“Always Something to Prove” When Draft Horse Competitors Get Together

Draft horse competitors from all over Alberta were in Picture Butte last weekend for the Coyote Flats Harvest Days, competing in the horse log skid and horse pull.

Our own Shaun Haney was at the pioneer celebration, hoping to get footage of some old tractors and the threshing show. But what he found to be some of the most interesting and passionate events of day were the heavy horse events.

As you can imagine, the horse pull is exactly how it sounds. You put some weight on the sled and you try to pull it a given distance (Shaun thinks it was 14 feet). The weight on the sled keeps increasing until there is one competitor left. As competitor Jess Debnam explains in the video below, “you get two guys and their horses together, somebody always has something to prove.”

horse pull - coyote flats

Great turnout for the draft horse events at the Coyote Flats Harvest Days

The other competition was the log skid which involves a team of two horses pulling two logs through an obstacle course of pylons. Each competitor starts with 100 points and loses points with each infraction.  Shaun got some great footage of the event that you can see in the video below. The featured image above is from the log skid competition as well.

Back by the horse trailers Shaun met Debnam, a competitor who grew up in the sport and was very generous with his time (since Shaun had to leave the interview twice to get batteries), explaining the competition to the RealAgriculture audience.

As Jess mentions, with all agricultural type competitions one of the biggest challenges is keeping things moving. We hope you enjoy this feature, make the effort to attend your next local draft horse show and enjoy the experience that Shaun and the Picture Butte crowd did.

Wake up with RealAgriculture

Subscribe to our daily newsletters to keep you up-to-date with our latest coverage every morning.

Wake up with RealAgriculture