After a month-long spell of inclement weather that has gripped the area the Harness Horse Youth Foundation/Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association’s Ohio Grand Tour 2019 was greeted by pristine skies and temperatures in the low 70’s at the Crawford County Fairgrounds on Monday, June 3rd as they began their 10-day trek through Ohio .
Fair Official David Staats welcomed the small entourage with their six Trottingbreds and did a fine job of hosting HHYF director Ellen Taylor’s crew and their guests as he had the stalls and track ready and in tip-top shape.
The morning’s activities included hands-on demonstrations with question and answer sessions about horse anatomy, temperament, care, and equipment which was all very informative and entertaining.
We all got to know what each part of a horse is called and why their height is measured in “hands.”
As one older observer said : “I’ve been around horses for fifty years and I didn’t know that!”
Everyone double-checked the equipment trying to find which piece had been purposely put on wrong.
With a break for lunch the kids and their instructors then got the animals ready to jog. As they shared the specially-built two seat jogcart with a licensed Standardbred trainer, they took a five-minute lap around the half-mile track, and really enjoyed being out in the fresh air.
A leisurely jog past the Bucyrus water tower.
When they finished rubbing the horses down and put away with a well-earned flake of hay and fresh water, the youngsters were treated to a virtual reality headset experience of driving in a race. It was just like being behind a fast pacer in the middle of eight other horses as they went a mile in a minute and :55 seconds. The only thing was that you can’t say “oh my,” “wow,” or “oh boy” when you’re in a real race as that kind of “distracts” the other drivers especially if one yells “there’s a horse right behind me!”
Everyone had a good laugh.
Before anyone realized it, the day was over and we started packing up.
Plaudits to Bucyrus and the Crawford County Fairgrounds and appreciative “thank you” for having us and we’re already looking forward to next year. Now on to more of "The Ohio Country!"
By Thom Pye
for the Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association