Horses a drawcard at ploughing
The only southern horse plough team competing in the New Zealand Ploughing Championships may be green, but they are still keen to give it a go.
Des Macgregor, of Dipton, and Paul Eaton, of Balfour, will be competing in the horse class at the championships at Thornbury, northwest of Invercargill, next weekend, but are by no means old hacks with only a year of competing under their belts.
They are not the only novices their clydesdale horses, Jill and Don, don’t have a lot of experience ploughing either, after previously only competing in eight-horse plough teams.
Macgregor grew up with clydesdales but had never really used them for ploughing. Instead, Jill and Don, which he has had for about six years, are used for cavalcades and trekking.
‘‘My old man used to plough with horses and I always decided that when I got to a stage where I could afford it and had the time I’d give it a go.’’
Eaton has also been also around horses his entire life, but has more of an interest in machinery.
He began ploughing with the Waimea Plains club in the 1980s and has been competing on and off ever since.
While he has ploughing experience, ploughing with horses is new to him.
‘‘The tractor will go where you steer it, the horse will make up its own mind,’’ Eaton said. Macgregor said it took practise to get horses to go where they were meant to.
The pair will only have about four or five practises ahead of the competition, where they will face off against five other horse teams.
While competitors have more experience, the pair aren’t too concerned about the competition, as long as they do their best.
‘‘If we can just make a good job we will be happy with it,’’ Eaton said.
‘‘It’d be silly if we didn’t give it a shot when it’s in our home province.’’
They were excited to see the crowd reaction from the horses. Since horse ploughing was becoming a dying art, horses were always a drawcard for ploughing competitions, said Macgregor.
‘‘They’re a crowd Eaton said.
Thornbury Vintage Tractor Club is hosting the national ploughing championships on April 14 and 15.
Competitors will contest the conventional or ‘‘silver’’ plough class, reversible class, vintage class and horse class.
The winners of the conventional and reversible classes will then go on to compete at the World Ploughing Championships in Ohio, United States, next year. pleaser,’’