Monday, December 29, 2008

The 40 Horse Hitch

With New Years Day coming up soon and all the big parades on TV, I thought I would pass on a HUGE parade spectacle, the 40 Horse Hitch.

The 40 Horse Hitch is nothing new. The first one documented was back in 1848 on the Spalding and Rogers Show driven by J.W. Paul. Yankee Robinson had a 40 horse hitch in 1866. and Dan Rice made good use of such a fine equine exhibit in 1873.

The Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth took a European tour from 1898 to 1902 with the 40 horse hitch and returned to tour the United States with the 40 in 1903 and 1904. Jake Posey was well known as the 40 Horse Hitch driver on the Barnum & Bailey show. He explained the lead horses were over 80 feet in front of the wagon. To control such a large team, the driver had ten reins in each hand ( one for every two horses ). Mr. Posey always kept the lead reins between his thumb and forefinger and the pole reins bewtween his third and fourth finger.

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