Below is a web site where you can upload, view and order pictures from some of our club draft horse events. This is an easily accessible site for anyone to use and is user friendly, just click on the link and enter the password: drafthorse.

http://drafthorse.shutterfly.com

Password: drafthorse

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7/5/10: The 17th Annual Horse Progress Days were held in Topeka, Indiana on July 2nd & 3rd. This obviously was not an Iowa event but it deserves a few pictures on this page. You can see and learn more about the event at: www.horseprogressdays.com. 

Below are three Halflingers on a ground driven pto cart with a 9' mowing bar from I & J Manufacturing. This is very smooth and quiet running machine.

5 Percherons on a 4 row I & J cultivator

4 Percherons on a motorcart pulling a John Deere Mo-Co disc mower.

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6/30/10: Donovan Day and Jenna Lemke were married on June 5^th - the wedding party was taken away by this Percheron 6 belonging to Jim and Peggy Day, L.D.’s Percheron’s, Bradgate, IA (parents of the groom) and Albert and Karen Cleve, Blue Ribbon Farms, Farmington, MO. The hitch will represent Blue Ribbon Days again this summer at the major shows including the Iowa State Fair and the World Percheron Congress in Des Moines.

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6/12/10: The summer season has started here in Iowa and the oats are starting to mature. As you can see in the pictures below, this looks like a decent stand of oats - the favorite feed for horses. 

This looks to be a nice crop and should have a good yield of grain, not to mention the straw that will be baled next month after these oats are harvested.

Notice the alfalfa growing under the maturing cover crop. Looks like the farm plan for the field is coming together. There is potential for this to be a good stand of alfalfa next year.

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6/8/10: It was during a heavy thunderstorm at 6:30AM this morning when Ginger decided to have her foal in the pasture. All went well and the foal was up and nursing by the time the weather cleared. This is Ginger's "soon to be named" stud colt - she is a proud mother. The sire is L.D.'s Prince Legacy (owned by Jim and Peg Day from Bradgate, IA). That's Maury Telleen in the background checking out the new arrival.

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6/4/10: I like this picture taken 4/30/2010 of a day-old foal at Circle Bar N Belgians near Winterset, IA. This is Vicki Nicholas standing between mom and the new arrival. This picture reminds me of the 1910 Iowa State College picture called "Dignity and Impudence". Vicki spends a lot of time with their new colts and it shows.

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5/31/10: The weather was almost perfect on Memorial Day. We got the mares out and harnessed then we spent some time driving them around the farm. Here's Maury Telleen and his grandson Henry Franzen with Belle (grey left mare) and Laura on the breaking sled. We were checking out the re-growth on some recently cut alfalfa, it appears to be coming back just fine.

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5/31/10: Maury with the lines on the breaking sled. Before he took the lines, he wanted to confirm the name of each mare. As he was driving the team he talked to the mares, calling them by name like he has known them forever. I asked Maury, "How many hours have you logged behind a team of mares?" He just looked at me, smiled and said, "I don't know but I would guess quite a few."

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5/2/10: It's always a great way to start the day when you find a new Percheron foal in the pasture that is up, sucking and running. Nice!

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4/14/10: Some pictures below from the Iowa Horse Fair at the Iowa State Fairgrounds on 4/10 and 4/11. We had a great turnout and lots of folks interested in draft horses. This is Gerald Stuart with his Belgians - Gerald is very active with his horses and always ready to hitch them up and give rides to anyone that is interested. .

Here's a team of Percherons that were also giving rides at the Iowa Horse Fair.

The horse fair is all about being exposed to different breeds. I was happy to see this nice team of mules participate as well. Very nice picture.

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3/28/10: Here's some pictures from the spring 2010 Waverly Horse Sale, Waverly, IA. As you can see - the team of Percherons below look to be well broke and are ready to be used in any type of environment.

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Another picture from the Waverly Horse Sale. This team of Belgians don't seem to mind all of the noise from the auctioneer. As you can see, Bill and Ron Dean have been kind enough to post our www.iowadrafthorse.com banner above the sale ring. With the number of people that attend this sale, I am sure this has made a difference in getting our two Iowa draft horse clubs some attention.

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Here's a picture of of a coming 3 y/o Percheron mare that was sold at the Waverly Sale. As always, if you're looking for a draft horse, you can usually find what you're looking for at the Waverly Horse Sale.



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1/7/2010: Our family was at Jester Park Equestrian Center near Granger, IA over the weekend and ran into Dennis Crowley from Colfax IA. Dennis has been the Barn Manager at Jester Park for the past five years. He is also the teamster giving winter bobsled rides through the Jester Park forest with his team of Percheron mares. He offers rides at the Equestrain Center (by appointment) all four seasons - offering wagon rides in the summer. If you'd like a scenic 40 minute ride while listening to the suttle sound of sleigh bells you can contact Dennis directly at 515.999.2818 or dcrowle@co.polk.ia.us. 



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1/21/2010: Here's Jim Stuart leading some discussion at our recent SCIDH&MA potluck and meeting in Minburn.

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1/18/2010: Here we have Rick and Sherry LaValle and some friends braving the winter Iowa weather on a couple of bobsleds near Milo, IA. 

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1/17/10: Deep snow cover and temperatures just above freezing here in central Iowa had these Percheron colts near Indianola, IA waking up covered in frost.



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9/12/09: After the harness and hitching clinics at the Draft Horse Fun Show in New Virginia, IA time was spent having new teamsters driving a team for the first time. Each team and wagon had an experienced teamster giving instructions on driving and answering questions about the heavy horse industry. The "new teamsters" found that it is not as easy as it looks.  



More great pictures of the 2009 New Virginia Fun Show is available at the link below provided by Bethany Caskey, Ad Exec. with Rural Heritage. Bethany spent the day with us at the show and took some GREAT pictures! They are very high quality and worth looking at.

You can also order pictures directly from the web site:
 http://caskeystudios.com/2009FallShow/index.htm:
8 x 10's are $7.50 each and $2.00 shipping for any amount ordered.

In the index view, each photo has a larger preview by clicking on the small image. There are 21 pages of thumbnail images.

To order, please just write the number (DSC_0000) of the photos, the number of copies you would like of each one, and either email your order to this address and pay via PayPal to b@cknet.net or you can send a check or money order to Caskey Studios, 112 S 2nd St, Albia, IA 52531. Be sure to include your return address.


The picture below is from the recent South Central Iowa Draft Horse and Mule Association interactive meeting at Jim Stuarts place near New Virgina. Jim had set up an obstacle course similar to what we will be competing in at the Iowa State Fair. There was a lot of available advice on horse health management, harness and how to maneuver through the course. There is only one way to prepare for competition in an obstacle course event: practice, practice, practice.




I took this picture on June 3rd 2009 while driving our team of Percheron mares near our farm a few miles west of Indianola. Missy (left) and Ginger (right) were making their 5th trip of the evening taking the spreader down the road to the field. It was a great evening to drive horses. Notice how they're walking right in stride - this is a nice team to drive as they really work well together.