The feature event on the opening night of the South Mountain Fair was the horse pull. Horse pulls are contests that test the strength of draft horse teams and the skill of their teamster handler. The rules are pretty straight-forward. The object is to drag a weight, usually a stone sled, a prescribed length. At South Mountain, the length of the draw was 15 feet. Teams had two chances at each weight level. After every team has completed a weight level, more weight is added to the stone sled and teams draw again. The team that is able to draw the most weight is the winner. In the South Mountain horse pull, there were two categories, light-weight teams and heavy-weight teams. There were five entries in the light-weight category.
The first team to pull were Sadie and Bud, with Kenny Greer. Greer is a long-time participant in horse pulls and has been honoured for his dedication to the sport by the Ottawa Valley Horse Drawing Association. Teams are harnessed to a whiffletree with a hook. When the horses are in position, the hook is dropped into an eye on the stone sled. At the early weights, the horses are readily able to draw the sled 15 feet.
Chip and Pete, with Brent Gabie drew second. This team weighs about 3300 pounds.
The third entry was Sparkie and Fire with Glen Greer.
Above are Pat and Skipper. Below are Brent Gabie’s second team, Scotty and Jack.
Here are Sadie and Bud pulling ever-increasing loads. Both Sadie and Bud, and Chip and Pete drew the top weight of 8200 pounds for 15 feet in 2 attempts. You can check out the schedule of horse pulls at Horsepull.com.
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