The Life and Times of Richard “Dick” Brown
The Life and Times of Richard “Dick” Brown
by Marie Brown of Hudson, IA
As a child, Dick Brown rode, drove and did everything he could do on a horse or pony. In the last 30 years, no matter what the job was around the farm, he used his draft horses. His pioneer power cart allowed him to use his horses to do anything a tractor could do. He converted a John Deere Van Brunt seeder and John Deere 13 foot tandem disc both with hydraulic lifts to be used horse drawn. He had a goal to make “horse farming” better than tractor farming.
In 1976, Dick and Marie started out with three black and one gray Percheron mares. They had three stallions over the years to make up their herd. Dick believed in tie stalls and feeding twice daily. By tying up young foals beside their mothers, the young foals were taught to have barn manners, patience, and be bridle friendly. When working mares, he would tie the colts beside their mothers. When they reached the age to be harnessed, the colts would be hitched with an older wiser horse. Manure spreading was used for their schooling. He was doing two jobs, hauling manure and breaking a horse. He once said, “Working the horses on the farm makes a good team for taking to town.”
A man is considered very fortunate to have one great horse in a lifetime. In 1998, a trip to Clarence Dudley’s to buy a Quartetto grandson “Modco Herbert,” proved to be that great horse for Dick Brown. Herbie was completely wild being raised in the mountains of Northern California. Dick gained Herbie’s trust and Dick trusted Herbie. He was using him at a year and a half to make sure he was broke before he used him as a stallion. Dick thought he had a big job to accomplish but was amazed at how smart Herbie was. Friends that have Herbie’s offspring, comment on how easy they are to get started.
Dick used his horses especially, Herbie and Otis (gelding), to show in four World Percheron contests, plowed in many horse plowing competitions across the country, horse logged in New York and Oregon, competed at the Denver Stock Show and the Iowa State Fair. He also was invited to participate in the Great Circus at Milwaukee and Baraboo, Wisconsin, several years of taking two hitches of six and a six and eight horse hitche. Dick would gather friends to go along on all these trips.
His childhood friend, Gary Downey, said, “Some people are born with the horse gene and Dick had that gene.” His entire life was what more could he do with horses. He always had a dream.
His last dream was to teach others by going to their farm or ranch and help them with their draft horses. He was able to spend two months in Oregon in the summer of 2008 helping Lisa Hubbe.
Dick Brown
by Lise Hubbe of Scio, OR
Dick Brown first entered my life through a Mischka photograph, some eight years ago, as I was getting started farming here in Oregon with my first team of horses. There he was, with eight of his Percherons pulling a big disc and harrow, and a friend with another four on the seeder right behind. The caption read that he and his wife Marie operated Heritage Farm in Hudson, Iowa, where all their farming was done with horses. That was the first image I’d seen outside my own mind of the scale of farming I wanted to be able to do with horses.
I began to hear word of Dick as I became acquainted with other draft horse folk nearby, first through Roger Daugherty, who had purchased a stud colt from him, and then Bub Roux, who had traveled to Iowa for a Dick Brown team. They held him in high esteem as a master teamster whose horses were top of the line. Their stories told of a husband and wife team who loved to travel with their horses to join friends at work and play: Logging in New York with Bill Grimm; Mowing hay in Wyoming with Guy Landers; The World Percheron Congress with Buddy Kiews, Don Garrett, Jim Olson, and others; All over the country with Willie Nelson’s Farm Aid; Hosting field days and plowing matches at their farm.
Five years ago I got to meet Dick Brown at a plowing competition in Washington state. I didn’t have the courage to approach him, but what a thrill to watch him with his horses. On the second day, my horses were pretty keyed up. Dick noticed and came over to help me. He showed me how to put the lines through the bit rings up to the brow band of the headstall, giving me some advantage. Dick and his wife Marie and friend Jerry Weibel had come out west to deliver a colt, to plow, and to help Roger Daugherty on a logging job near Oregon City. In the trailer was their stud, the stud colt, three geldings, harness, two plows, and two logging carts. I got invited to join the logging party for a day. Mostly I was swamping for the others. One of the highlights of the day was seeing Dick put his stallion Herbie and gelding Otis, and Roger’s stallion Willie and gelding Charlie on Roger’s logging arch to pull out some big logs. Late in the day, Dick offered for me to take a few turns with the geldings, Buster and Sam, and then had me use the horses to load the logging cart into the trailer, backing them up the ramp.
