MOOSE JAW, Sask. – A 2,200 pound heavy horse bolts toward the open barn door where 21-year-old Lacey McNutt stands, waving her arms and hollering to stop the runaway.
When that fails, she quickly pulls down the overhead door.
“They’re a big horse and they’ve got big feet and can surely hurt someone,” McNutt said matter of factly during the recent Moose Jaw Hometown Fair.
“Everyone thinks they’re big and tough but they’re not.”
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Even gentle horses command respect, something Lacey’s 18-year-old sister, Kim, has learned from several kicks, cuts and bruises from the family’s Percherons.
“If they want to do something, there’s not much you can do to stop them,” she said.
The McNutts, who farm south of Moose Jaw, are among a declining number of producers involved with heavy horse shows such as the recent one in Moose Jaw.
The decline of pregnant mare’s urine operations and increased mechanization on farms have decreased the need for the animals that provided horsepower for farm work and transportation in past decades.
The sisters got involved because of their grandfather Wayne Cozart’s longtime involvement in the activity. Lacey recalled him strapping her into a horse-drawn wagon with a makeshift seatbelt at age five.
“A lot of ladies are just as capable of handling them as men,” Cozart said.
Training for shows begins with chores and workouts at Cozart’s farm near Brownlee, Sask., where he uses the Percherons to feed his cattle.
“I use a team all winter for feeding the cows. It’s cheaper than starting a tractor,” he said.
Kim McNutt, who helps her grandfather with farm work, said it’s important to spend time with the horses.
“You talk to them a lot and they respond to your voice. If you don’t talk to them, they won’t work for you.”
Equally important is maintaining their appearance for shows.
Kimberly Fargo, 18, of Langbank, Sask., said her family’s Fargo Rocky Road horses maintain their fluffy coats by spending a lot of time in the barn. Their tails are knotted and their manes often braided for shows.
Cozart said there is a family atmosphere at heavy horse shows, where many of the same teams perform each year.
“If a person is in trouble, there is always someone around to help.”
Cozart said numbers at shows fluctuate, depending on whether a horse is injured or if it’s a bad weather year like this one.
Numbers for the Moose Jaw show were down to 50 entries from last year’s 65. Classes ranged from ladies cart and youth driving to unicorn and eight-horse hitch.
For 14-year-old participant Matthew Wushke of Whitewood, Sask., heavy horses represent opportunities. The former 4-H beef club member plans to attend the world Clydesdale show in Madison, Wisconsin, next year with Harvey MacFarlane’s Sanguine Clydesdales of Sommerberry, Sask.
“It can create opportunities if you do a good job, opportunities to show horses for people,” said Wushke, who enters driving and halter classes.
He prefers Clydesdales, dubbed the gentle giants, because they have less hair near their hoofs and have bigger feet than Belgians and Percherons.
For most participants, travelling from show to show with six or more large horses requires a semi trailer that also can accommodate the wagons, carts, harnesses, rigging, reins and whips.
Once in the ring, judges look for how well drivers and handlers control their animals, which should move in unison, pull evenly in a team and lift their feet well off the ground. Judges are also looking for how well the horses are matched.
Fargo said struggling to drive can be seen in the facial expressions and comfort levels of drivers.
“If I’m grabbing the lines, I’m not comfortable,” she said.
Fargo said her horses know it’s show time as soon as the harnesses come out.
“When they hit the ring and the music is playing, they pick up their feet higher, and the higher the better.”
