Horse Progress Days Is Here!

a report from Robert C. Yoder of NY
photographs by Eric Grutzmacher

5am, Thursday July 3, found us enroute to Clare, Michigan. Driver and friend Ed Ficken, his partner, Sarah, my dear wife Rachel and I launched ourselves into the ever thickening streams of traffic of the upcoming holiday. There were slowdowns for construction, and sometimes stopping or creeping around and through the cities of Buffalo and Cleveland. All food and restroom stops were packed with people.

Finally coming to Toledo, we were able to head north, with still a lot of traffic. Whenever traveling through Toledo, I have to think of the almost war between Michigan and Ohio, in the late 1830s, before Michigan became a state. They claimed an 8 mile strip along Lake Erie which included the, even then, busy port city of Toledo. Both governors called up troops and passions rose high. President Jackson sent peacemakers to resolve the dispute, giving Ohio the city and Michigan the Upper Peninsula. That is why Michigan has the huge Upper Peninsula, which looks like it belongs to Wisconsin.

We finally arrived at the Alvin Yoder farm at about 5:30 pm. Awaiting us was Eric Grutzmacher, all the way from Sisters, Oregon, with a small trailer load of Small Farmer’s Journal magazines and books. Eric, SFJ webmaster and photographer extraordinaire, is now also our friend. With his help, we soon had three tables set up, SFJ banners unfurled, boxes unloaded and were ready for HPD #31.

We had comfortable lodging and good conversations at nephew Firman and Ada Yoder’s farm. From their back porch were visible their dairy herd, busily grazing, also their five well cared for Belgian horses. They live close to Marion, about 30 miles west of Clare.

Early morning on the Fourth, after a delicious breakfast, a by-now HPD tradition, we arranged the books and magazines on the tables and I set out for the field. Rachel, assisted by her grand-nieces Anita and Joanna Yoder on Friday, and Esther Mae and Miriam on Saturday, able manned – or womened – the SFJ booth. Eric was busy with his camera, occasionally returning to the shade of the vendor area for relief from the heat of the sun.

The Clare, Michigan Amish community started with families from Holmes County, Ohio in October of 1980. Information published in the 2024 Budget has their population at about 1300 people in eleven church districts. Compare with Lancaster, PA or Holmes, Ohio with over 40,000 people and 300 (plus or minus) church districts each. Northern Indiana, another HPD site, along with the almost contiguous Nappanee area, have about 38,000 people in over 280 church districts. Davies, IN and Arthur, IL have over 30 church districts. Hosting Horse Progress Days requires a lot of horses or mules, and the people who know how to use them, so the bigger the base to work from, the more practical it is to host this event. Also, most of the horse drawn equipment manufacturers are in the larger settlements. Not only does Clare have a smaller base to work from, they also are a fair bit further north than the normal horse farming beaten path. The town of Clare prides itself on being “The Gateway to the North.”

That said, Clare also has many advantages. Gateway Equipment – probably named for the Clare slogan – is on the Alvin Yoder farm, where HPD is held. They are the dealer for almost all horse drawn equipment available, along with stocking parts, operating a welding and repair shop, along with supplying equipment for rent. This makes Clare the Mecca for all horse farmers for the whole state of Michigan. The Alvin Yoder farm is also host to several large equipment auctions a year. The community still has a lot of dairy farmers, along with a produce auction and many produce farmers. So yes, the base is smaller, but very vigorous. These people know how to feed and handle large crowds, very evident in HPD #31. I sometimes think the equipment dealers are the unsung heroes of HPD, often doing a lot of work behind the scenes for a smooth running event.

The state of Michigan is home to more than 50 Amish and several horse and buggy Mennonite settlements. Many of these are small, one-church districts only, and widely scattered throughout the state. John Paul Kauffman, overall coordinator for the event, lives in Hastings, probably 90 miles from Clare. Another of the committee members lives in Mio, 65 miles north of Clare. Just traveling to meetings to plan HPD means a commitment of miles and hours. And, there are many of these meetings.

