Real horsepower

Have you ever had the opportunity to sit in the front row on the edge of an arena at a draft horse show and feel the earth shudder beneath you and the wind whip your face as a hitch of six gleaming Percherons whisks by? There's no other feeling quite like it. It gets in your blood, makes you sit on the edge of your seat and lean forward so you won't miss a thing.

The World Percheron Congress was held in Des Moines, Iowa a couple weeks ago at the Iowa State Fairgrounds and we got to go to the last three nights. What a sight! Over 800 Percherons were there. Blacks. Dapples. Grays. Large hitches and small. The fairgrounds were alive with horses being led and driven from one class to another. The barns were teeming with horses from all over: Iowa, Ohio, Maine, and California to name a few, and even several places in Canada.

There was so much to take in! We found seats in the Jacobsen Exhibition Center and hunkered down for a great show each night.

Three nights in a row the 16 six-horse hitches of mares and 17 six-horse hitches of geldings competed - and the last night the overall winner of each was announced.

The crowd grew larger each night and filled the arena. When a crowd-favorite hitch would pass by each section, the applause would swell and the people would come to their feet. It felt like watching a well-orchestrated wave in slow motion.

Even Iowa Public Television was there. This was too large an event not to miss! Be sure to watch IPTV Nov. 28 and Nov. 30 when highlights from the show will be broadcast. But - just because I like you, you can read all about it here first :)

During the day, other competitions were held from halter to the field competitions. The field competition champions were awarded Saturday night while the arena was being set up for the feed race. 

In the feed race, teams of Percherons pulled breaking sleds through a course and the driver and helper had to pick up a stack of straw bales one spot and place them in pairs onto other spots all the while racing against another team and the clock.

When it was all said and done, this pair took a moment to rest and created quite the sight.

Seeing 17 hitches all in the arena at the same time was incredible. 102 horses in all.

A special costume class lightened the moment between the six-horse hitch classes and the eight-horse hitch class. "Lady Gaga" ended up winning. We were rooting for the Grim Reaper - a really incredible entry with a team of black Percherons pulling a hearse from the 1800s on loan from Living History Farms. The group was reenacting the funeral procession of a famous horse thief. Accompanying the Grim Reaper on the hearse were the thief's mother and widow. Walking behind were the priest and two nuns.

The last class of the night was well worth the wait - the eight-horse hitches! This was our favorite part of the whole week.

We're hoping the World Percheron Congress with come back to Des Moines again in a few years. Seeing Percherons of this calibre so close to home was incredible. We can't wait to see it again! In the meantime, Jamie says he'd really like to get a team of Percherons. We're still discussing whether blacks or dapples. I say dapples. Jamie wants blacks. As we were walking to the car after the last night, Jamie suggested perhaps we get both. I just smiled. We'll have to see.

We all need nights like tonight

Tonight was special. We stayed home and enjoyed being with each other. This doesn't happen often enough and so it felt wonderful...I'd be so content if the rest of November was like this.

Earlier in October I was in Seattle. On the way there I looked out the airplane window just in time to be dazzled by the sunlight dancing off Mt. Rainier as we flew by. And I suddenly missed my hubby terribly because the last time I saw this mountain - we were on our honeymoon and hiked up a path near the visitor center and saw a small herd of elk walk through a clearing in the fog.

On the flight home as we began approaching the landing, I looked out the window to a view of crop circles, streams and rivers criss-crossing themselves over Iowa below. It's hard to believe less than a month ago this landscape was lush and green.

My dear husband picked me up at the airport and whisked me away to Nebraska for the weekend where we enjoyed supper with friends, and then got to help with harvest and ride in the combine.

Then the week before last we explored the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis and posed with Trigger and Bullet.

Last week we watched in awe as the six- and eight-horse hitches filled the Jacobsen Arena at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines at the World Percheron Congress.

The dapples from Flat Rock Percherons in Ohio were my favorites. And they must have been the favorites of about everyone else there too because of all the thunderous applause and standing ovation they received from the crowd every time they circled the arena.

October was certainly a fun month. We enjoyed all the adventures along the way. But nothing compares to a quiet evening at home, snuggled on the sofa under a pile of blankets with the man I love most, watching PBS. Ah, yes. The good life. I love it and can't wait for Date Night At Home - Part II tomorrow evening. The weather is supposed to be cooler and the pile of blankets sounds even better!