Merrickville Fair (8/8/2015)

 We finally had a morning with no agenda again.  Collins and Marilyn went to Sylvia's, Marilyn to do laundry and visit; Collins to mow her grass.  So the rest of us were on our own.  We all went into Smith Falls (separately) and did some shopping and chores.  I spent about 3 1/2 hours getting the blog caught up and published, half the time at Tim Hortons, and the other half at the Smith Falls Public Library.  In between those two stops, I stopped off at the laundramat to wash our fishy clothes from yesterday, since I have no idea when I will do laundry again and they were a little smelly.  We finally concluded our town business and headed back to camp to meet up with everyone else.  Tonight's agenda was the draft horse pull at the Merrickville Fair, so we headed out again about 4:00.  We thought the horse pull started at 6:00, but it didn't start until 7:00, so we had some time to kill, and this was a very small fair.  We walked through the 4-H craft barn, saw a few farm implements, and a few cattle, and they had a very small carnival and a short row of game booths, but that was about it.  This was technically called the "177th Merrickville Agricultural Fair," "established in 1938, on the banks of the Rideau river, 5 years after Col. John By opened the Rideau Canal."


  At 6:00, they offered "big time pro wrestling," but we were not really interested in that, so after a stop at the snack bar, where Joe bought Mazie her very first corndog (they call them "pogo" up here), we sat down and ate a bite.


They weren't as good as the fresh ones usually offered at our fairs, but they were good enough, with a little mustard.

We went into the grandstands early and watched them get horses ready.

Another group photo.  Marilyn suggested I set up the camera and dash up the steps to join in the picture, but I decided not to risk my life for that.

I picked my favorite pair right away -- they were beautiful.  Sadie and Sparky.

And they won their "light" division!

It's been a long time since we've been to a horse pull, and I've forgotten most of the specifics, but I took notes last night.

I tried to get the horses names, but the announcer usually announced them by the owner's name, rather than the horses name, so I kept changing my notes.  Joe told everyone I kept changing the horses' names.  There were 6 teams in the "light" category and another 6 in the "heavy" category. The weight of the "lights" was 3600 lbs or less; I didn't catch the weight of the "heavies."   The names I got were:  Sadie & Sparky, Tom & Charlie, Tom & Pugh, Ben & Kelly, Tom & Jake, and Jim & Pete.  Again, some of those might be the names of the owners rather than the horses.  The 6 heavy teams were Flalsh & Pat, Rex & Jack, Marty & Roy, Ben & Barney, and Dan & Hank.  One of the Dan & Hank team lost a shoe after the first or second pull and were disqualified. 

They started out with 5000 lbs, including the sled, I assume.  They added 1000 lbs for each round up through Route 6, then went to 750 lbs, making Round 7 10, 750, Round 8 at 11, 250, and Round 9 at 11,750.  That was as far as they had to go.  Buy my favorite pair, Sadie & Sparky, pulled every round!  They were awesome, pranced with their heads held high and their hoofs almost marching.  The first elimination by weight was not until Round 5, and one of the horses was just a four-year old and the owner decided not to have it make a second try to pass this round, so he took them out on his own. 

All the horses were beautiful, and the guys working the harness and driving them had their work cut out for them.  I bet they went home tired.

It was fun, not something we get to watch very often, and the weather was great -- we needed jackets before the horse pull was over (some of us were smart enough to bring them, or carry them with us, but not all.)  We got back to camp about 10:15, another Excellent Adventure to remember.