Anyways, Horse Progress Days is here! Heading for the announcing wagon in the field, I fight off the normal knot in my stomach. I have been tasked with the first hour of announcing equipment. Regardless of how often I have done this, my stomach still has pre-game jitters. First up, manure spreaders, a smaller forecart pulled with 2 Fjords from Daran Nelson. Very fitting to have Fjords used in Rich Horovy’s home area. Rich had been a national committee member and long time Fjord breeder. The manure spreader is a Lancaster, one of the main horse drawn spreaders today. The forecart, a Homestead, all the way from Lodi, Ohio. Sharing the announcing, for horses, is the eloquent Henry Detweiler. The manure spreaders continue, fittingly.

Spreading manure before plowing has for us always been the traditional way of enhancing fertility of the land. Our Anabaptist forefathers are credited with bringing legumes and grasses to the denuded hills of Europe, allowing them to keep more livestock, thereby producing more manure. More manure made more crops, allowing them to keep more livestock. Fertility increased so rapidly in Anabaptist managed land that local farmers accused them of witchcraft.

But I digress. Back to HPD. The second spreader is from Acculine Innovation, a Michigan company. A metal frame covered with high density plastic is a completely new innovation. Ground driven, pulled by 2 horses, it very smoothly unloads. I am not a big fan of plastic, but this might be one application where it is fitting.

An 85 bushel 4 wheel spreader, from Sunset Equipment in Somerset, PA, does good work. Somerset is the starting point for many of our large Amish settlements, including Holmes County in 1809 and Elkhart, Lagrange Indiana in 1841. This is the first new horse drawn equipment from there. They also manufacture the steel wheels formerly built by Pioneer Equipment.

Another Lancaster spreader, this one a 100 bushel with a Family Farm Innovations forecart, is up next. Family Farm Innovations are the builder of the 25′ ahead-of-horse mower, which debuted in Clare 7 years ago. The Lancaster Model P185 is the first engine powered spreader shown today, powered by a Trailways 35HP forecart pulled by 4 horses.

Our community in Canastota, NY has twenty grass based dairy farms. Very little tillage is done here, so most of the manure is spread on pasture. If the grazing rotation is under 35 or so days, manure spread with a normal spreader can cause a lot of refusal, or non-grazed grass by dairy cows. The model PX20 Lancaster spreader is made to help alleviate this problem. It has an end gate with a beater system designed to throw the shredded manure from the beaters onto a rapidly rotating spinner system, thereby spreading a wide and thin swath of manure. The spreader is available with a mounted engine, or PTO for a motor cart. It can spread fine litter down to 1/2 ton per acre, up to heavy pack manure. Powering this today is the Millers Equipment 120HP forecart pulled with 4 horses, more power than normally necessary.

Next up fertilizer and chicken litter spreaders from Kirkwood and Mullets Machinery, then a dump trailer that operates with a hand operated winch from Gateway. This dumped a load of manure to show the capabilities of a new push blade from Acculine Innovation. This blade is raised and lowered with a hand operated hydraulic system. I am impressed by how fast the blade can be moved by hand pumping. The blade can be easily angled or ends attached for pushing. Two horses are hitched to a very compact framework behind the blade. The driver is seated on a raised platform for good visibility. The rear single wheel is on a caster, allowing for almost turning-on-a-dime manueverability. This could be a much more economical answer to owning a loud fuel gulping and expensive skidloader. Scraping manure in alleyways, leveling gravel or soil, or pushing snow are jobs easily within this tool’s capability. Later in the afternoon it will demonstrate other applications using bale spears and loader forks. Once again we at HPD get to see a new idea in action.

Plowing, a HPD highlight, starts with an old Oliver walking plow. Sadly, many of our younger generation have never experienced the joys and subtleties of running a walking plow. I spent many hours in my growing up years at the handles of a walking plow, plowing sod in early spring, a tonic for both man and beast. Often in cold weather, February and March, where sitting on a riding plow seemed like the coldest place on Earth.

The next 3 plows are from White Horse, the preeminent plow builders today. First is their bare-bones, no-frills Model 208 Sulky, with 3 horses. Next is their Model 715 Leaf Spring Reset Sulky. Here in upstate New York, and many other rocky areas in the east, this reset system to allow the plow bottom to jump over rocks is almost a must. I used a 715 to plow our 1/9 acre garden this spring.

