The latest trip to Pennsylvania had Terry delivering nearly two dozen drafts to the sale barn and more to Amish farmers. It also had him delivering another agricultural product — tobacco. It is the same tobacco he helped plow and harrow fields for, plant, harvest, put up, and bale (all with horse-power or by hand) this past season. As for sleigh ride conditions - ouch. Not as good as you think. Our own fields are at this very moment still decent enough, but our attempt to do sleigh rides at a party this past weekend failed miserably. In spots, the snow was so deep as to cause our struggling team (the massive Danny & Dakota) to bend the pole. Being a metal pole, it did not break and was easily straightened afterwards. Had we opted to use our antique sleigh with wooden pole and eveners, the result surely would have been a "sleigh-stranding" deep in the woods of Lebanon!
Photos: Top: 700lb bales of tobacco headed to the buyer.
Middle: Sleigh driving - one part joy, two parts luck. Our metal pole is bent as our horses attempt to turn around in what turned out to be a deep snow drift.
Bottom: Although plowed areas are bare of snow, the fields and trails have areas that are still nearly three feet deep.
I only managed to get out 2x this year with our sleigh. It turns out I'm a winter sissy and don't want to be out in the cold.
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