It was this combination of experiences which gave me the confidence, in February of 2008, to call Dick and ask him to teach me how to put the bigger hitches together. He said, “Just get here.” He and his wife Marie welcomed me to their Heritage Farm in March of ’08, and it was during that first visit that I learned Dick was battling blood cancer. His energy and health were waning. He took me to the Waverly Sale, and introduced me to his friends. We watched some of the many videos taken by Marie of Dick’s work with his horses, and their travels with friends. On my last day there, he taught me the four-up hitch put to the manure spreader. Getting me started with the lines, he said “Watch my hands.” We got quite a bit spread, him loading and me driving. I went back in May, along with my neighbor Bub Roux, and Dick had us doing field work with four abreast hitches. When I spoke about my search for a good work type stallion for a breeding program, Dick took us to see a Percheron horse named Rhett owned by Marc and Melanie Hagen which Clarence Dudley had recommended to Dick and Marie as a good horse to cross with their Herbie daughters. Back again for a month mid-summer, and he trusted me to travel with their truck and trailer, horses and equipment, making hay all around their neighborhood. We went together to Wisconsin to help his friend Randy Morshead start some young horses. I requested a teaching visit to Oregon, his wife and daughter agreed, and we drove out bringing his sulky and Buddy Kiews’ gang plow as well as eveners and hitch equipment.
The morning after we arrived, we put together a four-up of my horses on the forecart and went for a drive down the road. Dick very quickly saw the big picture of what I’m working to accomplish with the horses, and was a firm and steady pressure on me to progress. In his two months here, we put six on our 10’ tandem disc, six on the gang plow, and four-up on the sulky. When I hurt two fingers handling the lines, Dick studied his Multi-Hitch pamphlet and figured out the tie-in and buck-back system so I could drive the hitch of three and three with a single set to the leaders. He said he didn’t want it to take “an army of family and friends” to get me and the horses to the field, and insisted I take the group of six out, get hitched and unhitched and back to the barn by myself. We ordered a dolly wheel from David Bontrager and together put it on my mower. He put a tongue in my 8’ seeder so I could go four-abreast. Dick contributed his ideas in many ways. He put up harness hooks and shelves, and a trough in the doorway of the barn so that the horses could drink as soon as they came in from the field. He wanted always to see me moving on to the next thing with the horses. When I encouraged him to rest, he’d say “One of these days I’ll be going to sleep for a very long time.”
One year after my first visit to Dick and Marie’s Heritage Farm, I was able to return with truck and trailer. Dick coached me at the Waverly Sale on the purchase of a JD 999 corn-planter. In their farm yard, he helped me load his horsepower, corn-sheller and Pioneer powercart. He accompanied me back to Hagen’s, to see me purchase a Rhett stud colt of Heritage Farm lineage.
Dick and Marie’s willingness to travel with their good horses out from their farm to serve and show and share has been a gift to many people all across this country. Had they not been willing in that way, it’s unlikely that I would have met this very important teacher in my life. Their dedication to preserving and promoting the work type Percheron has put good horses into many hands. Dick spoke often of the many, many friends made through connections with the horses. So much of what Dick contributed, I can only imagine, but because of the experiences I have had with him and those he loved and worked with, I know that what he gave is immense.
Dick Brown took me on as a student and let me in as a friend. He shared his horses and showed me how to do more with mine. He listened to my questions and gave me thoughtful answers. We shared a vision of what’s possible with horses, and he believed in my ability to accomplish it. Toward the end of his life, he devoted considerable precious time, attention and effort to helping me learn and enabling me to succeed. I cannot measure his gift. Because of Dick, I’m a better teamster, a wiser horseman, and a richer human being.