The Model 748, aptly named the Freedom Plow, pulled by six horses, has our first rope and pulley system for tandem horse use shown today. This allows the use of light ropes and pulleys hooked to the six horses and one 3 horse evener, instead of the cumbersome chain and two evener system used formerly. This was first introduced in the early HPD and has gained wide acceptance over the years. For a while, White Horse Machine’s owner Melvin King kept track of pulleys sold, until reaching 50,000. He thinks they have sold 80,000 by now. Of course, these pulleys can be used for other applications, but this still shows the strength of the horse-using market.

The Model 748 is a self-contained unit, no forecart needed. It is easily adjusted to run level, with a platform atop the 2 bottom frame, which has adequate bars for safety. The Leaf Spring Reset system makes this the perfect plow for rocky conditions. While announcing at another event, where the plow was visible from the back in a rocky field, the rapid reset action happened almost too fast to see.

White Horse has developed their own plow bottoms in different configurations to fit about any soil type. These are called Keystone bottoms and identified by number. Here in New York the most commonly used is the Keystone #4. White Horse also has a unique colter/skimmer combination, similar to the jointer/colter on tractor-drawn Oliver plows, many which our people used behind horses before new plows were available. These Oliver plows from the early tractor-drawn era were designed when doing a good, clean job of plowing was still important.

Now, here comes the highlight of the field demonstrations, the twelve horse hitch pulling a four bottom plow. Twelve stately Belgians owned by local farmers, one of whom is David C. Yoder. The plow, an old four-bottom tractor plow, the ropes and the heavy-duty four horse evener are the only assets owned by Horse Progress Days. These are moved from each event to the next in line of the six areas where HPD are held. The plow has had extensive repair over the years, with each local committee vying to make improvements.

The story behind the 12 horse hitch is an interesting one, and it starts with Floyd Borntrager of Goshen, Indiana. Floyd is the lone surviving member of the four man group that founded HPD. Anyways, Floyd came into possession of a 4 bottom tractor plow – not the one shown here – and innovator that he is, had a hankering to use it with horses. The main problem was coming up with a rope and pulley hitch for three rows of horses. Two rows are easy; two pulleys and two ropes with hooks for the traces at each end for each two horses. Floyd came up with a double pulley system – after consulting with his children’s science teacher – similar to a come-along or snatch block. This worked well. One day, Floyd decided to see how much he could plow with this outfit. All by himself he harnessed and hitched all 12 horses. He was able to plow 15 acres in 9 hours – quite an achievement!

Today at Clare – which is in the midst of a dry spell – the plow has a hard time achieving the depth needed. The plow and drivers overall did a good job. The question begs to be asked and answered: does this make sense? Is it practical? The answer for most of us, is probably, no. However, in the pages of Small Farmer’s Journal, I remember a photo of the legendary Jiggs Kinney, of Iowa, using a 3 bottom with 10 horses, strung out in 3 rows. 50 acre fields a half-mile long, and all at once, a 12 horse, four bottom plow no longer looks out of place. On our small Amish farms with 10 to 15 acre fields, this outfit would be impractical. But, it is nice to see it done at HPD.

Soil fitting is next in line after plowing, led out by a 7′ disc pulled with 4 horses and an 8′ culti-mulcher with 6. Both are manufactured by Homestead Equipment, from Lodi, Ohio, owned by Noah Hochstetler. The venerable Shipshe Culti-mulcher, the first of the newly made culti-mulchers developed by Maynard Miller of Shipshewana, Indiana, now built by Yoder Ag of Middlebury, Indiana, is next, with 4 horses. Maynard is now on the national HPD board.

A 10′ spike drag from Millers Equipment is presented, then the only powered tiller, I think a Maschio with a Millers Equipment 140HP forecart. A 2-row planter, and an Esch Grain Drill, followed by 5 different field sprayers took us to tine weeders and cultivators. Two of the sprayers were from IVA Manufacturing, Lancaster, PA, one with a 40′ boom and another with a 50 footer.

After the 12 horse hitch, the announcing was done by Romaine Graber, farmer and auctioneer from Charlotte, Michigan. He did a great job.

Acculine Innovation had one cultivator, Miller’s Repair Shop of Lagrange, Indiana, had another. Mervin Miller, who owns Miller’s Repair Shop, is a good friend, one of the reasons HPD has become not only an equipment show, but also a reunion.

