Rural Heritage June/July 2025

job you're doing, you're talking to him through lines or talking to them. “You know, you're watching their ears, their body, everything. And it never stops. It's subconscious sometimes, but it never stops “Now that I think about it, because when you're out there with a team, you both might react to, quail blowing up or something, and you both see it and you react to it, and you hear it, and you hear the birds and all of that. “When you're in a tractor, you're kind of in this little cocoon. You hear nothing but machine noise.” “I’ll tell you what I like about the American Brabant,” Wes continued. “They're a good horse. I

mean we talk about the right size of horse, and I believe that's true. Much more than 16 hands is not too useful for me. And so the Brabants that you have, they move along pretty good. They do. They've got a really good flat walk. And mostly, you know, I've had a horse with a lot of action. Some horses that want to jog or trot, and that's good for a day, maybe two. But throughout the season, that horse with a good level three and a half, four mile an hour walk, he's just gonna last. He's gonna get more done, not wear himself out, not sore himself up. It's just really efficient. And these horses are that. Also, they’re willing students and level headed.”

Mark Speed of Ford, Wash., drives American Brabants MT Axel van Ford (left) and Curly at the 2021 American Brabant Rendezvous at the Jason and Katrina Julian dairy farm in Medford, Wis. Axel is a 3-year-old stallion and Curly is a 9-year-old gelding.

June/July 2025

77