My daughters and I returned to the Florida State Fair this week for a fun day with none of our own animals being exhibited…

It was the day for the Southern Draft Horse Association Pulling Competition Finals…

In the past we would have been able to show our horses at the Fair…

We would compete with our girls…….under saddle…..in halter class…..log skidding…..and in harness & cart…

But no more………….

…..our competition was removed…….to make way for……..

…..Riding Lawn Mower Races…….

…..%$#@#$&^%$#$%^&…..

………….I kid you not!………….

So on this day of the Southern Draft Horse Association Pulling Finals, we headed back to the Fair for our draft horse competition “fix”.

………….It’s quite an interesting slice of the population…….

…..being from rural Ohio, I expected to see the Amish and the Mennonites with any exhibition including draft horses…….

*******The Amish*******

…..and now living in the South…….

…..there’s a whole passel full of Bubba’s and Junior’s…….

…..plus, you get your garden-variety of Skeeter’s, Tater’s, Zep’s & Zacks…….not to mention the Jethro’s and John Boy’s…….

…..more times than not the horses have really similar names like…….”Levi & Doc”…..or “Joker & Buck”…….and “Walker & Max”…….(and those were actual team names).

…..at past competitions I have heard teams called “Bubba & Junior” being driven by Junior & Bubba…….

…..I’m sad to say…….you just can’t make these things up!

A truck with a HUGE dynamometer was used to measure the competition poundage…

The winning dynamometer weight was 4200 lbs (or 54,500 lbs of rolling weight), which had to be moved twenty feet in a set amount of time…

~~~It really was a great day…….I even cut the price tags off my new pair of overalls for the event (my Aunt Corey sent the new overalls to me from Sear & Roebuck in Ohio)…….

…..and I noticed…….a number of the teamsters were wearing their new overalls for the occasion too…

At the beginning, my girls and I sat on the first level of the bleacher to watch the competition…….

…..then one by one, we went down to sit in the dirt at the ringside-rail…

(I was right next to two older Amish gentlemen, sitting in their chairs, holding their competitor sheets clandestinely on their laps…….)

They were betting on the teams!!!

…..ooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh!…….they would be in sooooooooo much trouble, if their wives found out!!!

…..I remember enough German-slang (*****Pennsylvania Dutch*****) to know they weren’t happy with the efforts of several of the teams…

The rest of the day on the Fair’s Midway was rounded out with iced tea, roasted turkey legs, and a bag of three-colored cotton candy…….mmmmmmm.

……………………………………………Life is Good…………………………………………..