The highlight just before lunch were the two newly designed and manufactured combines. The AgriFlex, manufactured by Houston Run Manufacturing from Lancaster, PA, Jonas Stoltzfus owner, and marketed by Byron Seeds, Parke County, IN, owned by Samuel Fisher, pulled by a Spring Side 100HP forecart with four horses was shown first. This machine can combine any small grains with the easily interchangeable grain head, and pick and shell corn with the corn head. The corn head is for two rows, the grain head has an 80″ cut width. The heads and auger are hydraulically controlled, capable of picking up heavy, downed or lodged crops.

The Comet Harvester, made by Hilltop Machine of Shipshewana, IN, was shown next. This has the Navigator head, from Advance Systems, Waveland IN, for either corn or small grains. The grain head has a 9’6″ cut width. The Comet had a mounted engine. Much thought – and I am sure much trial and error – were involved in designing both of these machines. Many of the grain binders and old, small combines were built in the days of 70 bushel corn and 30 bushel wheat. Modern varieties and better fertility have pushed yields to 300 bushels for corn and 100 bushel wheat. Oats can easily go over 100 bushels an acre. Both of these combines were designed to handle these yields, in a small enough unit to be pulled with four horses.

Kudos to the developers of both of these combines, I would like to write more about them in later issues. Now was lunch break, time for some shade, something to eat and a cold drink, all in good supply at this event.

1 pm is starting time for the hay field. Friday afternoon is pleasant, low humidity. Steven Borntrager is the very knowledgeable announcer for the afternoon. At our very first HPD on the Floyd Borntrager farm in Goshen, IN, Floyd’s son Steven was a young teamster. Steven has worn many hats for this event, teamster, equipment coordinator, exhibitor, and now the second year announcing, a natural choice for the job.

A lawn mower, pulled by a single Fjord, starts the afternoon. The mower is by Acculine Innovation. A 9′ sickle mower from Cattail Equipment starts the hay mowers. The 9′ I&J from Lancaster, PA, is next. Jake Blank, owner of I&J, started the use of the German made ESM cutter bar in this country – and this started with contacts made at HPD. This is by far the most used mower in our New York community. These cutter bars are truly a game changing innovation. They are able to slice through already cut hay or be used in an upright position. The I&J is available either with a Honda engine or PTO.

Another 9′ with ESM cutter bar from Gateway is shown. The four wheel 9′ ESM cutter bar mower from EG’s Manufacturing, all the way from Holmes County, finishes the single 2 horse pulled mowers. This mower was designed and built by Jerry Miller and sons, and is a very comfortable mower. With the cutter bar ahead and to the right of where you sit, controls are handy and a safety shut-off is easily accessed.

Several years back a gruesome accident happened with an engine power, horse drawn mower – I do not know what brand – when the neckyoke unhooked from the tongue. When this happened, thankfully, the young lady driving was thrown off the seat, away from the cutter bar. However, the wildly swinging cutter bar ended up cutting the horses’ legs so badly, they had to be put down.

Adrian Knepp, from Knepps Power Carts, Davies, IN, came up with an ingenious solution to avoid this danger. A cord with a magnet is fastened to the driver; if the driver falls off the magnet pulls off, instantly shutting off the engine. HPD has been a potent force for promoting safety in modern horse farming.

Jake Blank, from I&J, once again brought a new idea to HPD. A twin 9′ ESM cutter bar mower, cutting 18′, powered by a 35HP Spring Side forecart, pulled by 3 horses.

The Family Farm Innovations 25′ ahead-of-horses mower was another HPD attention getter, especially 7 years ago when it was first demonstrated here at Clare. The germ of this idea came at HPD in Lancaster – not sure which one – when I&J demonstrated a mower they had built for a customer that wanted to mow both sides of a laneway at once. This was used in the hayfield, leaving the uncut center swath to when the mower came back through. This, of course, did sort of a ragged job mowing through where the horses had walked and mower wheels ran over.

Jonas H. Schlabach, from Holmes County, with his son Jacob watched this, and decided there had to be a better way. Thus was born the Family Farm Innovations 25′ Ahead of Horses mower. First thoughts are, this has to be an unwieldy, cumbersome thing, but such it is not. Horses are hitched either side of the center beam. The cutter bar in the middle and the one on each side – all ESMs – can be raised, lowered, and shut off separately. The driver is on a raised platform behind the horses, with controls in easy reach. The 20 some horsepower engine has adequate power for all three cutter bars. Steering for both axles makes it very maneuverable. It even has a built-in hydraulically operated hitching post, ahead of the horses, which is pushed into the ground with the weight of the machine. Jonas also added a safety feature where the operator’s foot needs to be on a switch, or the cutter bars shut off.

