May 8, 2011
Yesterday’s blog post featured a link to a big, high-def photo from last week’s British royal wedding. Did you notice the lone rider with a black plume in his helmet?
He’s the farrier. And his position in the troop is both interesting and, traditionally, a bit gruesome.
April 14, 2011
CAA members Roger & Sue Murray attended last weekend’s Western Vehicles Symposium in Santa Ynez, California. As one of its live demonstrations, the symposium featured a twenty-mule team.
Historically, twenty-mule teams are perhaps most famous for pulling frieght wagons filled with Borax out of California’s Death Valley.
In this instance (last weekend), the team pulled a number of freight wagons filled with symposium attendees. And Sue made a video!
After the team and wagons look like they’re too far away to see, wait for Sue to zoom in … and then watch for the mule jumping over the chain as the team turns.
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April 12, 2011
Our “sister” organization, the Carriage Museum of America, is generally known as a (fantastic!) library & archives focusing on the history of horse-drawn transportation, carriage builders, and the like. But the CMA also has a collection of actual vehicles. The vehicles are in off-site storage, while the library and archives reside here in the CAA headquarters building.
Included in this year’s 40th Anniversary Carriage Auction, held by Martin Auctioneers in Lebanon, Penn., April 29-30, will be four vehicles that the CMA is deaccessioning from its Robert Fletcher collection. These four vehicles are a Brewster-made Skeleton Boot Victoria (c. 1890); a Brewster-made Bronson Wagon (1906); a Tandem Gig (c. 1895); and a Stanhope Gig (c. 1895).
The money raised from the sale of these four vehicles will go toward the conservation of a Chaise, built c. 1820.
This vehicle — one of the rare gems in the CMA’s permanent collection — was the two-wheeled version of a Booby Hut Sleigh. The body could be detached and used with the specially made sleigh cradle. Both pieces are currently being assessed by conservator Brian Howard.
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this Chaise was built c. 1820 and could be used as a wheeled vehicle ... (photo courtesy of the CMA)
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... it's in the CMA's permanent collection (photo courtesy of the CMA)
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... and it's currently being assessed for conservation (photo courtesy of the CMA)
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... four vehicles will be sold at Martin's Auction (this month) to fund the vehicle-conservation effort (photo courtesy of the CMA)
March 29, 2011
I had never heard of the Priefert Percherons until I was sent a copy of this promo video for “Texas Thunder”:
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Impressive, eh?
Intrigued, I did a little reasearch and found the following information on the group’s website:
Under the guidance of talented horseman and experienced driver Jason Goodman, the Priefert Percherons have emerged as one of the premier draft horse exhibition attractions in the nation. This amazing team travels coast to coast, bringing their Texas Thunder and Roman Riding performances to arenas and expo centers all across North America. Jason, his wife, and their talented staff travel the country with eight massive Percheron draft horses, performing live for over six million people a year.
The ground rumbles with Texas Thunder when Priefert’s award-winning six-horse hitch enters the arena. Jason guides the horses through a series of impressive maneuvers. This exhibition includes a simulated “docking” of the freight wagon, a skill that was once necessary for the loading and unloading of freight. The performance also includes the team’s signature “spin the top,” with the horses emerging from the spin at a full gallop known as the stagecoach run. Jason also performs a thrilling Roman Riding act in which he rides standing on the backs of two horses, driving four more in front of him.
The Priefert Percherons have appeared at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, the San Antonio Stock Show, the Calgary Stampede, the Denver National Western Stock Show and Rodeo, Cheyenne Frontier Days, Bishop Mule Days, and many other major horse fairs, parades, and PRCA rodeos.
The Priefert family acquired their original team of six Percheron draft horses in 2002. Since that time, Jason and the hitch have been booked with a full schedule. Among the original six horses purchased by Priefert was a horse named Goliath. He went on to hold the Guinness World Record for Tallest Living Horse in 2005 at 19 hands, 1 inch. Today’s hitch horses stand, on average, over 18 hands, 2 inches high, with an average weight of 2,200 pounds each. The Priefert freight wagon is an authentic freight wagon, with the undercarriage, or running gear, of the wagon dating to the late 1800s, when it was used to haul freight in downtown Denver. The box, or upper portion, of the wagon was rebuilt in the early 1990s, by master wagon builder Bob Olson. Together, the Priefert Percherons and their beautiful freight wagon are a spectacle that shouldn’t be missed!
Their upcoming appearances: Equine Affaire in Columbus, Ohio, April 7; the Midwest Horse Fair in Madison, Wisconsin, April 15; Ranch Outlet in Lafayette, Louisiana, May 28; the Mount Pleasant Rodeo in Mount Pleasant, Texas, June 2; the Reno Rodeo in Reno, Nevada, June 16; the Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo in Vernal, Utah, July 7; Cheyenne Frontier Days in Cheyenne, Wyoming, July 22; the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis, Indiana, August 5, the Oklahoma State Fair in OK City, Oklahoma, September 15; and the Tulsa Fair in Tulsa, Oklahoma, September 29.
March 23, 2011
With the wedding of Britain’s Prince William and Kate Middleton just over a month away, are you feeling the heat of Royal Wedding fever? It seems you can find wedding-related stories everywhere you look these days.
This CNN video features the Royal Mews and a close-up look at the carriage that will carry the newlyweds away from the ceremony and off to their new life together.
The Slower Road 