Every once and a while you hear a story that knocks your socks off. I heard one such story three years ago this summer while mulling about an antique shop in Atlanta. The proprietor was a kind old Englishman and no matter what piece caught your eye, this gentleman was ready to tell its story.
The pleasant proprietor told me that the hames were an early invention that revolutionized and humanized the way in which we harness horses for work. Prior to the hames and collar design, farmers were using breastcollars and then breastplates, which provided the means of hitching a horse to a wagon or a plow, albeit inefficiently. The collar placed the load on the sternum of the horse, which had the effect of restricting airflow through the nearby windpipe. The horse could do work, but its efforts were greatly restricted by the limited air flow it could draw into its lungs.
The hames and collar invention transferred the weight of the load from the sternum to the hames themselves, releasing the pressure on the horse’s respiratory system. The net effect of this invention was what I found truly astonishing. Prior to the hames, a typical farmer could barely produce enough food for his family, using a horse with a breastcollar. After the hames, the same farmer could produce significantly more food using the same, now free-breathing horse.
What this clever little invention provided, at the end of the day, was surplus food. Farmers soon realized that they could use the food they didn’t need to trade for other items or services that they did. And so the market economy was born (or reborn) as farmers took their surplus production to town and began trading for other goods.
Whether or not this little tale was the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth I cannot aver, but it does demonstrate how a small, seemingly insignificant product of human ingenuity can change the world.
Don’t overlook the small things in life and have a productive day!
Gregory Hake 
Ha! This story brought back some good memories. My grandfather was a career firefighter in California and he used to love to tell me about firefighter history. His grandfather was a volunteer firefighter in New England and used to tell him stories of fighting fires in the days when they used horses to draw the engines. My grandfather actually had a similar Hames harness piece hanging in his garage with a bunch of other firefighting relics that I remember being fascinated with as a young boy. I don’t know a lot of history on it, but it apparently was used to increase efficiency as well – in this case it saved time harnessing the horses to the engines. My cousin sent me a link a while back with a little more history on the fire horses, which you may find interesting http://bit.ly/bJIi8E . We loved these stories as kids. I’ve had a lifelong love and respect for horses because of them. Thanks for the entry today – I really enjoyed it!
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Don’t you love meeting people with a knack for storytelling? You’ve got a gift for that yourself. I always look forward to the next one.
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Great points! Love how creative other view points can be relative to your postings. These are all great things to consider in my world. It is amazing how even the smallest creative ideas or changes can bring on massive amounts of positive movement.
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Love the way you observe, appreciate and find ways to inspire – no happenstance is too small or insignificant to make the most of. Thanks for the well-wishes today and back at you!
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It’s interesting how a small change can increase productivity by so much. However, what is really interesting is that when everyone’s productivity changes, it changes the whole fabric of civilization!
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Being a horse lover, I love this story! More humane and more efficient. It isn’t always the case when people are trying to squeeze more production out of life.
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In relating to this story, I couldn’t help but see the connection with respect to the restriction of “Air-Flow” and how correcting this malfunction got to the cause, thus creating abundance. How typical this is in our experience, a dampened spirit or restricted spirit causes one, no matter how “Hard” you’re working to feel as though you’re moving backwards!! So often when I am painting, and the need for a straight line appears, a tendency has been that I hold my breath while seeking to achieve that …however… upon realizing this I have had to initially stop and force myself to breath, and am now finding that it is much easier to achieved that straight line, and faster; Also feels better, Causing me to be able to maintain a higher perspective, rather than zeroing in all of my focus on that little line.
Can anyone relate to this, I’m finding all sorts of ways that I can free up and restore air-flow within my day to day experience!!
Thanks for the reminder Gregg!!!!
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Great story – both of them!
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Interesting story!
Speaking of small things in life, a few nights ago I took it upon myself to keep my children up a bit beyond bed time because I had a moment of realization, it’s the little things in life that add up and make a difference.
We went outside to watch and chase fireflies – they loved it! – i had forgotten just how much fun it was – and our children continue to speak of that “special time”, “yesternight” as my 1 boy calls it. We stayed up as a family and watched in amazement as the little glowing bugs rose from the grass at dusk and then ran after each one in hopes of catching a few in our hands.
The little moments, the little inventions do add up to make a difference in life.
Thanks for the post.
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“Yesternight.” Love it!
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