VALLEY CITY, N.D. – Paul Geray spends two to three hours
a day training his Belgians. The draft horses pull a lugging skid, which
weighs 1,500 to 2,000 pounds, 2 to 4 miles a day to build their endurance.
Then they’re harnessed to a 7,000-pound skid to pull short distances three or
four times during the training. Geray, of Hillsboro, N.D., has been
competing in draft horse pulling since 1989. “The competition is the big
thing, the comradery amongst all the horse pullers, the friends you make,” he
said. “I get to travel to a lot of places that I don’t normally go.” He
typically competes in 12 to 15 events a year. Horse pulling is a hobby for
Geray and if his team does well, he said he can win enough to pay for his
trips. But, he said, you need a horse with the heart to do it. Drivers
use voice commands, not whips, to urge their teams forward. “It’s really
impressive, the power,” he said. “Just from the standpoint of traction, they
can probably pull as much as a 60-horse tractor.” Geray recently won the
percentage pull division at the North Dakota Winter Show in Valley City, N.D.,
when his horses, Frank and Ike, pulled 9,300 pounds, nearly 266 percent of
their combined weight. In the percentage pull, teams compete to see who
can pull the most weight as a percentage of their body weight. There’s
also a weight pull division, where teams compete to pull the most weight
overall. Marshall Krueger, a 16-year-old from Bangor, Wis., won the
Winter Show’s weight pull division when his team of King and Petonia pulled
9,300 pounds. While drivers say the competition is intense, they also do
it for the socialization. “It’s fun,” Krueger said. “It’s competitive,
but after the horse pull we all sit around and talk to each other.” For
many, horse pulling is a family affair. Krueger said he started because
his grandpa and great-grandpa did it. Both Geray’s dad and son are also
involved. Hank Geray, Paul’s dad, became interested in horse pulling
after his son started doing it. “I like the competition,” he said. “You
work at it and you can accomplish something.” He said he also likes
having his son and grandson involved. While horse pulling drew a crowd
at the Winter Show, Paul Geray said it’s not quite as popular here as in other
parts of the country, where he said it’s huge. Rick Byrne of Regina,
Saskatchewan, has been involved in horse pulling for more than 20 years. He
said he typically competes in 14 or 15 pulls a year. “For people who like
horses, the big value of it is training your horses, getting them in really
good shape in order for them to pull,” he said. “You have to have them in
really good physical condition and well fed, well taken care of.” He
says it helps that draft horses like pulling, and they like to work. But, he
said, training and conditioning are not all that’s needed. “You have to have
faith, a lot of faith in your horses, and they have to have a little
bit of faith in you,” he said.
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