For the first time, the National Western will host the North American Classic Series Six-Horse Hitch final championship – what some folks call the draft-horse “super bowl.”
Only a dozen teams – the crème de la crème of the heavy-horse world – have qualified to literally shake the Events Center in pursuit of top honors Jan. 18-21.
“This is regarded as one of the elite draft-horse shows,” said Brad Ettelman, horse-show manager for the National Western. “We heard it (the finals) was out there, so we bid it and got it.”
Make no mistake, the big guys with the big credentials will be here to make some Rocky Mountain thunder.
“There are some serious competitors coming to play,” said Dennis Kuehl, draft-horse superintendent at the National Western. “This is a unique opportunity. It’s really something.”
Lynn Telleen of the Draft Horse Journal, based in Waverly, Iowa, predicted, “This show will be a big draw.”
With feet the size of dinner plates, hitches of massive Belgians, Percherons and Clydesdales will pound two-by-two-by-two into the arena.
Judges will look at conformation, performance and driving skill, with an eye for “flash,” Ettelman said.
Horses in the teams must be closely matched in size, appearance, legwork and motion.
“They’re judged on their way of going,” said Kuehl, who raises, works and shows Belgians, though not in the National Western. “The competitors will spend days and days looking for six horses that go together the same way.”
For performance, Kuehl said, “it’s not driving one horse; it’s driving six, and they have to be made to look like they’re in charge of that wagon.”
The goal of those seeking the title “is to have the six-hitch team look like three horses when you see them from the side,” Kuehl said of synchronization.
To do that, the drivers spend a lot of time working the horses as teams, breaking off the lead pair, then the middle, or swing, pair, and finally, the wheel pair, those closest to the wagon.
Lead horses are the flashy ones, providing the hitch’s first impression. The swing horses are the powerhouses, and the wheel horses provide braking.
Kuehl said all of the horses must show the judges a lot of what’s called hock action – a high and steady front-end lifting of legs – so they look like they’re prancing all the time.
Qualifiers for the finals hail from California, Iowa, Ontario, Ohio, Oklahoma, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New York and Minnesota.
Harold Schumacher of Plainview, Minn., is bringing his Percherons to the finals, although he has shown at the National Western for “longer than I hate to tell – maybe 20 years.”
“I love coming to Denver,” he said. “The crowds are so enthusiastic and it’s our winter vacation because the weather is so different than back here in Minnesota. And they put on a class act.”
The road to the world championship is long, with qualifying points collected at 50 shows.
“We happen to be the second-highest point hitch in Percheron,” Schumacher said.
For the Schumachers, driving horses is a family affair that began in the mid-1970s. “You can’t do it alone,” Schumacher said. “It’s like a ball club – you have to have a whole bunch of people involved.”
His son, David, is the driver, unusual in the top-tier competitions where most teams have hired drivers. Schumacher’s grandchildren also assist.
All that work pays off as the hair on each driver’s neck stands up as the team comes down the alleyway into the arena. That’s when the horses’ heads come up, a sparkle appears in their eyes and their legs pound higher.
“They love this,” Kuehl said of the 1-ton horses. As for handling the hitch’s reins, he said, “There’s no way to describe the feeling.”
Staff writer Ann Schrader can be reached at 303-278-3217 or aschrader@denverpost.com.
