Saturday, November 8, 2008

Camera Critters: Amish Horses


After casting my ballot on Tuesday a day trip to Sugarcreek, Ohio had been planned. Sugarcreek is known as the gateway to Amish country. To quote the website, "As you leave the hurry of the highway behind you'll certainly sense why the Amish families that arrived in the 1800s found this place as appealing as the sun after a storm. The fertile Ohio countryside promised both the freedom to practice their faith-based way of life and the providence to farm as their forefathers had before them. Using traditional methods rooted in reverence and stewardship, many industrious Amish farmers still put shoulder to harness, sowing and harvesting crops behind teams of hard-working draft horses."
We had a wonderful day. It was warm, the sky was blue, and the people were friendly and waved wherever we went. It was a very peaceful day.
Amish Country meant we would see lots of horses. I want to share some of those scenes with you.
As you can see everyone must share the road.
A couple of boys out for an afternoon ride. The younger one seemed to be talking a mile a minute.
We saw these farmers over the way and took a sideroad to get closer. I still had to look twice. They were not picking up bales of hay; but bales of corn stalks.
If you clip-clopped on highways or trod the fields on a daily basis you too would need new shoes. This horse was waiting his turn at the local farrier. He stood there very calm as traffic passed.

I was more than surprised as we traveled down a backroad seeing farm after farm when I looked across one hillside to see....camels. I kid you not. There were three. Way too far away for my camera to catch but I was thinking to myself what a great Camera Critters post that would have been!

Be sure to click on the badge at the top of my post to visit Misty and the other participants. You never know what you'll see!

41 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, how wonderful, Carletta! These photos are more than worth the wait! I love the carriage photo and the one with the corn bales.

Anonymous said...

love your photos of Amish country. Quite an experience. :)
I'm here via other poetry blog friends. I noticed in your profile that you're a retired school teacher and now an artist. We have followed similar paths in that vein.
Nice to meet you.

Anonymous said...

My one trip to Amish country was too brief. I would like the leisure to look at crafts and enjoy the farmlands.

EG CameraGirl said...

Thanks for this wonderful tour of Amish country in Ohio, Carletta. Isn't it amazing they have maintained their lifestyle after all these years?

Anonymous said...

nice photos! nice-looking horses. they look like they work hard.

paz

Twisted Fencepost said...

Great pictures, Carletta!
One day I will visit Amish country!

Neal said...

Those are really neat. I like to watch the Amish. We were in southern IN last year right after a pretty big snow had melted in the spring and saw the Amish out plowing their fields. I think part of my fascination with the Amish is that I can relate to what they're doing because I used to plow using a horse and had a horse drawn wagon that we used all the time.

JunieRose2005 said...

I love the Amish pictures and the horses!! I admire this lifestyle these people have very much!


I also LOVE that, song, 'Wildfire' by Michael Martin Murphy! I have several of his albums and used to listen to this song and 'Carolina in the Pines' a lot!

Junie

Gattina said...

Horses and a carriage on a highway, that looks so nice but also so strange !

Shelly said...

I wonder what they use the baled cornstalks for...guess I need to google that one. Looks like a great day, I've always wanted to take a trip to Amish country.

Teena in Toronto said...

Not something I see here in Toronto. Ha!

I played too :)

bobbie said...

coming from PA originally, I've seem lots of Amish country. Love it. and their horses are always so well cared for.

i beati said...

gorgeous but where is sugar Creek??Md?Va?Ohio?

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Carletta: Very nice captures of the power of the Amish in their horses.

Jeanne said...

Looks like a wonderful place to visit. Your pictures capture the atmosphere perfectly.

dot said...

Enjoyed these interesting pictures. I would love to visit Amish country.

Cathy said...

I loved your post. It brought back a lot of memories because I grew up not far from an Amish community in central Illinois. I always enjoyed going over there.

Lilli & Nevada said...

You know you really have to give credit to these people, one thing about it they don't worry about the gas prices. Corn stalks? i wonder what they do with them?

Dirkjogt said...

The Amish people have also lot of 'Belgian' horses, great animals

Reader Wil said...

What a wonderful time you must have had being near t5he Amish! Interesting people!
Thanks for your comment. Fortunately my grandson has recovered soon.

Raven said...

Looks like a lovely drive. Amazing about the camels. Camels seem so un-Amish, somehow, though I don't know why they should. I guess camels seem worldly to me. Funny how our minds work.

Misty DawnS said...

LOVE this post!!! I've been to Sugarcreek, when I lived in Ohio. It is truly a special place.

Dr.John said...

Great pictures. Glad you shared them. Sorry you didn't get the camels.

Jane Hards Photography said...

A way of life we are so unfamliar with here. The horses just look so lovingly cared for.

Lapa37 said...

Great shots I love to see horses they are just so beautiful.Thanks for the visit.

AppleDebbie said...

What a wonderful post. I would love to visit this part of the country someday. Thanks for sharing!

George Townboy said...

Voted best Election Day results!! Awesome post, Carletta, thanks.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing.

I have two entries for CC this week!

www.twobarkingdogs.wordpress.com

www.onevintagephoto.wordpress.com

All dogs, all the time!

Pat - Arkansas said...

Very nice CC photos, Carletta. Thanks for sharing these mementos of your little jaunt. I can't imagine what camels are doing in that setting, though. Think you could make a return trip?

Indrani said...

Given a choice I would like to go on a horse carriage. Nice shots!

Dora said...

A good contrast between the carriage and the car!

Chrissy said...

Love these photos. You're a marvel with the camera :-)

Rose said...

There are Amish in Parke County--the county next to us, as well as over at Arthur, Illinois where we go fairly often. I sure enjoy seeing them...and I love your pictures.

I can remember when I was a kid, we had old Bob which I wrote about at one time...he was our work horse and Neal and George both plowed with him...I can remember riding in the wagon a time or two. I can also remember my brothers taken corn to be ground into cornmeal with him.

Anonymous said...

We used to see the Amish buggies periodically in central Illinois. I really enjoyed your pictures.

Anonymous said...

Fine animals that know their worth.
I quite admire these people even if I don't share their faith.

Anonymous said...

Enjoyed this...I hope to go to Amish country next summer...have been meaning to but so far haven't gotten there.

??? said...

Awesome photos, I love the four-hourse team. I think the corn stalks may be used as cattle food.

Susan Demeter said...

Great pics, and what a beautiful horse! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Gretchen said...

Great photos. We live near Amish country in PA, so it's pretty common to see them. Hubby drives by several homes and businesses every day on his way to and from work.

We'll be back in Ohio next week.

Janice Thomson said...

These are really wonderful photos Carletta - what an experience that must have been. In some ways I think the Amish have got it figured out better than us.

DustysMom said...

These are good phontos of what you call the Gateway to Amish Country. However, I would invite you to visit the darker side of this community at the Sugarcreek Auction where these "amish" horses are sold by the pound to Kill Buyers to be slaughtered for human consumption overseas. These horses are abused, starved and beaten during this auction and the long trip to slaughter in Canada in Mexico. Please visit Americans Against Horse Slaughter and www.alexbrownracing.com for more information.