LLB County Fair

At the 35th Annual Lac La Biche Country Fair, we watched the Heavy Horse Team Pull. In this competition, each team pulls the same weight for 14 feet, or until a pin hammered into the ground behind the stone boat, comes loose. When all the horses have had a go, another 500 pounds is added to the boat, and the horses go again. When they reach the point where they can't move the skid, they stop and that weight is logged as their finishing weight pulled. The scoring takes into consideration the weight of the team, as in light/middle/heavy weight division.

Here, a couple of teams are snoozing between rounds.

This is an easy pull for these big lads.

This team is working a bit harder - another 500 pounds has been added. These boys did not really pull together, which made their efforts harder for them.

This team worked together well. The horse in the foreground always pulled with his head up, while his partner lowered his and leaned into his collar. Despite the two different ways of pulling, this team worked together, both horses pulling at the same time. You could see the difference between this team and the one pictured above. In that team, both horses pulled, but not together, so it was harder work for them both. Heavy horses are built to work, and enjoy it.

The young man in the red shirt hitched each team to the stone boat, then leaped for safety. These guys are already getting ready; stamping their hind feet and lowering their haunches, they are getting ready to put some muscle into this pull.

... and they are successful! The owner encouraged them with the words, "Get to it, lads!" and he repeated it until they had moved the stone boat. The winning team pulled over 7000 pounds. Voice was the only encouragement used to urge all of these horses to pull.

This team was driven by the Chief of the Cree Nation on Kehewin Reserve near Lac La Biche. We have several Cree reservations around the town. The tan coloured horses in the background are Norwegian Fjords. I have never seen them before and thought they were smaller than they are for some reason. I guess pictures can't give you the true picture!

Look at the effort these two horses are exerting. These are the Cree owned horses.

Here are the Fjords working. They are compact little horses, with an excellent work ethic!

Here they are again. They were the first to go in each round. This is their last successful pull. In their final effort, they moved the stone boat 17 inches, but that was not enough to pull the pin out of the ground (they had to move the boat 14 feet). They were not successful and they knew it - their ears showed they were ticked with themselves. A rub on their foreheads and encouraging words restored their good humours.

After the heavy horse competition was finished, we made a visit to the Arts and Crafts Sales tent... I bought a sweater hand made in Bolivia. It's heavy enough to be a jacket.. they probably saw me coming, but that's okay. The sweater is made from "baby llama" hair, and I love it!

Portage College also had a table in this booth, and sales were quite good I was told!

A lady in the craft sales tent carding some wool (regular sheep wool!) prior to spinning it. My friend took this picture. There is another which shows her face, but I chose not to put it in this blog.

When it started to rain while we were watching the Super Team Competition (shown below), we headed for the exhibit hall, but stopped at the petting zoo on the way....

This is a miniature horse and her foal. All the animals seemed to enjoy the attention that the children gave them!

The pictures below show the Super Team Competition...

This team is entering the arena for its turn. It will be hitched to the stone boat (behind the wagaon). Each team would pull the stone boat, which carried about 1 ton of 'stone' (actually cement pipes cut in half), 14 feet until a pin which had been hammered into the ground, was pulled out.

Next, the horses were hitched to this wagaon. They had to turn within the chalk circle without going over the lines, then leave the keyhole along a short lane marked by 4 pylons, without touching the pylons or knocking off the tennis balls sitting atop them.

The teams were then driven down a lane marked with pylons - here the judge's assistant is riding the wagon, checking to make sure the pylons are not touched. On the far side of the ring, the teams were driven in a figure-of-eight, then backed up to a loading dock. The assistant then stepped off the wagon, onto the dock and back onto the wagon, as if he was loading or unloading grain.

Here they are doing part of the figure-of-eight. This team performed quite well.

After backing the wagon to the loading dock, the horses were then driven back into the beginning circle, unhitched from the wagon and driven out, again without knocking the pylons, or the tennis balls, or stepping over the chalk line.

This is a long view of the floral competition, showing some of the prize winning arrangements. There were also the usual baking and jelly entries, as well as artwork, photography, quilting and sewing.

More of the floral arrangements.

I bought two tickets on a raffle, but I don't think I won anything. At least as of 9:15 p.m. I haven't received a call!