We are so very fortunate to have had really good and enthusiastic young crew members for our draft horse operations.

Laurel and Brittany developed their skills in an open forest that, according to Laurel "Fred calls his obstacle course. Apparently, he believes that we pay more attention when the teams are winding throught heavy oak trees that will not flex, than we do when working around plastic cones in a pasture! Maybe he's right. It sure does focus your mind when you are doing that!" she adds.

Brittany writes from college: "Fred and Dick Sparrow sat Laurel and me down just after we had finished a Driving School several years ago.. They reinforced the most important lesson I have learned over the past five years; Fred's and Dick's horses are so quiet and well-trained that my sister and I had never really seen any trouble or excitement, so they told us in their own words the dangers and risks that are involved in working with draft (or any) horses."

Even after crossing this waterfall, "it wasn't until this last year here at Warren Wilson College that I really understood the responsibility involved."

[Editor's note: In case you are wondering, Keith Damiani at Sequoia Design trained our team to cross such obstacles!]

Their parents, Janice and Randy Amiss recently commented "The fact that our twin daughters learned to drive draught horses when they were sixteen years old taught them a sense of responsibility and self confidence that has made them stronger individuals. It has also created opportunities for them that they would not have had otherwise. We greatly appreciate all that you have taught them. Many thanks!"

Those are nice comments from really nice folks. It takes a high level of mutual confidence to send off two young girls for several days of hard work in a situation that can be risky, if it's not managed well. We appreciate their confidence in us, too.

Brittany is on the draft horse crew at college; she reports that the work includes "... hauling, plowing, discing, field work, logging, and public events like wagon rides, weddings, a funeral, and more..."

Brittany plowing at Warren-Wilson college.

Brittany is active in a work-study program that includes using these Belgians to grow food for the college kitchen.

Brittany recalls the first time out with the Bowman Belgians: "We were invited to join Fred, Staci, and Meredith on a trip to see the team in a public appearance. After a quick dinner, including sketches of four-up lines on a napkin, Fred let us help harness and hitch the team (out of sight of the crowds) and then we rode the wagon and waved in a Christmas snowstorm while our toes froze. It was some day, and we never have been the same since. As Jimmy Klein might say "Fred taught us everything he knows, and we still don't know nuthin!"

"Hogwash", says Fred. "These girls are really good teamsters because they worked hard at learning how. It's pretty simple to let a well-trained quiet team pull you down a straight road, but when you can back a heavy vehicle with a multiple hitch in tight quarters, you are driving at a different level."

On a trip to Washington DC for a traveling Christmas party of Bowman distributors, the girls drove a wagon full of people down Pennsylvania Avenue under a full moon. Laurel reports: "It's a real power trip to drive four horses pulling a three ton wagon in the middle of DC traffic outside the White House while looking at the moon over the US Capitol."

"Maybe so," says Fred "but I trained them, and it was pleasure to watch. They do let me drive the large transporter, while they sleep and sometimes giggle all the way home. Life is good!"

Laurel is now married to Shane Conneely, who she found as a young Irish waif needing affection when she was visiting her godmother Anne Ueltschi in Ireland.

Shane and Laurel have a lovely boy named Colin, clearly a future teamster