pulling contests

[J-L]

I have friends that pull. Lost Farmer on here pulls his ponies. They seem to get along fine with them at other chores.
Personally I really hate horses that jump into the collar so hard. I have driven teams that were pulled and it didn’t help them as a farm team in my estimation. My neighbor up on the hill is working two belgians that were pulling horses. He’s had them for five or six years and they still just about jerk the reach out of his wagon every day when he’s feeding cows. Also they cannot/will not work on a slack line and he has to have a driver just to feed his little herd of cows. That’s not a luxury I have or want.
I have to say that it would depend on the teamsters pulling these horses. I’ve seen a few that come to fair that have nice teams. They drive nice and hook up calmly. Most of them I wouldn’t want to work though.

[Gabe Ayers]

I have been pulling horses that I also work daily for forty years. I have won a few contests, but far fewer than just placing and making a good show of it.

The ability to competitively pull horses and work them in other situations to is definitely a matter of teamster skill.

Perhaps the greatest factor may be the skill of the teamster to know that the horses know where they are. When given an opportunity to learn through good training, they know what is expected of them according to where they are and what has happened there in that particular situation before. Horses don’t reason stuff out analytically but their memory of details is far greater than humans. I think recognizing and trusting the horses perception is a great asset in gaining great performance from and with them.

Most pulling horses are just that, pulling horses only. The rare few that actually do anything else with the horses seen at pulling contest is a tiny percentage. Those few are usually horse loggers or folks that farm seriously with their horses.

We enjoy competing with our horses, but the economic reason we pull our horses is to promote our business of logging. The crowd at a county fair or public horse pulling event is probably the largest non auction audience that we can introduce our service of horse logging to.

Winning the contest is not always who pulls the most weight, but who gets the greatest response from the crowd. When we are training our horses to be honest by taking them to pulls many times without hanging them up, we drop out voluntarily. The crowd always goes wild when we drop out. We get a greater round of applause that the winners in most cases. That is what pulling horses is about for us.

I think that the longevity of a horses pulling career is a mutual matter of the horse being a great athlete and being cared for and handled by a great horseman. This is probably how old Rock made it so long, he was a good one in the hands of good folks.

We have an old gelding Wedge, that is quite well known in this part of the country. All the pullers know him and many of the fans. He has been pulling and logging for us for over ten years. We have retired him from pulling but he still works in the woods for us. He is also a member of the million foot club our informal few horses that has logged that long. I will try to attach a photo of Wedge and our Stallion Rudy winning the light weight contest crossing 9500 at the State Fair of Virginia – 2005.

I have to say that despite the skills of the horseman, all horses may not be able to do allot of things and be seriously good at all of them, especially when heavy pulling is required. This is where experience comes in to evaluating a horses ability from confirmation and then a mind that will work for you and a heart that will give you honest try over and over.

Hope this photo comes through, it may be on the site somewhere already. I know this subject of pulling horses has came up on DAP before.

~

[mitchmaine]

good for you, jason. a horse will literally pull himself blind for you. create enough strain to rupture their optic nerve. they don’t stop pulling til you say so or something else happens.stopping is the teamsters job or better, knowing when to. takes courage to pull up in the middle of the moment. glad to hear it. mitch

[mother katherine]

I remeber a guy at Fryeburg. His voice was barely audible and he never touched the team – they pulled for him with great enthusiasm.
oxnun

[LostFarmer]

I do pull a little with some of my horses and ponies. I have heard for years that pulling will ruin a good team and I have to say that is bunk. I will say that pulling a team that is not broke will ruin a potentially good team. I will not pull a horse hard until they have been worked at least a year. It is all about confidence in the horse and the horses confidence in you. Does your team trust you to not hook them to something they can’t pull? It takes time to see them gain that confidence. Here is the last 3 pulls from Saturday night with my team. We broke the chain on the last pull and had to hook again from the other end. A team needs a little pop on the chain to get it moving. Too tight of tugs and you have team at a disadvantage. Too much slack and you will slam a horses shoulders and hurt them. Look at Olympic power lifters, they start with a little slack then pop the weight instead of just stand up with it.
My mentor had a team that would feed Saturday morning, pull that night, and feed again on Sunday. The baldy horse was a real handful in the pulling ring but totally different the rest of the time. He did parades, wagon rides, switched harness and pulled in the evening. It is like people that say you can’t work a stud and breed him. You can but you have to train them that there is a time and place for each behavior.
Some horses can handle being pulled and turn it off at home and some can’t. It really varies. I have one horse that gets a little chargey when pulled all the time but they kids still drive him in driving competitions and do well with him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SItgp3hYPDQ

[Lingodog13]

Thanks for posting that Kari. I was hoping you would. I like your comparison to both working and breeding a stud.

[TBigLug]

We pull our horses but, like Jason, we don’t pull for the blue ribbon as much as for the exposure. Sometimes our horses get a little antsy if we pull them too many times in a year but never much more than once before they realize they are just plodding along plowing. I think how a horse reacts depends mainly on the teamster. The guy who wins EVERY pull he goes to around here (Fred Hurr) has the absolute quietest team around. I’ve never driven them myself but had the pleasure of unloading them off his trailer and leading them into the barn this year. Let me set the scene for you. 30′ horse trailer (gooseneck) two horses loaded in the front. Axles set to the back (like most stock trailers). I grabbed the line for one of the horses and as I stepped him to the back of the trailer, he was such a massive beast he raised the front of the trailer (with the other horse still in it) substantially just before he stepped off. This monster had to be the widest animal I’d ever seen. Absolutly gorgeous. The next day he let a friend of ours (who ad never driven horses before) plow a couple rounds with them (with a helper at his side just in case) and you’d never believe they were pulling horses. Unless you saw them two days before when they crossed a full pull with 10,750 on the boat. Fred himself is an 80 y/o (ish) man and you can’t even hear him speak to the horses during the pull unless you are right next to him. They walk up just as quiet as could be, wait for him to get his seat comfortable, he straightens his lines, looks up at those two quiet monsters and with a soft “Step up lads.” 5,000# of rock muscle explodes like like a top fuel dragster down the track. Once the whistle blows, a quiet “Whoa.” and a gentle tug on the lines and they’re back to being an old plow team again. He’s getting too old to walk much now so his helper drives them up to the boat for him but they amaze me every time he pulls. Too bad he decided to stop pulling and concentrate on plowing from now on. I miss the crowd’s standing ovation when he pulls. Morale of my story, he told me even his horses get a little “on the muscle” at home from time to time after pulling but they always come back to him and remember that he’ll tell them when it’s time to pull.

Some say it hurts, some say it helps. I think it depends on the horses but if you are smart about it and respectful of your horses I don’t think it’ll make them bad, just strong!

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