Unfortunately, rain canceled the tractor pull at the Rochester Country Fair. However, it did bring back memories of horse pulls that I went to as a child. Horse pulls predated tractor and truck pulls. Around the 1860’s, it was horses that pulled farming machinery. Farmers loved to brag about how strong their horses were, and all the bragging led to contests to prove their claims.
To show off horses or to settle arguments, it was customary to take down a barn door, lay it flat on the ground and then people would pile on. The goal was to test the horse’s strength and the farmer whose horse could pull the most people won bragging rights. It didn’t take long for horse pulling events to show up at county fairs. Even after tractors replaced horses in the pulling of farm machines, horse pulling contests continued into the 1900’s.
The contests usually had teams of two draft horses that would pull a stone boat or weighted sled. The winner would be the team that pulled the most weight a certain distance. The picture with this article is of a horse pull that was held as part of Rochester’s 300th celebration in 1979. It was held at a field owned by Kips Bray on Rounseville Road across from Town Hall.
There were teams of Belgium Draft horses in the heavyweight class, and there was a lightweight or a “free for all” class. The horse teams in the heavyweight class pulled a stone bolt or sled loaded with increasingly large boulders which weighed from 500 lbs. to 1500 lbs. They also had contests with ponies competing against each other and one with three ponies versus a lightweight horse.
While less common today, you can still go to a horse pull across the country. In Massachusetts, the Cummington Fair and the Topsfield Fair still offer a chance to see a horse pull. Perhaps, the biggest difference between then and now is that the horses are no longer work animals, but rather equine athletes who are trained exclusively for these events.
By Connie Eshbach