[Ag-eq] Horses

[nfoster at extremezone.com]

Jewel:

This is beautiful; I hope you will share some mor of your Father's writings with
us.  He painss a great picture with words.

I've never heard of a Baron Bold, wonder if it could be certain blood lines
wwithin another breed?

I'll try some google searchs later to see if I can find anything.

Nella
Quoting Jewel via Ag-eq <ag-eq at nfbnet.org>:

> I, recently, found a collection of the articles that my father had had
> published in the years
> 1969/74 in several newspapers for which he was a freelance correspondent.  I
> have had them recorded
> so that Jaws can read them.
> I have reproduced one here which tells of the pre-tractor ploughing match
> when it was still the
> patient heavy horse that provided the power, and as I don't think that the
> ones Dad knew in the
> first 30 years of the 20th century would differ much
> from the ones that aged American farmers would recall with nostalgia, I hope
> that you will derive
> some enjoyment from reading it.
> However, I have an ulterior motive, to whit,  there is, what I think must be
> a typo, and I wondered
> if any of you could supply a correction?
> In this article, which is coming up, Dad writes of a scottish breed of draft
> horse called the "Baron
> Bold"  I had never heard of it, and neither, I find,  have the know-it-all
> experts of Wikipedia.
> and now here is the Ploughing Match.
>
> So farm life bustled along, grain thrashed, sheep shorn, chaff cut. Surely
> time to rest and
> relax-but no chance, the annual ploughing match was at hand.
> What an eagerly awaited event, compare to today's effort, when tractors and
> tense competitors turn
> over the fields to a silent, if appreciative audience.
> Three Classes
> The district ploughing match of half a century back was a full day event. All
> horse teams, generally
> divided into three classes for hopeful juniors, past and present champions,
> men wise and experienced
> in turning over the soil.
> To most people, a plough was merely a plough. But not to the champion
> competitor. Each implement was
> an individual to be nursed along with secret settings, and manipulations of
> nuts and bolts.
> Every aged retired former champion would be in big demand for advice and
> assistance from young
> fellows with eyes set upon rural glory.
> In the lower classes, competition was just as keen, younger sons or brothers
> were keyed up to fight
> their way up through the ranks. Results were often on par with the top grade
> and some first year
> competitor with a fine effort, would find himself overnight promoted to
> Champion class.
> A word for the magnificent four or six horse teams. Originally, the heavy
> draft horses held sway,
> but latterly, the showy Baron Bold breed was predominant.
> Baron Bold, an import from Scotland, almost revolutionized the working farm
> horse in Southland,
> producing a lighter, clean legged animal, a showy type, sporting white face
> and legs.
> The preparation of the team was all a matter of choice, keenness and hard
> work.
> Mane and tails were washed (with no detergents available) while coats were
> groomed, combed and
> brushed repeatedly, hooves were oiled and varnished after a visit to the
> blacksmith, a skilled
> tradesman who worked long weary hours at his forge, as team after team
> received his attention.
> All harness had a spectacular look, with special high collars decorated with
> gay ribbons and
> tinkling bells; certainly each team when assembled and hitched  to their
> plough was the centre of
> all admiring eyes.
> The ploughman knew his plough and his team and worked both skillfully; the
> horses in turn knew their
> role and reinsman. What a great sight when a full field of such performers
> were all in action.
> Apart from actual ploughing, there were always special prizes, keenly sought
> after.
> The competitor with the largest family, a keen contest over the years between
> two veterans, first
> prize appropriately being two sacks of flour.
> Other specials, the youngest ploughman, the smartest turnout and best team of
> mares.
> The pastoral Queen of today was missing the horses were the STARS.
> Ploughing matches had plenty of sidelines, a large tent for women to display
> their art, jams,
> pickles, and butter, not forgetting, embroidery, knitting and sewing.
> Children were not excluded, but generally
> were too busy consuming fizzy drinks and romping in lolly scrambles.
> Guile, Cunning
> On a nearby field, the annual Rugby match would be under way, married men v
> single, a contest of
> guile and cunning against youth and vigour, with many stops to attend the
> wounded and winded.
> Tossing the sheaf was a matter of some skill, not necessarily strength. Each
> year would produce the
> same, good keen men, as they tossed. Nearby, some big ponderous men grunted;
> these were Cumberland
> wrestlers, who heaved and puffed with not much action but they still had
> their admirers amidst the
> thud of trampling horses, tinkling bells and noisy footballers.
> What a day for children, usually dressed in their best, but not for long;
> boys were soon bedraggled,
> covered in dust and debris. They were rounded up for a huge lunch, then
> bursting at the seams were
> off again.
> One thing was certain nobody ever lost a child at a ploughing match!
>
>           Jewel
>
>
>
>
>
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