Annual crowd-pleaser Horse Pull carries its weight at Winter Show
A popular event at the annual North Dakota Winter Show is the horse pull, a competition that challenges both drivers and their draft horses to know their limits and push those limits in order to gain glory and prestige on the hallowed arena grounds within the Winter Show Events Center Main Arena, where horse pulls have been an element since the earliest days of the now 86-year-old event.
“It conjures up memories of the olden days when people would feed their livestock with horses,” Beth Didier, one of the organizers of the NDWS Horse Day, said. “The drivers are called teamsters and they drive the two horses, the team of horses, they’ll come in and be weighed ... there’s two pulls going on at the same time, there’s a percentage pull and a straight weight pull.”
The percentage pull calculates what percentage of the horse’s actual weight is being pulled, whereas the straight weight pull simply ranks the team based on the sheer volume of weight that is pulled. The teamsters must choose which class they want to go in by the morning of the event. Successfully completing a pull earns a certain amount of points, but even if the pull is incomplete, points are awarded based on the distance achieved.
“It’s been a consistently huge event over the years, especially with the elderly people,” Didier said. “They love to come out and see, it takes back to their childhood, working with the horses. A lot of them can remember doing chores that way.”
The horse events, including the team events and draft horse and pony pull, will be held on Thursday, March 9th, beginning at 8 a.m.