Rural Heritage April/May 2026

Publisher's Post E very couple of weeks someone asks me what I think is happening in the draft animal community, parcticularly as it relates to numbers of horses and horse owners. Just a couple of days ago, I heard a common response from a friend in Illinois. “The guys are just getting too old,” he said. “They just can’t do it anymore.’ And, of course, that is true in a lot of cases — always has been. Hard data is hard to find regarding numbers of draft animal folks or their ages, but anecdotally, what I see is promising. I was in Nevada shooting a practice session where a group was working to re-enact a 16-mule hitch like the ones that hauled freight up and down the Sierra Nevada mountains. About half the folks there were about my age, over 60 or so, but still going strong. The rest were in their 20s. These young people were skilled working with the mules and obviously had a passion for it. Most plow days and heritage festivals I attend include plenty of people with more years before them than behind. And a lot of the older folks who no longer wish to haul, harness and work their horses, mules, oxen or donkeys at these events become motivated when they can serve as mentors to the youth. ° ° ° ° I recently made a trip east to northeast Ohio and southcentral New York to meet with a couple of folks who should be very familiar to our readers. Both have agreed to help me with a couple of series which will be featured in these pages as well as on our YouTube video channel. Ralph Rice has started training a couple young Suffolk geldings on his farm with plans of making them his “go-to” team for the future. With a stable of mares, most of them in foal or about to be, Ralph wanted a team that was always available to work at home and help promote the Suffolk Punch breed in public. The horses are Jamie, a coming yearling, and his coming 2-year-old half brother Murtaugh. Ralph explained his training methods during our first visit and then sent me updates once I got home. I'll be

going back in early April to check on the progress and film Ralph's techniques to share with you. Donn Hewes has been providing us with practical advice for over a year in the magazine and has done a great job of explaining his various subjects. However, we talked last month about shooting some of his ideas for working horses in video format so we might better explain the process. If a picture is worth a thousand words, video is worth even more. ° ° ° ° I n April, I will be heading to the Shaker Village in Harrodsburg, Ky., to cover the DAPnet regional gatheroing where teamsters will demonstrate and teach fieldwork and logging with draft animals. We'll have video on our YouTube channel premiering May 3 and 10, and an article in our June/July issue. On April 18, I hope to make it to Dave Brewington's farm for a plow day, which is sure to include a number of draft horse and mule hitches working the ground. We'll be heading to Lyndon, Kans., April 25th cover the annual Lyndon Farm Show where there teamsters will compete for cash prizes in a log pull, obstacle course, feed team challenge and more. I heard last fall about a couple events held each year in Taylor, N.D., where folks use draft horses to plant wheat in the spring and then harvest it in the fall. I can't make the fall event, but plan to be there when they prepare the seedbed and drill the wheat on May 9. ° ° ° ° I interviewed Norm Macknair three years ago for our television program. If you don't know who Norm is, you probably should. He's one of the best sources of information, advice and parts for vintage horse drawn equipment. He was a frequent contributor to our website’s “Front Porch” forum before Facebook came along and rendered the forum obsolete. One of the things I asked Norm about during the interview (which is available on our YouTube Channel, youtube.com/ruralheritage) was how he dealt with people who’ve just found an old cultivator, wagon running gear, or plow and want to know its worth. He smiled and said he usually told them it was worth what someone was willing to pay for it.

April/May 2026

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