. At sunup on March 22, 1847, the Colonel with two friends, Don Jesus Pico, a rancher and his colored servant, Jacob Dodson, left the village of Los Angeles bound for Monterey. The Colonel was carrying an important message to be delivered there. The three men were riding Spanish Mustangs, which had been hand picked, and they were driving six loose horses ahead of them up the road which was no more than a trail as it went through mountains and forests bordering the ocean. The three men rode mostly at a gallop, slowing occasionally to a fast trot. They changed horses every two hours or about every 20 miles. These horses were pure Spanish strain and unshod.

By the time they camped for the night on the first day, they had covered 120 miles. By nine o’clock p.m. on the second day they reached San Luis Obispo and stayed overnight in Don Jesus Pico’s home, a distance of 135 miles from their last camping grounds and 255 miles from their starting point.

The morning of the third day they left at eleven o’clock and headed north with eight fresh horses. History records that two of them were presents to Colonel Fremont. They were cinnamons or red roans, the Spanish term being “canelos.” That night they were set upon in their camp in the Salinas Valley by some grizzly bears who almost stampeded the horses. Fortunately, the bears were temporarily driven of by yells and were kept at bay by a great campfire which was kept going until dawn.

The next day, the fourth day, they galloped into Monterey at three o’clock in the afternoon. Distance traveled; 420 miles in less than four days.

It is recorded that they stayed a day, did their business and then headed back south to Los Angeles. As Colonel Fremont later recalled, his friend Don Jesus Pico wanted him to try the older of the two red roans. Fremont saddled and rode him for 40 miles until they camped for the night. The next morning he again saddled the horse and rode him for 90 miles, whereupon Fremont changed to the younger roan. His friend wanted him to continue on to San Luis Obispo on the older canelo, as it showed no evidence of tiring. It is noted by these men that the unsaddled canelo led the band of horses and upon approaching his pasture entered the area at a swift gallop.

Nine days after leaving Los Angeles, they returned after having traveled 840 miles in 76 hours and using 17 horses. The speed in the saddle was a bit over 11 miles per hour and remember this ride was not made over the modern roads and trails which we are accustomed to today.

Without a doubt the greatest ride of all time which involved speed and distance and tested the endurance of both horse and rider was run in 1848 by a man nicknamed “Little Aubry.” The ride involved his favorite mare, Dolly, and each set records, which still stand.

Little Aubry, as he was often called, was born Francis Xavier Aubry near Maskinonge, Quebec, on December 3, 1824, and spent his boyhood years on a farm in the area. We know of him next as being in St. Louis listening to traders who convinced him that much money was to be made in transporting and selling trade goods over the Santa Fe Trail to Santa Fe, Mexico. Aubry obtained a loan from a St. Louis firm to purchase trade goods and on May 9, 1846, he left Independence, Missouri, bound for Santa Fe. He paid a freighting firm to transport his trade goods and arrived in Santa Fe on June 23. The war with Mexico had been declared and was being fought and Aubry found upon his arrival that Santa Fe was in American hands and occupied by American troops. Aubry made enough money to pay off his debt and became a successful entrepreneur. He became involved in carrying the U.S. Mail as well as transporting trade goods and livestock from Independence, Missouri, to Santa Fe over, of course, the Santa Fe Trail. Aubry prospered financially and his business grew and he became involved in other enterprises.

Picture the Santa Fe Trail in 1848. It was not a road, just a wandering trail. The jump-off place was Independence, Missouri, and about 800 miles later you would be in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Government and military mail would take at least 30 days by horse or muleback. Ox teams pulling heavily loaded freight wagons required 60 to 90 days. Mule drawn wagons were a bit faster as were mule pack trains. Of course everything passing on the trail was subject to storms, floods, high winds and depredations from roving bands of Indians and Mexican bandits. On the Santa Fe Trail in 1847 there were 330 wagons destroyed, about 6,500 oxen, mules and horses stolen and 47 Americans killed.

Little Aubry was a small man, 5‘2” tall and weighed about 100 lbs. He had long black hair, a mustache and goatee. It was said that he was a natural born leader and that he was quiet and very modest.

