Draft horses pull off a great show at Iron County Fair

SAXON, Wis. - One of the most popular events at this year's Iron County Fair was the draft horse pulling contest, in which four 2-horse teams pulled thousands of pounds in an attempt to show who's boss.

It turns out that every team left with an award, but that seemed less important than the sheer excitement that the Sunday contest generated among all parties: horses, drivers and members of the audience who watched in anticipation from the fairground grandstands or from behind a fence surrounding the track.

The horses were magnificent, not only for their strength, but also for their bulk and beauty.

Dean Kurth of Ogema, Wisconsin, said his horses, Sally and Tia, weigh about 4,000 pounds combined and stand at 17 and one-half hands high.

"Usually, true heavyweights are 4,500-5,000," he said.

Kurth said his horses are Belgian, which is a major breed for pulling, but he said other breeds also can pull.

His son, Jordan, was driving their team on Sunday.

"It can be very dangerous," admitted Jordan. "It's fun, but you gotta watch what you're doing."

That was clear when Jay and Jim - the horse team driven by Mark Hill of Glidden - got a bit frisky while being hooked up to the weighted pulling sled and tried to take off before Hill was properly positioned.

Hill quickly got the horses in line, but the tussle definitely rose everyone's adrenalin and demonstrated why viewing the connection process is just as fascinating as the pull.

"Those guys help each other," said Ken Langlois of Ontonagon by phone on Tuesday. He explained how members of each team assist fellow competitors during the hooking up process. They even run beside the sled as it moves, so they're ready to set up the next pull.

As Hill noted later, "There's a lot of sportsmanship."

Langlois, who emceed the event, also emphasized to the crowd how important it is for each team of horses to work together. "They can't do it alone," he said over the microphone. "These horses have to work as a team."

According to Langlois, the sled that the horses pulled weighed 1,000 pounds in itself, and the contest started with cement weights that brought the total sled weight to 3,000 pounds. Additional weight then was added incrementally to reach the contest maximum of 7,500 pounds.

After the race, Dean Kurth said the object was for the horses to pull for 27 and one-half feet. "That's considered a full pull," he claimed, adding that time is not an issue.

Langlois said that Sunday's race included two divisions: heavyweight (above 3,620 pounds in combined team weight) and middleweight (between 3,420-3,620 pounds combined). There was no lightweight division.

Brock Swartz of Hurley explained how the event has grown from a casual, local competition to one with statewide status.

"In the past, this was kind of bragging rights for the local farmers," said Swartz of the early days. Now, he said that, for nearly a decade, the event has been officially registered with the Wisconsin Horse Pullers Association.

"This has been going on since about 1941," said Dan Rowe of Gurney, who claimed that it's the longest running horse pull in the state of Wisconsin, having missed only 2020 when the fair was cancelled for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Both Swartz and Rowe, who were watching the event, are members of the Iron County Fair Board.

Langlois - who was comfortable in his role of keeping the crowd informed - said he learned all he knows about emceeing from his friend, Dale Venema, for whom he was substituting while Venema was on medical leave. Both men are from Ontonagon.

Langlois made a point to acknowledge everyone involved in the event. "A lot of pieces go into pulling this together," he told the audience.

He commended the businesses which help sponsor the event, as well as the members of the White Thunder Riders Snowmobile Club of Hurley helped with hauling the cement blocks.

Langlois, who said various volunteers have been involved for years, also regularly complimented both the drivers ("nice job") and the horses ("real horse power").

Moreover, he explained of the horses' owners, "A lot of work goes into training and eating," and then added, chuckling, "Think these horses can eat a little bit? Yeah."

Langlois also told the crowd that the animals know exactly what's expected of them. "It's not their first rodeo," he assured.

The one exception was Tia, who was pulling for the first time, according to Dean Kurth, who noted that her name is registered as "Tia," whereas they spell it as "Teaa" at home.

Langlois said that Jordan Kurth opted to drop from the competition after crossing 5,500 pounds, and he attributed it to not wanting to stress Tia on her first pull.

Cortney Ofstad, secretary-treasurer of the Iron County Fair Board, said that heavyweight winners in the competition were John Petras, who drove his horses, Axel and Ryker, in first place, and Jordan Kurth in second.

Middleweight winners were Luke Jacobs, driving his horses Rocky and Spotty Dotty, in first place, and Mark Hill in second.

Petras and Jacobs are both from Greenwood, Wisconsin.

Ofstad said that both first place winners won $200, and second-place winners won $175.

As for what lay ahead for the animals after leaving Saxon's Iron County Fairgrounds, Jordan Kurth said the roughly 20 animals that he and his father own stay busy even when they aren't competing.

"In the winter, we do sleigh rides, and then we also do logging," he said, adding that the horses also do some farm work "just so they don't sit around."

He attributed their restlessness after the competition to being bored at being momentarily tied up. "They like to pull," he assured.

In the midst of the contest, Langlois summarized the owners and drivers to the crowd: "They love these horses. They love this sport. It's their passion. It's their life."

Draft animals - which include the recognizable breed of Clydesdales - also have a heart, as noted by Miles Henry on his website called Horse Racing Sense. He describes them as "gentle giants" whose mighty muscle and good nature have been serving mankind since long before machinery was invented.