plowing with dodo our mare horse

when i was a little boy probably about 13 years old we had a family farming operation. a few cows and chickens in the backyard on pewabic st and a spud field on the next lot next to our yard. one june day dad began to plow the spud field to get it ready for planting. after we harnessed dodo we began, vaari and i, to plow the field. dad hoisted me on dodo's back. i sat on a bran sack on dodo's back. my job was to steer dodo and turn her around at the end of the field to start the next furrow. when we were about half done it happened that dodo stopped half way up the field. vaari tried to coax dodo to continue pulling but she just wouldn't move. he then used more forceful measures and struck dodo on the rump with a rein. the horse lunged forward and the result was a broken harness strap which attached to the whipple tree. so vaari disconnected the harness strap and brought it to herraniemi who was a shoemaker to repair the harness. i sat on the horse waiting for vaari's return as herraniemi lived only 4 houses up the street. when vaari came with the repaired harness strap and reinstalled same we proceeded to finish our plowing. but the horse would not move. again vaari used forceful persuasion and guess what? the strap broke again. then vaari with the aid of a shovel dug to the front edge of the plow and low and behold, a big rock, unmoveable. vaari was kind of taken aback with his lack of foresight. but it was a good lesson for us to understand that horses have good "horse sense".