Stuck in First Gear

Justice Collins plows with Marco and Polo in 2009 - on her 10th birthday.

Oxen, like so much else in this world, are a compromise.  At once generally cheaper and more rugged than horses, they move slower and tolerate the heat less well than equines.

When I first started driving oxen, Dulcy Perkins explained oxen as like having a tractor stuck in first gear, whereas horses were like having a tractor stuck in third gear.  Not better or worse, just different.

For teaching someone to plow though, first gear is nice to have.  Tillers team, Marco and Polo, plowed not so much in first gear as in granny-low gear.  They'd move forward, but just barely.  However, Polo would stay in the furrow, they'd walk a straight line and they would make most beginners look pretty competent.

For mowing hay, their creeper gear would wear thin after even a few minutes, and getting an acre plowed might take twice as long as you liked, but being stuck in first gear sometimes has its place.

"A man must plough with such oxen as he hath." - Chinese Proverb