Horse Pulls

(Image copyright, Lincoln Rogers. May not be copied or used without written permission from Lincoln Rogers.)

I went to a county fair the other day and covered a Horse Pull event for a regional magazine. It was a great experience. The people were friendly and the horses were outstanding.

The competition consisted of a pair of draft horses hooking up to a “sled” filled with weight (they used 70 lb. bags of sand and started with 2,100 lbs.) and pulled the weight over a dirt track for twenty feet to make a successful run. When every team was finished taking a turn, those who succeeded got a chance to pull again after more weight was added, until one team had out-pulled all the others. The winning team in the Heavyweight Class pulled 12,500 pounds to take the county fair title.

“They're like professional football players,” said Scott Beaman, a successful competitor from LaSalle, Colorado, on the topic of good pulling horses. “They’re not farm animals. They are bred to do this. I think the best ones come out of Amish country.”

While the best draft horses for pulling competitions may come from Amish country, it sounded like the breed most suited for the task is the Belgian.

“They are stouter for the most part,” shared local competitor, Pat Kelly, about what makes Belgians a natural fit for the contests. “They call them ’gentle giants’, and they really are.”

It was great to be up close and personal with the nine teams of horses and their handlers. I like being around horse people. They're good folks.

Thanks for checking in. Stop on by again real soon.

Lincoln

www.lincolnrogers.com