Gary and Greg Rowe work together to harness a horse.

By Kim Lemmon

If you read my blog in August, you know I admire the equine members of the Flat Rock Draft Horse team.  The more that I watched the members of the Rowe family work together as I prepared to write a more complete story on Flat Rock Draft Horses for Ohio’s Country Journal, I began to admire how seamlessly the human members of the team worked together as well.

My family which included my mom, dad and sister and I showed light horses when I was growing up. My sister and I each showed an Appaloosa gelding at 4-H and open shows. I enjoyed the showing but as is often the case with most families’ endeavours there was some drama from time to time. We had fun and placed well but upon reflection I think we might all be a little too high strung to show a team of draft horses together for decades.

As an adult, things haven’t changed much for me. My husband usually hides when it is time to hitch horses because I’m still a green driver and I have to think about what I’m doing. He finds the entire process frustrating especially when my nerves get the best of me and my “polite” instructions turn into orders. I can’t image showing multiple draft horses with two others siblings or my husband. I know my family would run from my madness!

I asked the Rowe brothers how they handle that much “togetherness” and they really didn’t have much to say about it. It seems that they have worked together for so long that everybody knows their job and does their part. I guess (or maybe hope so that I don’t feel so bad) that there is probably some family drama from time to time but I never saw it during all the time I spent with the Rowes collecting information for the article in Ohio’s Country Journal.

So congratulations to the Rowe brothers for accomplishing what many people like me could never do, spending more than 20 years showing horses with family and still coming back for more!

Watch this video of the Rowe brothers calmly and efficiently readying a team of four horses to show at the 2012 Indiana State Fair. It certainly made me rethink my own pre-show routine.

Also check out the story in the October issue of Ohio’s Country Journal that featured Flat Rock Farm Draft Horses.