The 2018 Percheron Horse Association of American Members’ Meeting, Banquet and Tour was held in Lansing, MI, November 16-17, 2018. We were graciously hosted by the Garland Farms Percherons. The venue for the meeting and banquet was the Crowne Plaza Lansing West. The banquet consisted of an excellent meal and a brief auction in order to offset the costs of hosting the meeting, led by Mr. Doyle Dingman. We thank Bill and his future wife, Nichole for preparing the table decorations and donating them to the auction. They were very well received! Many of the attendees went home with a beautiful centerpiece for their Thanksgiving tables. Frank and Karen Castella were inducted into the Hall of Fame for 2018.
The bus tour on Saturday began at the Michigan State University museum where we were given a guided tour of many of the artifacts the campus has collected. There is quite a collection varying from Indian attire to a two-headed calf. We were able to sneak a peek at an early 1900’s team harness which was utilized by the Pabst Brewery hitch.
From MSU we ventured to the Amos Hochstetler Family farm where Bill Garland’s herd of Percherons reside. We were treated to an excellent deli lunch and then were invited to preview Bill Garland’s Percherons. Davey Light and family took a great deal of time to prep the horses for our preview which including braiding the stallions. Davey was a bit soaked by the time his job was done. We thank them for putting forth a tremendous effort to prep and display the horses for us in the inclement weather.
From the Hochstetler’s we headed to the farm of Ross, Nicole Honsberger and Family. There were several in our midst anxious to get behind some world champion mares. Ross worked with several of the youth on driving, giving them tips on what they could work on to hone their skills. The youth were all very receptive and braved the cold wind to drive two teams of mares with Ross’ expert guidance.
