No foolin'...

'No foolin’, I'm not pulling your leg, you can’t get much more American
than this 'country' entertainment for the family than a horse pull with kids’s activities like face painting/ tattoo stickers, fish pond and a money-lined sawdust pile.

Some of the best bakers donate their creations to the pie/cake auction (selling for between $35-$200) a Chinese raffle(those ticket buckets) and 50/50 drawings and 'county fair' food. My favorite is the walking taco. If you haven't ever indulged, it's a lunch size bag of fritos opened with taco seasoned hamburger meat and cheese spooned on top. Yummy as all you need is a spoon to dig in.

Besides Superheroes, we even have our own 'royalty' in attendance that come in all sizes of Princesses. The older ones advised this little one to not look at the camera. LOL. It sure is tough keeping on a tiara.

So if you are planning on attending, just bring your own chair/ sit on one of the many picnic benches. Some people even have personalized seating.


The main reason you attend this community fundraiser is to raise money and watch magnificent Belgian horse teams showing off their massive strength at the 8th annual Chaseburg Wolfe Horse Pull. The setting is like the movie "Field of Dreams" as the baseball field where all this takes place on our ridge is bordered by cornfields.

A farmer by trade Carl Wolfe moonlighted as a cattle hauler and loved to attend and participate in horse pulls around the Midwest. Wolfe loved horses and when he passed away in 2005 from leukemia less than 2 months after diagnosis at age 58, the family (in red t-shirts) decided to have an annual horse pull to honor his memory. The event has grown through the years and any money raised at the horse pull is donated back to area organizations.

Last year’s community support allowed the Wolfe family to donate to the American Cancer Society, The Chaseburg Legion Park, Vernon County Crimestoppers, the Westby girls basketball fundraiser and several area families.

This year, the horse pull featured two classes, 3000 pound (lightweights) and 3200 pound (middle weights), with 10-12 teams participating in each weight class. Cash prizes were awarded along with horsemanship trophies.

These are the same type of horses that pull the huge beer wagons in the Oktoberfest parade. This one is a young one( 6 years old) but won first in his class.

Some horses are given chores like pulling a manure spreader or bean planter, but that's just to keep them in shape."These are no good for a farm team, as they're too ambitious." Said one of the their owners.

One year the teams pulled trucks weighted down with cement blocks. This year it was just the blocks as if that wouldn’t be enough.

The harnesses are as magnificent as the horses...
Each horse team has a people team who guide the horses into place to attach and hand over to the lead person who sits behind the team who will call the commands...
When you watch these teams working together there’s clarity to the saying “pulling well in the harness together” just like Natureman and I do right here in the End of the Rainbow Valley...