Horse pull team defends Boone County Fair title for bragging rights
COLUMBIA — Bob Rucker leans along with his horses, trying to encourage them to pull the red metal sled stacked with cinderblocks to a first-place finish. Dan and Pete comply with their owner’s wishes, digging their hooves into the dirt and dragging the sled to victory.
Rucker, from Eolia, owns the team, but his son-in-law Ted Wilkinson drove the sled for him because Rucker’s back injury started to flare up earlier in the pull. So, Rucker assumed a spot alongside the horses in the dirt.
Nine teams competed in the Boone County Fair's farm team horse pull Monday. Rucker entered three teams into the event, but his combination of Dan and Pete pulled their way to their second consecutive first-place finish. The team also won the event last year.
The actual pull is an explosion of power centered between two moments of calm. The team of two horses stands still for the most part as they are hooked to the sled. The handler touches the seat for barely a moment before giving the command to start. Instantly the horses lunge forward, leaning into their collars as their legs pump like pistons. Dirt flies behind them, often landing on the driver’s shirt. The person on the sled is along for the ride, gripping the reigns with straight arms. The most important part, however, is in the hands.
"It’s all in the hands. You see, that’s the only control you got, is that pair of lines and the bit in their mouth,” Sam Murrey, from Honeywell said.
Each team gets three chances to pull the weight 20 feet. Two yellow ropes are spaced out 15 feet apart on the soft, raked dirt. The team is required to stay inside the ropes. Stepping outside equals a canceled run.
“You won’t see that happen until the sled gets really, really heavy,” Murrey said.
After each successful run, weight is added to the sled. The weight is calculated in cinderblocks. Each team receives a weight proportionate to the weight of the horses. Dan and Pete, who together weigh 3,650 pounds, successfully pulled 12,150 pounds on their winning run, dragging the sled less within less than 2 feet of the 20-foot stretch. It was 2,000 pounds more than they pulled last year.
With the horses doing the hard work, the human element can be hard to notice. Drivers must know the relationship between the horses. Which horse pulls first determines which side they will be on in the harness. Owners call out the horses by names during the pull to keep tabs on them.
“If you understand coaching, you understand this,” Murrey said.
There is no prize money for the farm team class.
“Mainly bragging rights is what we compete for,” the only female driver, Angie Kane said.
The lack of prize money is not the only difference between the farm team class and professional pull horses. These horses are gentle giants, and have a demeanor that would allow them to be fully usable on a farm.
“All these teams you could go into the field and work with,” Murrey said.