The Rural Voice, 1999-09, Page 28making the horse shiver and the
buggy shake. With both faster
vehicles and buggies on the road, and
making several trips a day. how a
horse reacts to traffic is something
the driver must cope with.
Previously, Manny Kuepfer had
been in his shop making harness,
running a leather strip through
creasers to make the sewing line and
take the stretch out. A wood stove
keeps oil soft for soaking harness.
which makes it last about 20 years.
While working in the shop. there's
lots of interruptions. feed trucks and
deliveries from the UPS service with
leather. Kuepfer mentioned he
learned the harness trade from his
father and he could be a lot busier if
he had time.
Using
a heavy-duty sewing
machine, Man:ay Kuepfer
makes and repairs work
harness from heavy black leather, and
he keeps buckles. clasps, and hooks
for the different kinds. of harness,
heavy draft, riding horses, or in
between — a two-year-old draft, not
yet full size. Leather harness for a
wagon team costs about $1,000.
Kuepfer is making braided reins
for a buggy harness for road travel.
Once the leather is cut into eight -foot
strips with a knife gauge, the strip is
sliced in three except for the ends.
The edges are painted with black,
braided, and sewed to the rest of the
harness, including the bridle.
A customer who lived just around
the corner from Kuepfer got his
harness fixed while his children
played about the barn.
For bush work, field work and
pulling contests at fairs, teams of
heavy horses need good collars.
"Collar -making is difficult
because of the stretch and the twists
in the leather to fit a horse's neck. To
figure out a pattern is tricky," Ezra
Streicher explained. But after 25
years, he is expert, having made
between 500 and 1,000 collars per
year. "I was too stubborn to give up,"
he recalled, pointing to the stretching
blocks he designed.
Raising 17 children including four
boys has kept Ezra Streicher busy
trying to figure out jobs for his family
enterprise.
Leather backs, or half a cattle hide
(about 25 square feet), vary slightly.
Cut around metal patterns with a
24 THE RURAL VOICE
Manny Kuepfer works in his shop making harness.
moon knife or by a presser, the
leather is sewn together to form bush,
mule or pull collars of many different
sizes, from $81 and up. Then the
collar is dipped in rain water for 15
minutes.
Every year, Streicher grows rye
straw, cuts it with a binder and chops
it into 12 -inch lengths to fill collars.
Wearing a leather apron to keep
dry, Ezra Streicher pushed the soaked
collar halfway onto a long rod. His
son Mahlon coated the straw with
water and oil before it's shot through
a separated rod into the middle of the
collar.
Ezra filled and pounded a number
of collars with a mallet, to harden
them to withstand the work a heavy
horse must do.
Collars are the vital hard-working
part of plough gear. For show horses,
all the collars must be the same, not
an easy accomplishment because the
lots of leather vary slightly in shade,
Ezra Streicher points out. Fitting out
a leather collar and gear with chrome
is an order he and son Mahlon look
forward to.
Besides outfitting draft horses in
fairs with show harness, there is
interest in using horse and buggies or
wagons in local towns and villages as
tourist attractions, especially for tours
emphasizing crafts, antiques and
historical buildings.
The popular interest in horses
means a blacksmith is busy than ever.
Shoeing many horses means long
hours working patiently and as
quickly as possible to meet the
demands of customers who need to
be on the road again.
In a smithy, the steady chug of an
engine means the blacksmith is busy
forging horseshoes. Using an
acetylene torch as well as hand
blowers to fire the hearth, Dave
Jantzi lifted a red hot shoe out the fire
and banged it into shape on an anvil.
Jantzi works six days a week and
most evenings to keep up with the
demand for shoeing horses.
Shoeing show draft horses with his
custom made flared scotch shoe is
Jantzi's favourite activity. To get the
gentle giants ready in six -horse
hitches or even eight, he visits their
stable at least a week ahead of a fair
or show.
"I can't take on any more than my
present 200 customers," Jantzi
explained. In six week's time, he's
been in about a dozen places in
southwestern Ontario. Dave Jantzi
and his apprentice, Matthew Kuepfer,
pull the old shoe off with a chisel and
hammer, pare the hoof with clippers.
and scrape the buildup, making a V -
notch in the front of the hoof for the
shoe to fit. They secure a new shoe
with eight nails using a method called
"hot shoeing." Though patiently
taking care, they must work quickly
to keep up with the horses waiting or
coming in the door of the shop.