Horse Days

What on earth is that on the farm truck? I’ll give you a hint: it has to do with horses.

These days, farm animals on Booty Family Farm include sheep, pigs, and chickens, but once, gentle giants roamed the pastures.

When Peter and Diane started the farm in the mid-1980’s, Peter used a team of black Percheron horses, Bruce and Dan, to pull felled trees out of the woods to mill boards for the farm house, next my parents’ retirement house, and finally our little house. He also took on logging jobs — mostly timber stand management — during the winter when tree trunks could slide over hard-packed snow.

Of course the kids got involved, too. After all, it is Booty Family Farm.

Haying was a highlight of summer for the cousins. Peter mowed with a horse-drawn mowing machine, turned the hay with a dump rake, and baled with a horse-drawn baler until it broke down and the call went out for everyone with a pitchfork to come join the fun. The result was a truck and trailer buried in gorgeous loose hay, and a pack of sweaty, itchy, happy kids riding on top.

Eventually, Peter cut back on logging and bought a tractor for the farm. The last horse, Ned, lived out his life in relative leisure. Peter encouraged me to take him out for cart rides in the summer. (I even learned to harness and hitch him to the wagon by myself 🤗)

In recent years, the horse-drawn machinery had been sinking into the ground outside the barn. This summer it was loaded onto the farm truck (thus the photo at the top of this post) and delivered to a local artist who uses found metal to make whimsical sculptures. (Recycling at its best!)

And so we say farewell to an era that ended not so long ago. Robin is especially sad to see the machinery go as she remembers playing on it as a child. Here’s the last piece…

There has been some talk about my grandniece Elsa wanting a horse to ride. I think I’m considered a likely partner in this escapade, seeing as I’ve always loved horses (and had one myself in high school). Though it’s highly unlikely that horses will ever again work on the farm, we have the fondest, dearest memories of those horse days. 💕