Draft Horses Are High-TechBy Kentucky Equine Research Staff · June 28, 2011
Peter Shumlin, governor of Vermont, has pledged to bring Internet access to every home in the state by 2013. Laying the necessary fiber-optic cable along main roads has not posed many problems, but installation crews in rural areas have been challenged by a landscape that includes swamps, mountains, and dense forest. Trucks and all-terrain vehicles are unable to penetrate some areas. To negotiate the toughest routes, draft horses have been pressed into service to tow the cable into place. In addition to being strong and agile, horses have been found to leave the least destructive impact on the land they cross. According to a story from www.vtdigger.com, a draft horse can assist in the installation of around 8,000 feet of cable on an average day, about the same accomplishment as a truck-based crew on a rural road. Belgians and Percherons have been used to haul cables in northern Vermont, where a handler said there has been a slight resurgence in the popularity of draft teams to carry out farm tasks and other work.
