43
WORTH the WEIGHT
Photo
Bobby Howard of Acme, Pa., drives his horses down the track as they drag a sled filled with 6,500 pounds during Monday morning’s Draft Horse Pig Iron Derby.
By Kalea Hall
CANFIELD
For those vying in the pig iron derby, it is all about the competition.
It’s all about who can get that full pull with the most weight.
In this case, a full pull is 27 feet and the weight can go up to 8,000 pounds. Winners got from $500 for first place to $100 for 10th place.
“You gotta love it or you are not gonna do it,” said Merv Miller of Middlefield, Ohio.
The official 75th Draft Horse Pig Iron Derby took place at 8 a.m. Monday at the Canfield Fair grandstand and was a free event for fairgoers, who numbered 233,937 over the five days of the fair this year, down 16,438 from 2013’s total.
As for the pig iron derby, “it’s tradition,” said Jim Brown, fair board member who oversees the derby. “[The competitors] have to work those horses all year. It’s a case where they really care for their horses.”
When Brown says horses, he means the big ones. Some of them weigh 2,600 pounds each. Those would be in the heavyweight division. This year, the lightweight division had three teams and the heavyweight had seven.
On average there are about 15 to 20 teams competing, but this year the pull fell on the same date as another pull in Ohio, which lowered the number of competitors in Canfield.
Bill Howard of Acme, Pa., drove 130 miles for this year’s pull. He has been coming here for 30-plus years, and this year he came with eight Belgian horses.
He received first, second and third in the lightweight division this year and sixth in heavyweight.
“It was worth the drive,” he said. “We go everywhere.”
By everywhere, that includes West Virginia and New York. The horses are worked every day to prepare them for the pull season.
“You train them just like an athlete,” Howard said.
Charlie Brown, also of Acme, Pa., brought four Belgians to the pull Monday. He has come to the Canfield Fair for the past four years, but has been in the pulling world all of his life — more than 30 years.
Both Brown teams competed in the heavyweight division. His team received third, and his brother’s got second place.
“I guess it’s the competition because it sure ain’t the money,” Brown said, explaining why he participates in the pig iron derby.
Miller has been in the derby 12 times and has won it six times. His two horses, Rex and Jake, which weigh 5,200 pounds together, took the cake again this year in the heavyweight competition.
“[The Browns] beat us a week ago in Meadville, Pa., and we got them today,” Miller said.
Miller’s horses also won the Geauga County Fair’s pull. His horses get two hours of work each day.
“We work them on sleds and heavier loads for conditioning,” Miller said. “I’ve loved horses since I was a little kid, and the bigger they are the more I like them.”