Also here are a discbine and number 488 haybine, both New Hollands. The discbine was used with a 120HP Millers Equipment forecart with 4 horses, the haybine with a Gingerich powercart. Several tedders were shown, with the ground drive Yoder Ag kick type tedder pulled by 4 horses the most eyecatching. The sides fold up on this for traveling on roads or through gates.

There are several rakes, rotary, a V rake and a double roll bar with Solanco Machinery’s connector system. The rakes and connection bar are engine hydraulically driven. Very ingenious stuff, my neighbor Steven Weaver rakes his hay using this system. The rakes are both New Holland, supplied by Gateway.

Baling hay is next with a New Holland small square baler, locally owned, with a mounted preservative applicator supplied by L&M Ag. The baler was towing a bale accumulator, which gathers the bales – I am not sure how many – and drops them in a compact unit, which is picked up and stacked with a skid loader with a special attachment for the purpose. This outfit was pulled by 4 horses, driven by local farmer Marvin Hershberger.

A Maschio large square baler, from Gateway, powered with a Spring Side 45HP powercart, pulled by Johnny Yoder’s four horses did good work, followed by 2 round balers, locally owned. One, a New Holland, also had an attached preservative applicator from L&M Ag.

A flat bed hay wagon pulling a hayloader is a welcome addition to hay making today, pulled by Joe Stutzman’s 2 horses. All of the modern machinery used with horses shown at this event might give one the impression that older style machinery is not being used. Not so. There are over 400,000 Amish and also some Mennonites using horses today, mostly in the US and Canada. Probably close to half of this population do not use any equipment that is not grounddriven. Many are produce growers and other small scale farmers. Grain growing, both for human use or organic livestock feed, is making a comeback. An awareness of the large scale farmers use of glyphosate to dry down their grain has created a market for small farmers willing to raise healthy grains and other food. So, I challenge the entrepreneurs and mechanically gifted among you to make practical machiner, like this hayloader, for this largely untapped market. Think of improving grain binders and threshing machines, many of which are still in use. There is still a huge market for improved and rebuilt John Deere Big 4 and McCormick #9 mowers. I would like to see rebuilt grain binders, perhaps with better bearings, as is seen in the ground drive kick tedders shown today. Ground drive technology was sidelined when tractor farming took over. Think of where ground driven machinery would be if its development would have continued. I would love to see an improved – or maybe even new! – grain binder cutting thick grain at HPD. This would still fit with the mission statement for this event.

Hay field work finishes up with various bale movers. Trail Farm Supply’s self contained unit, no forecart needed, easily handles 5 large bales. This, and the next one, by Farmland Bale Wrapper, has an engine driven hydraulic system to run the pick up arms and chain driven bale mover. Family Farm Innovations shows their ingenious single bale mover, no engine needed. Last is the push blade ahead of horses rigged up with forks or bale spears.

It looks like 81 different pieces of equipment, counting forecarts, shown for field work, and 14 different teamsters. Almost all are local farmers, and it was plain to see that they and their horses are used to working. Using your horses at HPD can be a very intense experience, and more a labor of love than a money generating endeavor. We took part for several years in Mt. Hope, and our children have many good memories from this event. I wish to name the teamsters to commend them for their skill and good examples to the HPD audience. Most of the horses were Belgians or Percherons, with some Fjords – so, as follows – Daran Nelson, Joe Stutzman, Mark Yoder, Norman Byler, Johnny Yoder, Marvin Hershberger, David C. Yoder, Michael Yoder and Paul Miller. Good job, and thank you. There are other teamsters – some driving people hauler wagons and produce equipment, not mentioned in this list, all who did great work.

I have very little to report on the produce end, beyond seeing it as an ever more important part of HPD. We did buy some of their greenhouse grown tomatoes, and they were delicious. I would have enjoyed attending Leon Hershberger’s greenhouse tour. With produce growers you find many single-horse or one-team hitches, also the quietest, best trained horses at this event.

