The History of Horse Pulls

By Guy Scott

Back in the 1800s, every farmer had a team of heavy horses on the farm. Originally oxen were the draft animals of the earliest pioneers, but horses were preferred and as soon as a farmer could afford horses, the oxen disappeared. By the late 1800s, oxen had become uncommon. These did all the traditional farm practices including plowing, harvesting, threshing, and hauling. Horses were the sole form of transportation until the internal combustion engine and its trucks, cars and tractors came along. Horses also powered the lumbering industry, so very important to local history.

One of the traditional uses of horses was clearing the fields for farming. This involved moving logs and stumps from the newly-cleared fields, but it also involved moving rocks as well. It is safe to say the area had more than its fair share of rocks. To make working the fields easier, it was necessary to pick up the smaller stones (or any stones that could be moved!) and draw them off the fields. Sometimes the stones were totally cleared from the field, and other times they were piled in one spot. Due to the nature of our land, rock picking was not a one-time event, but often was necessary at regular intervals. Rocks seemed to “grow” in the fields as the frost heaved up whole new crops of stone regularly.

The rocks were usually collected in a flat-bottomed implement called a “stone boat”. The implement was towed along the ground by a team of horses and was shaped like a flat-bottomed boat or scow. Rocks were added by hand, so the stone boat had very low sides. A good team of horses was measured by the size of the load of stones it could drag off the field. Thus the horse pull was invented. A pulling contest was on the schedule for the first Somerville Fair way back in 1872.

While many farm teams also worked in the bush and drew heavy loads of logs, the stone boat with its rock supply was easier to load and unload than logs. The original stone boats were made of wood, but metal was preferred as it was lighter and more durable. The rules of the competition were simple. A small load of (handy) rocks was tossed in the stone boat and each team took a turn dragging the boat a set distance. After a successful pull, more rocks were added and the draws repeated. The winner was the team that was still able to complete the distance or pulled the farthest on the last pull.

As tractors replaced horse-power and the number of farmers in our area declined, the same decline in horse teams occurred. After the Second World War, draw pulling horses became very rare. Soon the horse pull at the Kinmount Fair was reduced to a contest between the two lumber companies (Austin and Phillips) who maintained pulling teams for winter logging. Stone boats were rare as the few farmers left in the area ceased struggling with the rocks. Horse pulls at many of the Fairs disappeared and only a few contests continued. But draft horses began to make a comeback in the 1960s. Some farmers kept them out of novelty or tradition. A few still used them in bush work. And the heavy horse pulls began to creep back into the Fair lineups. Horse Pulling Organizations sprang up to make the sport more competitive and widespread. The stones used for weight were replaced by cement slabs; much easier to handle! Stones were still in use as late as the 1960s. On one occasion at Kinmount Fair, the match ran out of stone for weight. Rather than search for more, several men were added to the boat. By the time the competition ended, at least 6 men were “riding” the boat! Other Fairs used trucks for weight, but cement slabs did look better!

In the 1970s, the National Film Board of Canada made a documentary called “Heavy Horse Pull”. The film makers followed horse pulls at local Fairs including Kinmount, Bobcaygeon and Lindsay. The key actor was Mac McGillvray from Cardiff, who always called Kinmount his “home fair”. Check out Monty Robson narrating a piece of history!