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Day 233: August 21, 2023

Grey's Beach. West Tisbury, MA.

#3652023 #west tisbury #massachusetts #martha's vineyard

Sept 26, 2021 - Draft horses waiting for their turn at the horse pull at the Martha's Vineyard Agricultural Fair-taken Aug 20, 2021

Since the late 1960s there has been a draft horse pull at the Fair. The event happens on the second day of the Fair and goes all afternoon. The teams of horses come over on the ferry, which accommodates their travel during the busiest month of the summer season. They come from various parts of New England to compete here, which is probably one of the smallest venues that they compete in. This year there were fewer fewer teams than usual. That may have been partly due to the fact that there was a possibility of hurricane Henri hitting the Island the next day. In the end, it veered away from a direct hit, and came in as a tropical storm which did cancel the the last day of the Fair

I always love photographing this event. The better view is actually from the bleachers along the side of the pulling arena, and I have taken many photos over the years from that viewpoint, but I really love to spend time at the end of the field where the horses are tied up waiting for their turn.

From there you can interact with the horses.

From this perspective, you get a more personal close-up view of the men handling their horses andchecking harnesses. All the drivers of the different teams seem to know each other well. It seems to be a close community of people. They joke around and give each other a hard time, but are quick to congratulate each other when someone's team does well.