Sunday’s installment of the Washington County Ag Expo &
Fair marked the return of a distinctively agricultural event: the sights and
sounds of huge draft horses plodding across the ground.
The horses were being used by teams competing in an event
to determine which group could pull a weighted sled the farthest.
Randy Wonderley of Grottoes, Va., won the event after his
horses pulled 5,000 pounds 27 feet, 6 inches, according to event officials.
Horse pulling used to be a mainstay at the fair and Sunday
was the first time it had been held at the event since 1983, said Chuck
Nutwell, who said he was asked by fair officials to bring a horse pull back to
the fair.
Some fair events faded from existence as the fair moved
locations over the years.
But people had expressed an interest in having the horse
pull again, said Nutwell, who added that his grandfather, Charles Shafer, used
to compete in horse pulling events in the county.
Ten teams from Pennsylvania and Virginia competed in
Sunday’s event, but no teams from Maryland entered, Nutwell said.
The teams competing Sunday started with a beginning weight
of 2,500 pounds, which they could bypass.
Then the weight was gradually increased as the teams made
their way through the competition.
Spectators flowed into a bleacher area at the fair’s track
and others sat on a grassy hillside on the other side of the track on a hot
afternoon to watch the competition.
Among the horse owners competing was George Brindle, a
car technician from Chambersburg, Pa.
“I work on Cadillacs during the day and horses at night,”
Brindle said as he readied his horses before Sunday’s competition.
The announcer at the event said many horse owners competing
in the pulls have
full-time
jobs
and spend a few hours a day after they get off work training their horses for
pulling competitions.
Brindle said he competes in horse pulling events for fun
and last year entered in about 27 pulls. Brindle said prize money can be won
in the pulls.
“It ain’t enough, but they pay,” he said.
Delmar Zinn of Newville, Pa., said he competes in about a
dozen horse pulls a year.
“It’s a sport. You get to see how much power you have,”
Zinn said.
Article courtesy of The Herald Mail