Grandview Invitational

We wandered over to Ocala, the horse capital of the world, to attend the Grand View Invitational draft horse show. Teams of horses came from as far away as Prince George, British Columbia. We had a good time, first wandering around the barns and then heading into the arena to watch the various classes. 

This is a Clydesdale from Grandview Clydesdales. We met him when we went on the Christmas tour of the farm. He is the largest Clydesdale at their farm and is only five years old. 

There was only one Clydesdale farm at the show. The show is run by this farm at the Florida Horse Park.

Later in the month they will have another show called, "Grandview Nights".

Although this was a driving show, one farm demonstrated Percherons under saddle, both Western and English. They also wowed the crowd with a Roman riding demonstration.

I loved this stables' colors, especially on the black horses. 

All of the horses' manes are braided and have 7 'flights', 

colorful decorations that stand up above the mane.

This is how they make the hooves so shiny! 

The shoes are larger than the hooves, and the hoof flares out to the sides of the shoe.

This is done to spread the weight of the horse over a greater area. 

Only the Percherons and Belgians have their hooves 'dressed'. 

The hooves of the Clydesdales are covered in long hair called 'feathers'. 

There were three different teams of Belgians. 

The first class was Percheron Ladies Cart.

There were two heats of three carts in each heat. 

Then came the Clydesdale Team class. The horse closest to us is the one pictured earlier.

The 'Unicorn' hitch is special. Evidently the third horse adds some speed and agility, 

but it is harder to handle a single horse out front. 

Here is one of the 6-horse teams.

Twenty-four hooves from high-stepping horses creates quite the 

cacophony of sound when the teams trot by.

There were three heats of 3 teams each to give the horses more room in the arena. 

At the end of all of the heats, all of the teams line up in the arena. 

54 horses

9 carts

all lined up for the presentation of awards.