Sleigh Ride... Pictures....

Does he have a sugar bush, too? It's almost maple syrup time!

OHH what beauties, are they belgians? Those big horses are such sweethearts.
That sled looks like somethin to haul maple sugar or wood. Its a big mama. I guess those big horse could pull stumps. I help my neighbor with a dressage team at some events and I just would love to own a team but theyre like having another family cause they need attention and lotsa care.
And now most of our snow is melted

Whooda
My uncles camp is actually a maple syrup camp :-D

Farmerman
They are beautiful, aren't they :-D Yes, they are belgians and for such huge animals, they are so mild tempered and the biggest sweethearts like you said. As I was telling Whooda, it is a maple syrup camp and we have some good times over there in the middle of the woods. My uncle is a builder and built the camp himself several years ago. When we got back from the sleigh ride, my aunts had the wood stove going and it was nice and toasty in the cabin.
I love horses and I got to sit up front with my uncle. What a nice time that was.
You're right in them being a lot of work, but my uncle just loves them and what's not to love :-D

I see he shows them also. Those rigs and harnesses are either chromed or silver gilded . Lovely pictures.My neighbors team loves carrots, Bud, the one horse can root through my coat pocket and gently remove the carrot treat without slobbering up my coat

The sleigh might have been made to haul stuff, but it's got benches on both sides and I think he just has it for the sleigh rides.
When maple syrup time rolls around, we all gather there and make the syrup in a huge pot outside under a fire. My uncle lays out a big plank, covers it with snow and pours syrup on the snow, so when it cools off and turns into a toffee, we all just have a feast on it. They take the rest and make syrup, maple butter, candy, etc...

LOL. Yeah, they love carrots. Yes, the horse are show horses which he shows in the local fair in the summer and he puts them in the parades. Those rigs and harnesses are older ones he has and you should see the sets he has for them for the shows. They are absolutely breathtaking when they are all dolled up for the fair and parades. I don't have pictures of them in the fair and parades because I usually don't go, but I'll try to get to one this year and see if I can't get some pics of them all decked out.

We have a"dont eat yellow snow rule" down here. Id kill to be in a maple sugar camp and help out.In Vermont, where I saw a demo at a sugar bush setup, it was heart breaking. They had long plastic tubes like IV's coming from all the trees down to a sap collection point. I have no idea what keeps the damn things from freezing. Everybody was running around in skidoos. It was like some video game with sugar. sometime, not this year

When your boiling maple sap, do you keep a fire going all night? How do you know when its done? sorry but I have a bunch of sugar maples in the woods and I want to tap them.

Yeah, we have a rule up here too about staying clear of the yellow snow ;-)

I wish I could help you with the syrup, but I always show up in the afternoon when the syrup is already going in the pot and I leave before they're finished. All I really know is that they put a chunk of bacon fat in the pot. I don't think they keep it going overnight though.
I'll probably be headed back over there either next sunday or the sunday after for one last sleigh ride before the winter is over and I'll ask my uncle exactly how it's done and I'll let you know.
I wish I had a bunch of sugar maples. There's nothing like home made syrup. Yummy!!!!

Montana,

WOW! What a wonderful thing to do on a beautiful winter's day! The horses are beautiful!

Take the memory of this into your nice, warm, snuggly, sleep and dream sweet dreams, my friend!

justa
now dont go gettin "sappy" here

No pun intended, I'm sure. :wink:

I used to go sugaring in Geauga County, Ohio (Hi Brooke!). The old-fashioned way, with a bucket on each tree and a horse sleigh with a vat on it to collect the sap into...

The sugar bush (boiling house) was always warm, and smelled so good in the early spring, with winter fading everywhere... and the taste of snow sugar is great! You oughta taste the sap, too. Thin, but sweet and a good raw taste. Too much gives bellyache, tho, so stick to a taste.

I believe they boiled the sap for two or three days, maybe banking the fire at night but always warm. That was a long time ago, though, and I'm not sure. I think I remember it takes five gallons of sap to make one pint of syrup...

Geauga County is (or was then) the largest U.S. producer of maple syrup outside of the state of Vermont.

Hi there, Wy!

I didn't know that about Northeastern Ohio. Good reading there! Guess you learn something every day. And I was born and raised a buckeye.

Thanks for sharing, Wy.

Makes me envy northern winter.

Brooke
Yeah, it was a great day and it does make for some sweet dreams. Those horses are not only beautiful on the outside, but they are just as beautiful on the inside. They are huge but very gentle animals and it's amazing to see how easy going they are. They're funny too. When the sleigh ride was over and my uncle was putting the blanket on one of them, one of the horses kept spinning his head around and knocking my uncles hat off and I was cracking up :-D Horse are my very favorite creatures on the planet :-)

WY
Yep, I remember my uncle telling me that it takes 5 gallons to make a pint. I still need to get more info on how my uncle does his thing, since we are usually only around for the fun stuff.

Edgar
I hear ya. I wouldn't trade it for anything :-D

Farmerman
You know how mushy we women get sometimes and you just gotta go with it sometimes ;-)

Dammit, this reminds me. I need to go buy some glue tomorrow.

LOLOLOOLOOLOOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!!
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!
ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!
LOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!

Nice pics, Montana. There's actually a pretty rich town bordering where I live, and in the summer if you ride through there's some horses. Not a ton of that stuff out here. I got arrested last time I tried to take them for rides, though.