Plowing with horses: tradition and free fertilizer

NORTH CANAAN — A roughly 10-acre plot just off Route 44 and Browns Lane in East Canaan has become the annual site of a plowing clinic by the Northwestern Connecticut Draft Horse Association.

Local members and event organizers Laura Freund and Karl Riva are among those looking to revive and keep alive horse-drawn field plowing.

Horses and plowers gathered under blue skies studded with fair weather clouds last Sunday, ready to sketch lines into recalcitrant soil.

It’s not as easy as it looks. There’s a lot of technique and practice, mostly relating to the handling of the horses, that goes into plowing a straight line.

And these are no ordinary horses. Weighing an average of 1 ton, they are gentle giants bred to work. This is true horsepower that is, literally, harnessed.

The plow clinic brings draft horses and their owners from a wide area. It  also attracts spectators. Neighbors wandered over just to see what was going on and were soon fascinated by what they saw. A couple of Sunday riders pulled their Harley’s over to check it out.

The plowers find it difficult to express why they love what they do. The answer is nestled somewhere between a desire to hold the reins on all that power, and the connection that grows between man, or woman, and plow team.

“Who doesn’t like digging in the dirt?� someone shouted out.

Back by popular demand was Sam Rich from Abington, Conn., a U.S. Plow Match champion who shares expert advice on plowing the perfect furrow. He also has a remarkable rapport with his horses.

Tony Roswell, a construction worker from Southington, happily climbed onto the plow behind Rich’s horses, Dylan and Sam.

Pat Simone, from Draft Tail Farm in Ancram, N.Y., hooked Lucy and Desi, her gray Percherons, to a sulky plow so fellow enthusiast Dorothy Aiksnoras-Vallee, of Oxford, Conn., could work the field. There is a common language, Simone said, of words used to direct the horses.

“But a good driver and team won’t need any verbiage,� she said.

She also explained that all Percherons are born black. Some will slowly turn gray as they age.

Lucy is 13 now and much lighter than Desi, who turned 6 that day. Simone bought Desi at an auction, and discovered later that he is Lucy’s uncle.

Simone joined the debate over whether or not the “inside� horse minds pulling with two feet in the adjoining, already-turned furrow. Some drivers say the horses don’t like it, and the driver has to work to keep them on course. Simone said it lets the animals know they are still in line.

“When they go off course and out of the furrow, they stop.�

Brian Clark, of Mapleview Farm in Orange, impressed the crowd by hooking two teams up to a double harrow.

“It’s called four abreast,� he said, shrugging at the too-predictable terminology for the team. “This is the first time these two teams have been together. But they’re all Amish broke, so they are used to it.�

Clark is an eighth-generation farmer and had no trouble putting the powerful team through its paces.

Just after lunch, Matthew Freund of Freund’s Farm in East Canaan wandered over to the edge of the field, eyeing it critically. Only a small portion had been plowed so far.

“I’m planning on not having to plow this field this year,� he said, with his deadpan humor.

The 10 acres would typically take him two hours to plow with a tractor. Still, one less field would be nice. And, as Simone pointed out, with a tractor, you don’t get free fertilizer.