A Trip Back In Time

Today I worked a short early shift (6a-10a) so I got home around 11.  After a little lunch Hubby and I decided to go check out the horse drawn plowing competition going on in conjunction with the Small Farmers Journal Horsedrawn Auction & Swap Meet at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in Madras, just north of us.

By the time we got there the action was already in progress.  There were several teams working their way back and forth over an area in the back of the fairgrounds.  Two judges were strolling along the edges of the field making notes on their clipboards.

I have no idea what the rules were or what exactly the judging criteria was.  There were several different breeds of draft horses and two types of plows.  One was a walk-behind type of plow and the other was a ride-upon plow.  I can only imagine one expectation is to have straight furrows.

Here is a team of Belgians after having just turned.

Another team of Belgians.  I believe these two teams were from the same farm.

Another team of Belgians, different color/type.  I overheard another driver later talking about the difference between "American" Belgians and old-style Belgians.  This team was driven by the only woman.

I don't know what breed this team was, but they sure have a fancy harness on.

Check these little guys out.  Haflingers!

These little guys were non-stop energy.

You can see this driver is on a ride-upon plow.  This is how I would rather plow.  

There goes the woman driven Belgians and here come what I think are Shires.

I could be wrong about the breed.  They were definitely the tallest horses there.  They were a beautiful team.

This team looked to be possibly a Belgian and a Clydesdale.  I'm not 100% sure though.

At first I thought these Belgians were Suffolk Punches.  They seemed too tall but the color was right.  Later I heard the guy talking about the Belgians.

After the plowing was done there was a demonstration where they hitched some of the teams up to other types of implements. By the way, I have no idea who won the plowing competition.

Then we walked over to take a look at the items that would be auctioned off over the next three days.  I think this will be the new family truckster.

There were rows of horse drawn farm implements waiting for the auction.

A newly arrived piece being put in its place.

I'm curious as to what this doctor's buggy will go for.  Looks like it needs some serious restoration.

Inside there were harnesses galore.

And rows of more wagons.

 Checking out the Chuck Wagon.

In the middle were all the miscellaneous items.

My favorites were the jingle bells (aka: harness bells). 

I would sure love to be there for the auction but it's probably just as well.  Maybe next year.