Holmes County, Ohio is horse country, but not like Kentucky
or Texas, or any of the many other places in America where
fine equestrian stock is appreciated for show or for sport. Holmes County
is horse country, nonetheless. It’s just
that in Holmes County, horses are beasts of burden, and
they are sometimes treated well and other times not.
You see quite a range in the care and
appreciation these animals are given, from farmers who work their stock hard
and never think twice about it, to those who care well for their animals. In every case, though, a horse is a
workhorse, first and foremost, and if it doesn’t work the fields, it’ll work
the roads, pulling a buggy.
Often one comes across a particularly fine collection of
draft animals, cared for well, and then even an urbanite like me can appreciate
the quality, like in this photograph I took some years ago. Beasts of burden, yes, but
fine horses nevertheless.
Then there are the race horses, often equally
beautiful. Amish farmers send agents to
the harness race tracks around the state to buy buggy horses for them, and
whether a pacer or a trotter, these are often fine and swift animals. One of the favorite sources is the Little
Brown Jug racetrack in Delaware, Ohio, where they race
pacers. I used to live about a block
from that fairground, and I can still remember the excitement in Delaware each year, when
the pacers came to race. I was in high
school then, and I didn’t realize how popular the pacers were with Amish
folk. But I see those buggy horses all
the time, now, in Holmes County, and I think how interesting it is – that a
simple Amish farmer would send a purchasing agent half-way across the state to
buy a fine race horse for his buggy. Labels: Amish, Amish Culture, Amish-Country Mysteries, Holmes County, P. L. Gaus
