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Mar. 2nd, 2007
When I wuz young...
Mar. 2nd, 2007 10:32 amJust after the stage coaches stopped running, one winter when the roads became impassible, my father harnessed the two huge work horses, Barney and Bill, that had lingered on after tractors had taken over all the work on the farm to a sled with huge wooden runners sheathed in iron. The sled that might have been used to haul food to pastures or hay around in the winter (which is the same thing when you think about it), but I don't remember it ever being used except for the one trip to school. I must have been in first, second or third grade. We bundled up in blankets and took off across country to the school. It must have been after a blizzard and I don't remember what prompted the trip.
It was very cold, and being close to, especially behind horses, wasn't a good place for me. They've always been my nemesis.
The horses were huge, the harness had no bells that I remember, and the working sled was about as far from a sleigh as could be imagined. I doubt it glided over the snow at all, but with two horses that big, we could have been riding on a barn door without any problems.
I should ask my sister, but I don't think we ever took any pictures. As far as I can remember, it was the last time the harnesses came down from the haymow, and the last time the horses did anything approaching work. They would be shipped off to the glue factory, and paid for by the pound. It was a lot of pounds of horse.
It was very cold, and being close to, especially behind horses, wasn't a good place for me. They've always been my nemesis.
The horses were huge, the harness had no bells that I remember, and the working sled was about as far from a sleigh as could be imagined. I doubt it glided over the snow at all, but with two horses that big, we could have been riding on a barn door without any problems.
I should ask my sister, but I don't think we ever took any pictures. As far as I can remember, it was the last time the harnesses came down from the haymow, and the last time the horses did anything approaching work. They would be shipped off to the glue factory, and paid for by the pound. It was a lot of pounds of horse.