Horse Progress Days promises education, fun
Daniel Martynowicz
Marvin Troyer holds some before-and-after photos of some of his recent work. Carriages like these will be up for auction during the first-annual Horse Progress Days.
Daniel Martynowicz
Rides will be available in passenger carriages like this during Horse Progress Days. Experts will also be on site to answer any questions regarding hitching, training, buying and driving horses for multiple purposes.
Daniel Martynowicz
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ST. IGNATIUS — With farmers and ranchers well into their spring routines of calving, plowing, branding and the like, some in the Mission Valley see an opportunity to capitalize on an abundant, powerful and under-utilized asset: horses. a
Long-time horseman and wagon restoration expert Marvin Troyer created the first-ever Horse Progress Days and Consignment Auction to correct this imbalance. The event is designed to be as educational as possible, offering demonstrations on horse shoeing, harnessing and hitching a team, plowing, wagon rides and much more.
Troyer said he sees many people throughout the Mission Valley that own and enjoy riding horses, but are not using them to their full potential. He hopes to demonstrate to horse owners the generous potential and cost-saving benefits of using horses on the homestead.
“I saw that there were a lot of horse people around and a lack of understanding of how to use them,” Troyer said. “Like, what you can do with them as far as plowing, it seems like a lot of people don’t recognize that you can plow, you can disc, you can harrow and you can put in a garden totally by horse power.”
Even with all the educational material available at the event, Troyer said it’s not a riding camp, it’s a driving camp.
“We’re going to hook the horses to the homesteader and show people how to plow and use those tools,” he said. “We’re going to show people how to plow, disc, harrow and prepare the field ready to plant.”
In addition, Troyer has assembled several experts in the areas of harnessing, shoeing and trimming, and purchasing horse teams to give demonstrations and answer questions. Pioneer Equipment Incorporated, the largest horse-drawn farm equipment manufacturer in the United States, will also have representatives on site.
One such expert, Jake Yoder, will speak about the horse-buying process, give tips on what to look for when purchasing a horse and be ready to answer questions.
“There’s no such thing as a dumb question,” Yoder said. “If a person doesn’t know, it’s all good. Everything is fine, just ask and we’ll answer. The whole day is free.”
Having put in many extra hours to get the Horse Progress Days and Consignment Auction up and running since January, Troyer said he hopes the hard work will pay off and, with any luck, he’ll help save residents a few dollars and cents down the road.
“Is (horse power) more effective than gas? I think it is. You can make more money per acre with horses than you can with a tractor,” Troyer said, adding that he uses a team of horses to plow and mow his 15-acre hay field.
“My initial cost is way less than a tractor, and yet I can mow that 15-acre field in a day with a team of horses. To me, it’s the only way to go. For somebody that has a couple of horses and wants to make their own hay but it’s too expensive to buy a tractor, I feel it’s well worth it.”
Troyer also owns and operates Pioneer Coach, a wagon and wheel restoration and repair business in St. Ignatius. He and his employees manufacture and restore horse-drawn wagons, plows and other farm implements to their former glory and, in the process, create working antiques that can last a lifetime.
“Carriages like this Peter Schuttler Wagon, people owned them and there was simply nobody around to restore them,” Troyer said, motioning toward a partially assembled wagon frame in his sizable shop. “They were sitting out in the field and just dilapidating. This wagon is worth about $10,000. The original paint was on that wagon about ten years ago, and (the owner) didn’t have a clue what he had. He pulled it outside of his shop and let it sit in the rain. It was worth about $2,500 when he brought it in.”
After restoring the piece, Troyer said he was able to bring the value back up to about $10,000, but there’s nothing like an original wagon.
“If you take care of it, it’s worth more than the new wagon that’s rebuilt,” he said. “We can get it back close, but the original wagon is still going to be worth more if it’s got the original paint on it.”
The inaugural Horse Progress Days and Consignment Auction will take place Saturday, June 1 at 61695 Hillside Road in St. Ignatius with demonstrations, wagon rides and concessions running from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The consignment auction includes several wagons, carts, harnesses, halters, whips and horses and will begin at 1 p.m.
