Fair hosts largest Six-Horse-Hitch Event on the continent
2009-09-05
Medieval jousting takes over the Coliseum on Labor Day
The New York State Fair today hosted the largest six-horse hitch competition in North America, bringing 22 teams before a packed crowd at the Coca-Cola Coliseum.
The event was one of the most prestigious involving draft-horse teams - groups of six one-ton, perfectly groomed animals pulling a gleaming, historically restored wagon - held on the continent.
The winner was the leading Belgian horse hitch in North America: Hammersmith Belgians of Defiance, Ohio. Today's second-place winner was the leading horse hitch in the United States in 2008.
"We have the best horses in North America, and we have great horse shows," said Naomi Blumenthal, the Fair's horse show superintendent. "Since the start of the Fair there have been a couple of thousand horses competing here."
There is one more full day of horse events remaining at the Fair. Sunday's schedule at the Coca-Cola Coliseum will include championships for the Four-Horse Hitch, Morgan, Friesian and Saddlebred championships.
On Labor Day, the coliseum will be taken over by Medieval warriors on horseback as Paragon Jousting puts on three action-packed shows at 1, 4 and 7 p.m.
-30-