In December of 1847, he decided to leave Santa Fe and return to Independence. He offered to carry the mail with him and on December 22, he left Santa Fe with four men and a servant. Mexican bandits attacked the party and stole 10 mules. Seven more hours were spent fighting off some Indians and the party lost another 10 hours due to a snowstorm. Three mules were ridden to the ground and the five persons riding with him finally tired and dropped out. Aubry continued on alone, averaging about 100 miles a day for the last three days and arrived in Independence on Jan 5, 1848. His time of fourteen days beat Norris Colburn’s record set in 1846 by ten and a half days.

Little Aubry decided he could do better than that and make the ride in eight days. A lot of money was bet on the ride. Late in the afternoon on May 19, 1848, he left Santa Fe with the mail and six companions. In the first 300 miles, the six men had fallen out and Aubry continued on alone. Comanche Indians robbed him of all he had, but he got away from them. He killed three horses and two mules by hard riding and then walked forty miles to procure a new mount. He slept only four or five hours and went three days without eating. History records it took him eight days and ten hours to make the ride, but if one deducts the time spent with the Indians and the forty-mile walk they forced him to make, his actual traveling time was roughly seven days.

Aubry got back to Santa Fe with a train of merchandise on August 5, 1848. Aubry bet a thousand dollars he could break his own record on his return to Missouri. In fact, he bet he could make the ride from Santa Fe to Independence within six days.

Aubry prepared for this ride. He sent men ahead with horses and had them stationed along the route. Over part of the trail he would drive extra horses ahead of him, California style, as it was called then. These horses were probably all native New Mexico stock, which would make them so-called Spanish or Spanish Mustangs.

Early in the morning on September 12, 1848, Little Aubry left the Plaza at Santa Fe at a fast gallop. It was to be the greatest ride of his life and perhaps ever, as well as to set a record for one horse’s power, fortitude and endurance.

Sometime near noon he changed horses at the small towns of San Miguel, another change at Rio Gallina and in the middle of the night he changed for a grullo at a camp of a Mexican pack train. The boss who knew him said the horse had never tired. Early in the morning he was nearing Point of Rocks where his favorite mount, Dolly, was waiting. She was a “yellow mare,” small and of Spanish blood.

With coffee under his belt and some roasted buffalo meat in his hand, he’s off at a gallop. He pushes Dolly but she doesn’t seem to tire. It began to rain but they did not slow down. History has it that he passed Alexander Major’s wagon train at Rabbit Ear Creek “at a full gallop without asking a single question as to Indians ahead.”

One hundred miles from the Point of Rocks he was to find a remount. What he found was a dead man freshly scalped and the horses apparently run off by Indians. So Dolly had to go on for another hundred miles at the gallop before another horse could be obtained from a wagon train. The wagon master promised to deliver Dolly to Santa Fe.

And so Dolly, the little yellow Spanish mare, set an all-time record. In twenty-six hours, she had carried her rider two hundred miles at a speed a little over eight miles per hour.

The rest of the story you should read for yourself. He tied himself into the saddle to keep from falling off when he dozed. He ate some while riding, slept two hours and ate six meals on the ground. He purchased remounts from wagon trains, rode six horses to the ground and killed six others. It rained for a whole day and night and the streams he crossed were swollen and bank full.

On September 17, at 10 o’clock at night he stopped in front of the Merchant’s Hotel in Independence. Men rushed out to lift him from the saddle, which was “caked with blood.” Aubry was weak but alive. His horse was “played out.” He had won his bet, having made the ride from Santa Fe to Independence in five days and sixteen hours, with eight hours to spare. Aubry was so weak he could only whisper but it is said he ordered ham, eggs and coffee and then went to bed.

Aubry wrote and signed a very short account of his ride. “I made the trip, traveling time only counted, in 4 days and 12 hours, though the time spent between Santa Fe and Independence was 5 days and 16 hours. I made a portion of the trip at the rate of 250 miles to the 24 hours; made 200 miles on my yellow mare in 26 hours.”