A quick walk through the logging end, we find several sawmills and firewood processors in action, along with some nice logging carts. I did get to meet Allen Yutzy of Tennessee, there with his YutzyBar, a handly log handling and cutting attachment for skid loaders.

The Michigan Horseshoers had a tent of their own, showing horseshoeing by Doug Russo, hoof care by Laverne Mast, and harness and collar fitting by Brodhead Collars. They had comfortable seating in the shade, a nice place to be.

A HPD tradition is to have round-pen horse training sessions throughout the day. Colt Starting, both fore and afternoon, by Daniel Mast, along with Equine Nutrition and Mare Care, by Everet Troyer and Horse Conformation by Marvin Gingerich held many people’s interest.

In 1995, Rachel and I, with daughter Ruthie and our friend Clyde Dye made the trip from Kidron, OH, to this new event called Horse Progress Days. This was the second HPD, held on the Floyd Borntrager farm, Goshen, IN. The first one had been held on the Elmer Lapp farm, Lancaster, PA. The event in 1995 was held in conjunction with the Small Farm Gathering, which had their activities at Goshen Fairgrounds. All parking was done at the fairgrounds, where a fleet of school buses took us to Floyd’s farm. I can still remember some of the conversations with other farmers that day.

Plowing and haymaking were the main attractions, with, if I remember right, the 12 horse hitch operated by a boys ranch somewhere further west, with Belgians. Floyd did the announcing, and also had a talk on horse conformation. I thoroughly enjoyed the day, this was still one of my favorite HPD.

Maurice Telleen of Iowa, editor and owner of The Draft Horse Journal, Elmer Lapp of Lancaster, PA, dairy farmer and Belgian horse breeder, Eli J.C. Yoder of Sugarcreek, OH, also a Belgian breeder who had courses through the summer teaching driving and horsemanship, and Floyd Borntrager of Goshen, IN, farmer and Belgian breeder, were the founders of this event. Their idea was to show new or improved horse drawn equipment in actual use in the fields – a horse drawn tradeshow. They also wanted to share their knowledge of using horses with all who were interested. The event was held under the auspices of The Draft Horse and Mule Association. A year or so later it became a legal non-profit entity called Horse Progress Days.

Anyways, sometime after Floyd’s event, I met Eli J.C. Yoder at a horse sale, telling him how much I enjoyed it, and would like to help if it comes to Mt. Hope. At that time, Eli was less than optimistic that it would continue, due to much spilling of red ink in Indiana’s event. The next year it was held at the Goshen Fairgrounds, and the financial outcome was somewhat better.

In fall and winter a group of us started meeting for planning of HPD to come to Ohio. Eli J.C. Yoder was still negative about the event, as by this time HPD had accrued a chunk of debt. Wayne Wengerd, owner and founder of Pioneer Equipment, thought it should continue. Steve Mullet, owner of the Mt. Hope Auction, was willing to host HPD on his auction grounds, using his auction barns to house horses and vendors. Mt. Hope Auction had become, over the years, a huge gathering place for horse people at their twice-yearly draft horse auction, so this was a great positive for us. Without the leadership of Wayne, HPD could easily have become just a short footnote of history. I am not sure how many of us were present at that first meeting, probably eight or so. We soon were assigned our roles – some to take care of gates, some for vendors and equipment. Willis Miller and I were responsible for horses in the field, Eli all other horses and Wayne the equipment.

Anyway, the event came to Mt. Hope in 1997. Without going into details, this HPD was very successful. We were able to pay all debts, with a little left over. In 1998 it was again held at Mt. Hope, then moving to Lancaster.

