Fred and Jack made a name for themselves all across Western Canada and the U.S. last summer and fall using natural horsepower.
They even earned the nickname The Country Gentleman and were stars of the show at the BCNE in Prince George last August.
The team of Belgian horses from Prince George continued their success on the weekend, pulling to a third-place finish in Denver, Colo. in the heavy horse pull at the National Western Stockman Show on Sunday.
With teamster Delbert Dillman on the reins with Fred and Jack, they hooked onto a loaded 12,000-pound sled and pulled a distance of 14 feet 10 inches.
First place went to Dennis Weinberger and his team from Michigan who pulled the 12,000-pound boat 20 feet. Jeremy Johnson's team from Kansas pulled the same weight 17 feet, seven inches.
"This was an excellent showing for Fred and Jack as the pulls in Canada are 14 feet overall and the pulling distance in the U.S. is much further being 20 feet," said Fred and Jack's owner Zane Pickering of Falcon Contracting in a written statement. "We are very pleased with their performance for their first attempt at the longer distance pulling. They pulled their hearts out for Canada."
Pickering's junior team of Tom and Andy pulled to seventh place at the Stockman Show.
In Sioux Falls, S.D. on Saturday, Fred and Jack placed third, while Tom and Andy pulled to sixth out of eight teams. Jennifer Dillman was on the lines with both teams.
The two teams live on Pickering's farm in Pineview where they each weigh close to 2,200 pounds and stand 20 hands high (six-foot-eight) from the ground to the withers.
