print this article send this article submit / view links find a typo - win a prize

LUNENBURGâ-"A near perfect fall day saw a farming tradition continue in Stormont County and the unofficial stars of the day were a team of black Percherons named Mac and Prince. The plowing match on October 10 was the first opportunity for most in the county to see the brawny team that won big at the 2009 International Plowing Match in Temiskaming earlier in the fall.

For the first time in recent memory the top draught horse awards at the IPM came home to Stormont County.

The young team of geldings owned by Marwin and Kathy Antoine made more than an impressive showing, taking grand champions in the walking plow class, best dressed harness team, and reserve high points for the match. Always excellent ambassadors for the breed, they also received high score for Percherons at the match.

The Antoines, who live near Lunenburg, bred heavy horses for many years and have been competing for more than a decade. Itâ-™s certainly the first time since theyâ-™ve been involved that a local team has done that well, says Kathy.

Still young at five and six years of age, 2009 was the young horsesâ-™ first full year of competition. Mac and Prince are also the first geldings the Antoines have competed with, having in the past used a team of their own mares. The temperament of the geldings, they find, is considerably more stable and consistent.

Mac and Prince are in fact the first team they didnâ-™t breed themselves. Marwin fell in love with the pair at the Topeka, Indiana, Draft Horse Auction and brought them home, she explains.

And not only did the horses do well at the IPM, but the Antoines had a wonderful time and made some new friends. Plowing matches are a very social event, an opportunity for a small group of plowmen to met and enjoy each otherâ-™s company, but the Temiskaming IPM was exceptionally good.

â-śThe people were unbelievable,â-ť says Kathy in accommodating them and the horses. â-śAnyone who didnâ-™t go this year missed a good thing.â-ť

Marwinâ-™s father used Percherons as did Kathyâ-™s grandfather and is what they were raised with, she says. They bought a small farm and their first draught horses in the mid-1980s. â-śWe wanted something we could do some work with,â-ť she says, and work they did. They bred Percherons, having 15 to 25 head at any given time, and with some rented land worked and pastured about 125 acres. But, theyâ-™ve scaled back the operation to a hobby-sized farm. They sold their stallion last year and are, she says, â-śjust enjoying them now.â-ť

The competitive plowing season for the Antoines begins in mid-August with the Hastings County Farm Show and Plowing Match and ends back home at Thanksgiving for the Stormont County Match. As the Christmas season approaches they and the horses are much in demand and their wagon rides a holiday tradition in the community.

Draught house tradition is the driving force behind what they do and why they do it. Each spring they and the horses make their way to a 45-acre maple bush near Seeleyâ-™s Bay. The bush and lake frontage is what remains of Marwinâ-™s family farm and for six weeks they and the team tap the bush and produce about 125 gallons of syrup. Marwin stays at the camp on the lake for the full sugaring-off season and Kathy drives home a couple of times a week to tend to the chores that their children and â-śvery good neighboursâ-ť canâ-™t manage for them. They use a pipeline but hang a few buckets just for the fun of it. Making syrup the way it once was made is a working holiday of sorts that also includes sleigh rides at night with friends. The horses were particularly useful in the 2008 season. They would not have gotten into the bush without them that year, says Kathy, as the snow was so high no other manner of vehicle could manage it.

â-śPlowing with a tractor is a skill. Plowing with horses is an artâ-ť, says Kathy, quoting, an Eastern Ontario plowman of note, Lloyd Van Dusen.

A master of the art â-" he plowed in his first match in 1927- Van Dusen was generous in sharing his knowledge with other plowmen and always the man to beat. â-śHe was that goodâ-ť, she says of the Mallorytown man.

With most plowmen now over the age of 50 and into their late 70s, there is always a worry that the tradition may in time die out, she says. In their small band of plowmen there are about six young men and women competing. She reckons they need to get one new plowman involved a year to hold their own. â-śI would hate to go to the plowing match and find no horses there.â-ť

Related Web Sites