Thursday, May 16, 2013

On the Amish Wagon

       Riding in a horse drawn wagon is not like riding a car! Over the last six-thousand years people walked, rode animals, or rode on wagons behind horses. In the last one-hundred years everything changed and we lost touch with our own past. I am 52, my own grandpa was the first member of his family to own a car. When my grandpa was a boy, he farmed with horses, chances are your grandpa did too.
       Every time I hitch up my horses, it takes me back to the good ol' days! I often think, while riding in my wagon, of what it must have been like to cross the U.S. behind a team.

       I usually only hitch up my draft horses when the weather is accommodating. Amish don't have that luxury! True, it is by choice, but that choice brings with it some real advantages too.

       In a horse drawn wagon you see the world better! You are going so slow, you are forced to reflect, to look at flowers in the ditch, to watch birds flying overhead, and many other things we overlook at 60+ miles per hour. Riding behind horses there is a beautiful, primal sound of hoof-beats. Horse snorts and horse smells, some good, some bad. Even more entertaining, each horse has a personality all its own. Interacting with living, breathing creatures is good for the soul!

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