The MVC Literary Journal

The draft horse is a very versatile animal and capable of doing many tasks. The draft has interested me because of the gentleness, size, power, and the surprised people when they see one for the first time. Most draft horses are around sixteen to eighteen hands tall, at the shoulder, and are around eighteen hundred to two thousand pounds. A draft that is in shape can pull one and a half times his weight.

I got interested in the drafts when I was six. My mom bought a Clydesdale, and now we have nine of them. I have used a draft for many different things; driving them, riding them. I have been driving for eight years, and enjoy it because people couldn’t believe that there is a little eight year old driving two eighteen hundred pound horses. Now I am driving a single horse, which is one horse alone, and a team, which is two horses next to each other pulling a wagon. The unicorn is a team with a single horse out in front, able to move where he wants; some people say the unicorn is the hardest hitch to drive. I like to drive the four-up, where there are two pairs, one in front of the other, and a four abreast where there is four horses all next to each other. I have driven six horses together, where we had four horses wide and two in front of them; the common six configuration you will see is three pairs in front of one another. Drafts are seen commonly in all the hitches, and with the increase of horses, it requires more skill from the driver. Another common hitch is eight up, where there are four pairs in front of each other. Many guys, including the one I learned mostly from, had hooked up many horses to pull something excessively heavy; he hooked up forty horses in the circus parade with Dick Sparrow.

These horses have interested me because they are so big, yet gentile. The draft horse is hard to scare, even in a situation where a normal sized horse would be scared. The drafts can be hard to handle, but for the most part they respect the handler, as long as the handler respects the horse in return. After a while of being together, the horse and handler will learn to trust each other, and the horse will be more willing to do something asked of the person he trusts, than someone he does not know. The best way, in my opinion, to learn how to drive a draft horse is to read about them, learning some of the terminology and common tendencies and behavioral changes in the draft; when you feel comfortable with your book knowledge of them, find somebody that is willing to take you in and teach you how to drive, handle the horses, and how to buy a draft and get you moneys worth.

I have enjoyed being around the draft horses for a long time, and hope to enjoy them for many years to come. Getting into the draft horses is almost guaranteed fun, with the horses, and the other people that are draft owners. There are many shows around the United States, and Canada, that you could go to watch and find a ranch near where you live. Watching how people do things at the shows, harnessing, hooking, and driving is a good way to learn also; there are many ranches that would take somebody in to make sure that people don’t get hurt by not learned something, and getting hurt. In the long run, draft horses are fun to be around, and you can have a good time with the horses also.

Labels: 2007: Belles Lettres