BELLEVIEW, FL (325today.com) – Imagine a horse that stands 76 inches tall, or one that weighs nearly 2,400 pounds?
Draft horses are showcasing their talents this weekend at the Grandview Invitational at the Florida Horse Park.
Veteran horseman Dean Woodbury was driving a hitch for Albert and Karen Cleve’s Indiana-based Blue Ribbon Farms Percherons featuring a pair of mares as the lead horses and a pair of geldings as the wheel horses. The draft horse breed originated in France.
The competition at this weekend’s event is fierce, with a strong lineup of talent where placings can easily change from one week to the next, according to Woodbury.
“The show industry in the U.S. has really come a long way,” said Woodbury. “The price of horses are good. Good horses are worth good money just like in any breed.”
Blue Ribbon Farms is deeply involved in all aspects of the industry, including raising, buying, selling, and training the horses they show.
“Albert and Karen (Cleve, Blue Ribbon Farms) are from Farmington, MO,” said Woodbury. “They were Botkin Lumber Company. We do have a partner from Germany, he owns a couple of horses.”
For Woodbury, the competition schedule is less hectic than in previous years, but he still participates in 12 to 14 shows annually.
“We’ll go from here to WEC. It’s kind of our winter run,” he said. “We used to go to Loveland and Denver (Colorado) before we came here, but the last couple of years, we kind of backed out of that.”
Blue Ribbon Farms maintains a stable of 22 to 25 horses. Although they previously ran an all-mare hitch, Woodbury suggested they might return to that approach in the future.
Albert and Karen Cleve, now retired from Botkin Lumber Company, still display the company’s logo on their wagon. However, it’s the four-horse hitch that draws the crowd’s attention.
“It’s kind of a cool thing, if you can get some of those advertising sponsors,” Woodbury noted.
Corporate sponsorships have long played a role in the sport. Major names such as the Chicago Cubs, Ames Construction, and Chesapeake Bay Oil Company have been involved, he said.
Years ago, hitches were commonly sponsored by meatpacking companies, and global brands like Budweiser continue to be a strong presence in the industry.
“Carlsberg beer out of Canada had three hitches on the road that showed and had their names on the wagons,” Woodbury recalled.
Draft horses, often referred to as “gentle giants,” remain crowd favorites. At one point, Blue Ribbon had more than 100,000 followers on social media, Woodbury said.
One of the wheel horses in the hitch stands nearly 19 hands high (a hand equals four inches). A mare that competed on Jan. 30 weighed 2,250 pounds, though Woodbury once had a horse that tipped the scales at nearly 2,400 pounds.