ever seen a weight pull?

Has any one every seen a drafthorse weight pull at a horse show? My boyfriend took me to a western show in September and they had a weight pull, where draft horses would pull tonnes of weight (forgive the pun ). It was really interesting and the first time I had seen something like that!

They call them horse pulls here. I've been to a few. They're pretty interesting to watch, it always amazes me to see how much those horses can pull.

I always end up feeling bad for them though. I just wanna run up and give em luvins.

I agree! I felt bad for them too...

But you have to figure, back in the day, that's what drafts were used for; pulling. I guess it's like sled dog competitions, and pulling competitions with pitbulls, for bragging rights I suppose.

The Sandwich fair (Illinois) has a pulling match. Teams of Percherons (2 horse teams) the horses totally got into it and knew their job. The big weights were in the back of a huge truck and as the horses pulled -it went straight up-they had to pull at least 2700 lbs to place and move up. Perchies are the lite drafts I havent seen the big guys do it. They looked plenty big to me, one guy led them in and 2 guys off to the side hooked the hitch to the weights -they had to be very fast about it. Those horses just slammed into their traces-if that is the correct word. Not one team acted like it was ugly or hurtfull. They looked to be having a grand time. They were very beautiful and the owners/handlers were answering questions and allowing people up close to pet the horses.

I've seen them a few times. I hadn't seen one in a long time until the county fair here in August. Ryan and I went and it was a lot of fun. I had forgotten how much they could pull...we were both amazed. We just sat there and watched for a long time! They're so pretty...and so BIG! I want one :) lol. I like big horses.

Here they used a metal sleigh type thing and then kept adding pieces of railroad ties. I forgot how heavy it was when the last team finally wasn't able to pull anymore, but at the beginning Ryan was like "There is NO WAY they are going to be able to pull all of that..or even close to it!" And I was like "Just watch!" and he sure was amazed...they were about 500lbs away from pulling all of it. :) To be honest, I didn't think they'd get as close as they did either...but I knew they'd be able to pull the majority of it.

Pony pulls used to also be common.

Horses and ponies were used for logging and tilling the fields Way Back When.

Just as saddle horse owners were proud of their particular horse's speed or gait, pulling horse owners were proud of their teams and would gather for impromptu pulling contests.

Those impromptu contests turned into big entertainment at local fairs since everyone knew everyone and had a team to root for

Rural Heritage on RFD-TV features logging teams

You should see what my horse does when you say "alright bud lets go!" we think he pulled cause he lunges forward (like he's trying to hit the harness hard) and bolts . . . But when you whistle (realy loud) he dead stops . . . . Just like a little llightbulb goes of in his head and he thinks to himself "hey . . . Im done . . . I did a good job . . . I did a good job!" . . . Hehehe I love my boy =)

Ive been to a few but I remember this one time there were these two very skinny Belgians trying to pull and they couldnt do it! They were definitely under nourished. I felt so bad!

I don't particularly care for watching the pull competitions. Those teams are trained to do just that and very few can actually be used for anything else. My dad used to have a team of belgian mules that I would drive around town ( I was all of about 6 or 7 when we got them). There was an oil truck that got stuck in some mud on a friends property and we just happened to be going by. Dad offered to pull him out with the mules and the guy laughed at him. So he used a tow chain to hook the double tree to the front bumper and said "come on, lets go" They walked into their collars and proceeded to pull the truck out of the mud as if it was nothing more than a bale of hay. The oilfield guy was just speechless.