This 8-horse hitch was a Fresian hitch from Alberta, Canada, brought in as a exhibition team.
This is Diane with Ace.
September 27th I drove to Sandpoint, ID to attend the draft horse show that Brian and his family attend every year (Brian's parents, Larry and Sheila, own Paradise). They had taken five of their Percherons up, and had done at least fairly well; one first place, a few seconds, some fourths.I got to see Ace in ladies' cart, Ace with Brian's daughter Allie in a kids' class, and then Brian with King, Justin, Joy and Ace in a teamster class (required drivers to complete certain tasks, such as "docking," or backing in like a semi would be docked for unloading.
I had such a sense of pride that "my boys" were looking so good and doing so well. Ace is a particularly flashy horse, and has a lot of lift in his legs; Joy also does, so they make a good lead team. King and Justin are not as flashy, so they're the wheel horses.
Right off the bat there was a very exciting (if awful) occurrence: a driver came off his wagon during the "Gambler's Choice" class (driver has 3 minutes to do as many obstacles as possible for points). He had a team of mules and had been doing a figure eight. As far as I could tell, he started to stand to look back to see if his wagon had hit a cone and something happened—he might have hit the wagon brake, but he was flung forward. Because I was literally sitting in the direction he was headed, I watched as he flew off the wagon. It appeared as though he had jumped, but no one in their right mind would jump off a wagon behind his team!
He came down, and I believe he was stepped on by a mule, and I'm pretty sure the first wagon wheel missed him, but the second (heavier and larger) wheel ran over him. The team took off, and immediately there were people leaping the fence to help.
The mules and wagon slammed into the south arena fence but kept going, as idiotic "helpers" attempted to stop the mules by throwing their hands up at them and standing in front of them. Others went to the driver's side, and we were later told by the announcer that one of the first to respond was a neurosurgeon.
The mules made another lap, and then the judge leapt into the wagon and climbed up to the seat. Although the lines were on the ground, I'm sure he had some type of reason for getting up there. He tried to take control of the situation and get people out of the way, and eventually the mules were stopped. (I was thinking the whole time: Let them run! As long as they don't run anyone else over, they'll stop when they're good and tired!)
In the end, the driver was taken to the hospital, but was reported to only be sore with nothing broken. Lucky guy!