So what happened to Dolly? Aubry always kept a diary of his daily life. In 1852, he left Santa Fe on his yellow mare, taking 10 wagons filled with merchandise, 3,500 sheep and over 100 mules bound for the goldfields in California. The next year, 1853, he took 14,000 sheep to California.

On August 3, 1853, he wrote this in his diary: “Indians shooting arrows around us all day wounded some of our mules and my famous mare, Dolly, who has so often rescued me from danger by her speed and capacity of endurance.” On August 16, after being wounded eight times and he and his men being on half-rations of horse meat, he wrote these words: “I have the misfortune to know that the flesh we are eating is that of my inestimable mare Dolly who so often saved me from death at the hands of Indians. She gave out on account of her wounds.”

A year later in August 1854, Little Aubry stopped at a cantina on the south side of the plaza in Santa Fe. A short time later he was stabbed to death by a newspaper bully named Richard H. Weightman.

It is ironic that the two record holders died just a year apart. It is also ironic that the newest and fastest steamboat on the Missouri River had just been launched. She was named the F.X. Aubry. A carved figure of a rider on a yellow mare was displayed between the smokestacks.

I came to this area of Sioux County, Iowa, to practice right out of vet school in 1949. Most of the farmers still had a team or two. Some had sold them off as quickly as they could and had become fully mechanized. There were trucks going every day from Northwest Iowa, Southwest Minnesota, Southeastern South Dakota and Northeast Nebraska, all loaded with draft horses, bound for the big horse kill plant in Estherville, Iowa, where they were slaughtered and the meat sent overseas for human consumption. By the late ‘50s most of the draft horses were gone from the area.

I soon became aware that there were two classes of farmers as far as the draft horse was concerned. There were those who couldn’t wait to be rid of them and there were those who kept them around, using them a little, and who mourned their loss when they departed. How I loved to visit with those old farmers who had to finally give up their horses, whom they had lived with and worked many days of their lives.

I remember one such fellow who had me out to treat some sick calves, which were housed in the old now- unused horse stalls. The rear barn wall hung heavy with harness and collars, which were collecting dust and spider webs. I particularly noticed two collars, which hung together on the wall. I said to the client “You must have had a good lead team on the gang plow!”

“How did you know that?” he asked. “Oh,” I said, “I can see the barbed wire marks on the bottom front of those two collars.” His eyes got a bit misty and he had a faraway look. “You’re right, Doc. They were two big black horses; Dick and Nell. They could really move and I always had them on the lead of the gang. I loved to plow; it was so quiet out there. I had the narrowest headlands in the neighborhood. When they reached the end and came around they would be right over the top barb on the fence. That’s why the collars show the wire marks. They never let me down and they were the last to leave the place.”

I am sure he missed his horses and could tell you many stories about them as they furnished the horsepower for his farm.

I was treating some feedlot cattle for a very well-to-do older client when I learned a lesson I will never forget. It was in the late ‘50s and I noticed five big, fat Percheron mares had just come up from a small pasture to drink at the stock tank. As I glanced at them, I said “Joe, how come you still have those old mares?” I always wanted to ask him because I had often seen the mares as I drove by, or was on the place, and I knew he never hitched them anymore.

He looked at me and said, “Look around Doc. All I have they’ve helped make for me, and if it wasn’t them it was some just like ‘em. They can stay here till they die. I owe them, they don’t owe me.”

And stay they did. I put several down when they became infirm and the others just quietly passed on.

Old Joe taught me that he really knew the value of genuine horsepower and the bond which exists between a real horseman and his animals lasts, regardless of time.

The following is a list of the sources of information which I borrowed heavily from in order to write this article. If you are at all interested in Mustangs, the life and times of Francis X. Aubry or the Santa Fe Trail, I would advise you to go to the library or your local book store and procure the first two books I list here. Without these sources of information, I could not have written this article as it is.

POSTSCRIPT
William F. Cody, known to most as Buffalo Bill, rode for the Pony Express in his very early years. He made this comment later in life: “Riding at a gallop for 40 miles will tear any rider apart.”