Good Morning all.
Today at the Bannock County Fair (Pocatello)
was a Draft horse driveing demonstration. There were not as many teams there as promised to show up. Since we had a little bit of left over time I invited our Mountain Ridge Runner Kirby and his family down into the arena and let him drive a pair of Shires hooked to a hay wagon.
He did pretty good for only driving once or twice before. I hope he takes a lesson or two before he heads out on the Oregon trail or some where with Cloud hooked to a buggy.
He told me that one of the characters in a soon to be written book, will have a stage coach driver in it and use his sons name .
Wow, folks, what a charge! It would be easy to get addicted to driving a wagon. No, I wasn't much good at it, most which I will say in my defense was because I was trying to get sea legs at the same time I was driving. What a combination. I would have felt better if I had had a four foot dash to rest against instead of the one I was leaning my hip against and half expecting to get yanked over at any time!
It was quite comical watching me jackknife this wagon, or at least it would have been from a distance. It wasn't so comical being the one doing it! Dell is a master at it, and they had a few other folks that would put me to shame any day. But man, it really was fun, and I sure hope it won't be the last time I get to do it. Driving down a paved road a couple years ago wasn't nearly as much fun as having a whole arena full of dirt!
By the way, I hate to even mention any new books, since I don't have the time I'd like to to devote to writing, but the book Dell mentioned will be called "Knight of the Ribbons," which is a romantic name they called a stage coach driver back then. Ribbons or lines are what they call the leather straps that correspond to a saddle horse's reins--not "reigns," as I've seen it spelled a hundred times! Anyway, I guess stagecoach drivers were considered a fairly romantic type because of the skill it took to do the job well. My middle son, Clay Logan, will be the hero of that story, about a young man who goes west after his fiance dies and becomes a stage station worker, then makes his way up through the ranks until he has to go after a stagecoach robber who murdered his good friend and shotgun guard in cold blood. The trail may lead Clay Logan all the way to France in the 1880's if I get to do the book the way I'd like. Imagine that--a Western that ends in France. That will probably be a first!
Kirby ...
You better come help us hook up a six of Shires this week .. It won't be quite the same as a six on a stage coach but it might give you some things to add into your story.
One thing will be the amount of work that the hostlers put in to harness and unharness all those horses. Even with stage coach harness being only somewhat lighter than freight harness. And threading the lines from front to back. ANd the weight of the lines ... They were made out of leather and depending on how wide and how thick, they add up to several pounds. Then depending on how hard mouthed the horses were, the forward pull on the lines added more pressure on the drivers hands, arms, shoulders and back. Add to that the swaying and bumping, a coachdriver and or freighter had to be in pretty good shape.
Bring your camera and spend a few hours to observe from the harnessing to the finish. I think we can even work in a short stretch with you on the lines ...
MULE