The Taste of Defeat - My Horses Weren't Ready

It's been a week and a half now, and I've had time to recover and lick my wounds.  I'd appreciate any feedback anyone has on my experience.

So June 8th, I went down to Terrell for the Antique Tractor Show and Tractor Pull.  This is my 3rd year going down to this event, and not only is it a well run event, but it also gives me the chance to spend a day with some of my best friends, Mark and Bev McGowan of the Double M Warhorse Ranch.

My job was the same as years past.  Let the girls look pretty for people, then go down to the tractor pull and show the people how tough two draft horses can be (how far can they pull the tractor pull sled).  We've done alright in the past, and the folks at this event really look forward to it now.  I had worked the girls on the mower a week prior, and then done the 3 abreast stuff a few days after that.  I figured that would be enough to prime the girls back into pulling shape.  Boy was I wrong.

Everything started out great.  I arrived with no problems.  The girls looked amazing.  All shiny and clean.  Mark and Bev had brought their dapple shire mare Ruby, her foal Diva, and their Black clydesdale mare Pride.  We had lots of visitors swing by and pet on the horses.  It was a nice easy going morning.

Pam and Rachael in their stalls

This is Ruby, a dapple shire, and her foal Diva

I want to do a quick shout-out to the Tractor Supply in Terrell.  They donated enough panels for us to make 2 giant pens for the horses.  They also were there to make sure we were OK and see if we needed anything else.  They really went out of their way to make this event good for us.  Because of this, I hung a Tractor Supply bandana from my yoke, and I also sported a Tractor Supply hat for them.  :)

Harnessing up the girls

Another shot of me working between the girls

Thank you Tractor Supply!!

At 12:30 it was time for us to pull, so I pulled the girls out of their pen, harnessed them up, and headed down to the tractor pull.  On the way down, I let some kids who'd been loving on the girls actually try their hand with the lines as we walked.  They were so excited.  I really enjoy watching kids smile as they get to know draft horses.

Here is one of the kids I let drive

I turned into the tractor pull area, and the bandstand was full.  There was probably a few hundred people all sitting in the stands, waiting to watch the horses pull.  It was then that I realized I had forgot my evener.  Luckily, a fellow teamster had come over to say hi, and he happily held the horses for me while I ran back to get it.  Once I got back, it was our time to shine.

A fellow teamster who helped hold the girls while I ran back and got my evener

This is Mark McGowan and their black Clydesdale Pride.

Bev gave a grand introduction.  She is my friend, and I think she brags me up a little too much, but I smiled and waved.  I then moved the girls into position, and we hooked everything up.  The tractor was set on it's second gear, just like the past 2 years.  The horses were standing calm and at ease.  Things were looking great.  Then ... things changed.

I asked the girls to step out, and they started moving their feet, but they did not pull.  They didn't pull the sled an inch.  They were moving their feet but just refusing to really dig down and pull.  I stopped them,  got things re-situated again, and once again, told them to step up.  Once again, they leaned forward, but refused to dig in and pull.  I began whipping their butts with the lines to try to persuade them to go, but they wouldn't.  I had never seen this from them before.  I was baffled, and couldn't understand what was happening.  I tried one more time, and it was the same.  At this point I turned to the sled operator guy, and asked him to put in on 1st gear, just to help coax the girls into pulling.  They wouldn't even pull that an inch.  Finally, after what seemed like forever (but was probably only 5-10 minutes), I admitted defeat.  I threw the lines up on Pam's hame, and Mark and I grabbed the lead ropes in front of the horses and we started to walk them.  At this point, they did dig in, and they pulled the sled all the way across the field.  We then unhooked, and I drove the girls out of the area.

I was so embarrassed.  It didn't help that while I was unhitching, one of the tractor guys got on the mic and said "Up next, we're gonna have tractors that you definitely don't have to get in front of and pull".  Oh how that was lemon juice in a wound.  So I did the walk of shame away from the pull with a team that refused to get into their collars and pull.

I wasn't happy with that performance, so we didn't go back to their lush accommodations.  We headed right into an open field, and I worked them.  I didn't have any weight to pull behind them, so we ran.  up and down we ran.  I kept them trotting constantly for a good 10 minutes.  At this point, my boot broke.  The sole on my right boot came un-stitched from heel to heel around the front, which made running behind horses almost impossible.  So I walked the girls back to the trailer, tied them, and fixed my boot with some tape.  After I was done with that, I took the girls back out to the field and we worked for another 30 minutes.  Running, stopping, starting, over and over and over.

Here they are later in the afternoon.  I kept their harnesses on because they were supposed to pull again later in the afternoon, but that ended up getting cancelled because they had too many tractors who wanted to pull the sled.

I was still scratching my head, trying to figure out what happened?  What went wrong?  As I was working the girls after, I noticed that when I said Step Up, Pam took a step right off, but Rachael did not.  She would lean forward as if feeling for a load, then step off.  This made me think that maybe Pam was just following Rachael's lead, and that Rachael was being unwilling.  This just lead to more questions:  Was Rachael getting too old?  Are her feet hurting her?  is she sore from the collar?

As I've thought about it for the past week and a half, the only conclusions I can draw are that 1) Rachael was sore in her collar from working the mower after a long break in working; or 2) the 3 months off required much more sled work to remind them to get into the pull, and I just didn't do it.

This is the first time I've felt this kind of defeat with my horses.  They have always spoiled me with their good behavior and willingness to do what I wanted.  This sure was an eye opener to me that I gotta keep them working during off times.  I'll update this with pictures later.  Any feedback is appreciated.