Before a field could be planted, it had to be plowed. Hells Canyon ranchers used several kinds of plows. A steel walking plow, or "foot burner," was pulled by a horse while the operator walked behind the plow, controlling the direction and depth of furrow. A three-wheeled single shear, one-way sulky riding plow was pulled by two horses; its disk cut the sod ahead of the plow, and its angled wheel kept the plow straight in the row, but it could be used only in one direction. A three-wheeled disk sulky riding plow, pulled by two or more horses, was used in extremely rocky fields because the disk could ride up over larger rocks, and three-wheeled plows were valued for being more maneuverable and able to turn square corners. A two-wheeled double shear, two-way sulky riding plow, pulled by two or more horses, used one plow on the first pass and the other on the return so that all furrows rolled in the same direction.