"Look back on our struggle for freedom,Trace our present day's strength to its source;
And you'll find that man's pathway to glory
Is strewn with the bones of a horse." - Anonymous
My husband has been quick to criticize the media, computers in particular, when in conversation about the evil plaguing today's society. No surprise. Terry is very fond of saying, "I was born 100 years too late". What he means by that isn't so much that he doesn't like modern-day amenities, but that he takes great satisfaction in the virtues of hard labor and Yankee ingenuity, with a bit of bartering thrown in for good measure. There's no negotiating with a machine on the other side of the telephone, and he prefers an honest handshake to a signature on paper when finishing a deal.
It completely baffles us as to how little people know about the muscle power it took to build this country, and what it takes to currently sustain us. The press we have gotten with Jeremy Dean's Hummer Cart, and the comments and criticisms he has endured because of it, is a good case in point. One of the most prevalent criticisms we have seen is in regard to the horses (ours) that are pulling it. The modified Hummer, weighing in at 2000 lbs, seems like such an enormous weight to the layperson. To a teamster, whose horses plow the fields or harvest timber from the forest, 2000 lbs on car tires hardly registers. What concerns me most is that people are failing to REALLY get it, the way we get it. That horsepower, as in HORSE power, really is a viable alternative to fossil fuel. That we really CAN sustain ourselves with our own sweat, that hard labor is good for us - mind, body and soul. Yankee ingenuity isn't just about invention, but reinvention.
So the next time you hear someone criticize the carriage industry, or you question the sanity of a farmer who leaves the tractor in the barn and takes his horse out to plow instead, consider your own frame of mind. Remember and give honor to those whose sweat this great country was built with.
See a video of the Hummer Cart at the bottom of this blog. Be sure to turn off the music playlist to hear the video!
Absolutely true! People have no idea how much POWER is behind real horsepower that they think that two horses pulling a 2000lb vehicle on wheels is hard. Little do they appreciate what horses are capable of and have accomplished in the past (and are still capable of doing).
ReplyDeleteFurther, horsepower is MORE efficient than steam power, and about equally as efficient as the internal combustion engine.
As usual, Elaine, beautifully articulated. Some people will never get it. I've said all my life I was born 100 years too late too. I'm glad for that. If it wasn't that way, I night have missed getting "it" too, and for that I'm grateful, ang grateful for others who get it like you and Terry.
ReplyDeleteElaine,I didn't hear or read any negatives,though too many people these days feel using horses is abusing horses,the concept seems to be the ''in thing'' right now,despite experts in the field that can prove there is nothing cruel about working horses.Too many ill informed people have too much to say about what they don't know.We thought everything looked great,and your horses are beautiful !
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