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After the first race that we saw was over, I started taking pictures of every horse that I saw nearby.
They were all big and beautiful.
Off in the distance, one caught my eye and I exclaimed to Jeff, "Look at the grey!".
If the other horses were big, he seemed massive.
It was his turn next and I had the camera ready - of course. Here they are in the starting area, getting ready to go.
Away they go!
Over the first bump....
Next stop... the hill.
The horses would stop at the bottom of the hill, while the handlers checked over the harness and traces. Then the horses would have to power up the hill from a standing start. We were on thefar side of the hill at first and so we waited. Here he came.
His challenger was a big horse too, but no match for the grey. Down the hill he went, well ahead of his competitor.
Running for the finish line.
After each race, there was a wait for the tractors to haul the sleds back to the starting area.
During this time, the horses that would be racing next, or soon, would be walked back and forth on the track. Here's another big one.
Another beautiful black horse.
The big bay was so gorgeous. His coat had a brilliant metallic sheen to it.
If they weren't fully harnessed yet, that would happen after they were walked around and when it was time to get ready to pull.
We saw a few races with the big horses and then they started bringing out smaller horses and walking them around.
I'm not sure if these were younger horses or a different breed/type altogether. Unfortunately the language barrier meant we ready had no idea what was going on, other than just watching the horses.
The smaller horses raced too, pulling the same sleds, but much less weight than the bigger horses. Another difference was that they did not stop at the bottom of the hill, they kept running.
There ended up being several types of horses that raced, including... ponies! More on them in future posts
That looks like it was really interesting to watch!
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