My Horse story.

[adgecutler 83]

Many of you will have read my thread about the Raider I had stolen, I'm very pleased to say that yesterday she was returned to the site she disappeared from. Just last week I decided I would have to replace her as I do rely on her for many jobs through the year, not least to save me many hours mowing my allotment and other peoples grass. I ended up being offered a C121 at a price I could afford and made the decision to spend the money I had put aside for the reward I was offering on my missing tractor. Here is the Raider happily returned home alongside her new stable mate.

I first became fond of Wheel horses in 1995 when I took a pocket money job at a small country estate, there there was a C141 that the boss had purchased in 1978, the year of my birth. This in fact was the first vehicle I had driven and I soon learned to reverse a trailer with it too. I'm now in charge of estate maintenance at that estate and I still run the C141 pretty much every day, whatever is required of it it manages, from raking driveways to scarifying to aerating lawns to hauling mowers around the grounds on a trailer to hauling many tonnes of wood from the woodland to the yard. She is very well worked and the engine shows wear in the bore and notably where the governor spindle exits the crankcase, you can wobble this about like a knitting needle in a bucket! Over the years it has been suggested several times that she be replaced but I won't have it and if she ever has failed myself or my Dad (sadly no longer with us) will spend a little time in the shed rectifying the problem and off she goes to work again. A few years back after realising our modern Kubota didn't like cutting the long grass areas I used two scrap tractors I sourced to build one good one and this is now used solely for long grass cutting and sports a sixteen horse engine. Here are my two flanked by the ever trusty C141 and the 16BHP mongrel. The wood you see behind them plus many hundreds more tonnes have all been hauled here from the woodland by the little C141

[Ian 2,417]

That's quite a Wheel Horse story..  Getting to use one every day for work is outstanding

[Triumph66 1,256]

That's good to know that it is still being used properly on an estate. I am interested to hear about the long grass that you cut. How tall is the grass you are cutting? I ask as I run a gardening business down in Devon and I too have worked in a few National Trust estates and gardens.

Cheers Andrew

[adgecutler 83]

The grass I cut is often 12" and is quite a thick sward. I may get cussed for horse cruelty now but, one more than one occasion I've had dried grass catch fire in the cooling fins nearest the exhaust port but for this job is the reason "the Mongrel" was born. I wouldn't be as harsh on any of the other tractors and as those two tractors were destined for the scrap boat to China I don't feel too badly about the abuse.

Oh, and the reason I don't use a larger machine for this job is the limited access.

[minky 50]

i wana job like that.....

[meadowfield 1,900]

Great story and great collection

[HeadExam 1,783]

i wana job like that.....

me too minky, me too.