Over the years, HPD settled on the six areas where the event in now held, and gone from two years in each state to one year only. Attendance has grown, reaching its high point thus far in 2024 at Lancaster, PA, with around 38,000 people. Some of the changes over the years include making everything more family-friendly with petting zoos and play areas. The morning Pony Parade was started in Michigan, with children driving the ponies they use to go to school, a wonderful addition to HPD. The first seminar I remember at HPD was David Kline sitting on a plow seat telling us about our heritage, all outside under the sun. Now the seminars are a very big part of this event. This year, Allen Williams, grazing and marketing expert, had been scheduled to speak, but was unable to be here. Shorty Hochstetler, farmer from Shipshewana, IN, developer of superior grass fed beef cows and bulls, and speaker extraordinaire had a seminar both Friday and Saturday. John Kempf, from Grauga, OH, and eloquent speaker on raising fruits, vegetables and other crops without chemicals, also had several topics. These two teamed up to take Allen Williams’ place, both days. If you ever have a chance to hear these men speak, by all means do so. There was a dairy herdshare roundtable discussion, a pork processing demonstration, seminars on meat goats, pastured egg production, beekeeping, animal power in South and Central America, and Your Cow’s Health from the Ground Up. Homemakers seminars ranged from candle making, cheese making, wound care and salve making. It would have been easy to spend all of HPD just listening to seminars.

Many from other countries have attended HPD over the years, Tiller’s International often has some of their students here. Almost always we have attendees from Africa, France, Belgium, Germany and Canada. This year also a couple from Switzerland. An introduction and welcoming session is held every Saturday about noon, ably moderated by Dale Stoltzfus.

HPD has shifted somewhat from just being farming oriented to more homesteading, reflecting the fact that a lot of our plain people no longer farm for a living, but still have an abiding passion to raise our own food. Many live on from five to ten acres, and have room for an orchard or large garden. Many keep a cow or two for their own milk and beef. To this end was introduced a special homestead section in Mt. Hope at their last event. Shipshewana introduced the use of lighter horses, such as Morgans, Halflingers or crossbreds to use with smaller equipment on these homesteads.

Friday evening at Michigan was held a horse pull, with horses that took part in field work. A breed presentation was held every evening. Storytime for children, by Daniel Miller, was held every day at 12 o’clock in the Main Arena. A fundraiser auction with donated items was at 4 pm Friday.

HPD takes a lot of work – and money. Most funds are raised by gate fees and paying for vendor spaces. Another huge help is from sponsors. I counted 22, with Byron Seeds from Indiana a Platinum Extreme sponsor.

I have had many different jobs at HPD, but this was our first time as a vendor, with booth space for Small Farmer’s Journal. HPD committee very generously gave us space in return for the advertising SFJ does for them. We had 3 eight-foot tables, provided at a very reasonable rent. We had many good conversations all the way from people who had never heard of SFJ to those who had every issue. Some had bought stacks of the magazine at auctions, many do what I do an read some of them every winter. One man told me Lynn’s Work Horse Handbook and Training Workhorses / Training Teamsters are textbooks in colleges.

We were in good company with our booth. Mike and Martha Kline with Farming Magazine were to our left, with Organic Valley beside them. To our right was Acres Magazine, on up was Topsoil Magazine, across from us two brothers from Illinois with well stocked tables of hardware items. To me, HPD has become a celebration of plain life.

We stayed over Sunday, on niece Mary and Matthew Yoder’s farm in Marion, and attended church with them, where my brother Dan had the main sermon. A fitting end to another wonderful HPD.

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Some of the Horse Drawn Equipment Manufacturers Present at Horse Progress Days 2025

• Sunset Spreaders, Eli Yoder, 685 Springs Road, Springs, Pa, 15562
• Stoltzfus Equipment, 338 Newport Road, Leola, PA 17540
• Miller’s Repair Shop, 2945 S 050 W, La Grange, IN 46761
• EZ Trail MFG, 9721 Salt Creek Road, Fredericksburg, OH 44627
• Gateway Mfg, 7836 E. Colonville Rd, Clare, MI 48617
• Family Farm Innovations, 4549 TR156, Millersburg, OH 44654
• White Horse Machine, 122 White Horse Road, Gap, PA 17527
• Shipshe Farm Supply, 2425 N 925 W. Shipshewana, IN 46565
• I & J MFG, 10 S New Holland Rd Suite 2, Gordonville, PA 17529
• Mullets Machinery, 6870 S, State Route 5, Topeka, IN 46571
• Lancaster Spreader, 456 Cooper Drive, Kirkwood, PA 17536
• Knepp’s Powercarts, 4560 N 650 E, Montgomery IN 47558
• Hilltop Machine, 10515 US 20 W, Shipshewana, IN 46565
• AgriFlex, 775N 350E, Rockville, IN 47872
• EG Mfg, 57990 TR 606, Fredericksburg, OH 44627