BEASTS OF BURDEN.

Byline: Susan Palmer The Register-Guard

SISTERS - All it takes to get Belgian draft horses Pete and King moving is a soft click of the tongue.

The Belgians are listening for it, one ear flicked back and waiting for teamster David Mader to tell them what to do. Mader, sitting in a two-seat cart in the Sisters rodeo arena, clicks and the cart rolls forward. He holds the reins - not slack but not tight, either - in his tanned hands. When Mader pulls lightly to the left, the Belgians look left and ease into a turn.

With horses, Mader says, you can't work quickly, but you can work precisely. To demonstrate, he points to a lone weed 15 feet to the right and slightly behind the team. Within about a minute, the horses have neatly turned and backed the cart and, upon a clipped "Whoa" from Mader, the cart stops, its two wheels centered over the little weed.

"Not bad," Mader says, his sun-weathered face crinkling into an easy grin. "These horses can put an 8-foot trailer in a 9-foot space."

Mader and his wife Deborah own Horsepower Organics, a 155-acre hay and alfalfa farm in Halfway, a small town in the shadow of the Wallowa Mountains in Eastern Oregon. With a herd of 50 Belgians and 15 years experience working with horses, the Maders have made a name for themselves in Oregon's growing draft horse realm.

They brought a couple of their teams to Sisters last weekend for an annual auction and swap meet that draws thousands of draft horse lovers from across North America.

Before the advent of the gas-powered engine, draft horses made easy work of humans' toughest jobs. Bred for strength, endurance, pulling power and easy-going personalities, they were an integral part of both urban and rural landscapes.

In the early 20th century, they began to disappear, slowly after World War I and then more precipitously after World War II.

Lately, the horses are making a comeback, their fans say. No single organization is tracking draft horse use in the United States, but U.S. Department of Agriculture records show a 48 percent increase in the overall number of horses on the nation's farms, from 2.4 million in 1987 to 3.6 million in 2002, the most recent year for which such numbers are available.

Lynn Miller, who publishes the Small Farmer's Journal - a quarterly publication dedicated to the craft of farming with horses - and sponsors the annual auction in Sisters, estimates there are 400 farmers employing horses in Oregon. His magazine reaches 40,000 subscribers worldwide.

The horses are turning up on Lane County farms, working row crops, hay, even vineyards. They're also being used for small logging operations and adding a nostalgic touch to weddings and other celebrations.

Draft horses aren't a replacement for tractors, Deborah Mader says. "But I've never gotten stuck with horses," she says.

Among the local farmers who have trained with the Maders are Tony and Jennifer Broy, a Creswell couple farming on 12 acres with five Belgians. The Broys also contract their horses for small logging jobs.

West of Junction City, Steve Hagen owns 120 acres with 30 acres of grapes that he sells to several area winemakers. Hagen also has trained with the Maders and hopes to use horses for cultivating as he expands his vineyard in May.

Just south of Eugene, Kathy Noble has five Suffolks, a rare draft horse that she'll use to create a small row-crop farm. Noble also plans to breed the compact horse.

Those who work with the horses have a passion for them, extolling their gentle personalities and work ethic.

"I think it's a calling," says Noble, a 38-year-old mother of two who is developing 25 acres called Living Proof Farm.

"There's something in the soul that's stirred by being in control of two powerful animals and working in partnership with them," she says.

Noble had owned a quarterhorse for 13 years before buying Ellie, a Suffolk Punch, a small but sturdy draft horse, at the Sisters auction two years ago.

Within a couple of months, she had purchased two more mares and a stallion.

"Then we had to find a farm because we were living on 40 acres of forest and the feed bills were horrendous," she says.

On Living Proof Farm, she raises hay for the horses and has plans for row crops. She'd like to start a bed and breakfast.

Working with the draft horses, she's learned to appreciate their unique characteristics.

"They have great temperaments," she says. "They're very willing to do what you want them to do, very intelligent. A quarterhorse is more athletic, designed to cut a cow out of a herd with quick moves. It doesn't do well with long, sustained periods of work."

Well-trained horses respond easily to a well-trained teamster, Noble says.

"They're very sensitive to pressure on their bit. It just takes the slightest little touch to pull them left or right," she says.

Horses are also easier on the land, their supporters say. Unlike tractors, they don't pollute the air, compress the ground or require fossil fuels to operate.

Working horses also preserve a part of American history, another part of their allure.

"It's fun to maintain that knowledge, keeping it going, because it could get lost," Jennifer Broy says.

Almost everybody seems to respond to the "gentle giants," says June Harvey, Jennifer's mom and a co-owner of the horses. The family participates in many of Lane County's parades, and at last year's Rhododendron Festival parade in Florence, the Belgians were a big hit, Harvey says.

"We were amazed at that crowd. They were so appreciative, they would clap," she says.

In Sweet Home, LaDonna Chafin offers her Belgians and specialty carriages for wedding parties and other gatherings. Last Christmas, her horses delivered Santa to Valley River Center for his pre-holiday stint there, Chafin says.

Five years ago, Chafin traded an appaloosa for a Belgian and was soon smitten.

"Pretty soon we've got 12 Belgians and three Percherons," she says.

Now Chafin and her husband host a wagon drive the first weekend in October as much to share their love for the animals as anything. Last year, the three-day event attracted 200 people, she says.

"We talk horses for three days," she says.

The challenge for those working with horses is getting them to pull their financial weight. Few farmers meet all their expenses with their farming income.

The Chafins both work. She owns a floral shop. Her husband drives log trucks. Income from renting out the horse and carriage pays for upkeep of the horses, she says.

Noble's husband works as a computer consultant.

In Halfway, the Maders rely on their horse sales and training workshops to help pay the bills.

The horses don't come cheap, Noble says. A pair of draft horses can cost $5,000.

A new harness goes for between $1,000 and $1,300, and doesn't include the tear-drop shaped leather collar priced from $150 to $300.

Keeping a horse in hay comes to about $80 a month. Some horses need shoeing and farriers charge about $60 to shoe a horse, a job that must be done every six to eight weeks if it's being worked on pavement, Noble says.

Regular vet bills for worming and other shots also add up.

Debora Mader knows of a Nevada farmer operating a 10-acre community supported agriculture farm - one supported by people who pay in advance for a season's worth of produce - who's successful.

"He's doing some of the work with a team of horses and making a good living at it," Mader says.

And that's the dream for the Broys in Creswell.

"We're working our way into making it be a career," Jennifer Bray says. For now, she's a forensic scientist at the Oregon state crime lab, and Tony works as a logger.

Last year, when a neighbor's tractor broke down while he was cutting hay, he looked to the Broys for help.

"We went in with our horses and finished the job," Tony Broy says.

HORSE POWER

A sampling of horses in use in the United States bred for strength rather than speed.

Belgian: Originally from Belgium, the area of Europe that gave rise to the Flemish horses from which nearly all modern draft breeds come, this breed stands 16 to 18 hands (a hand is 4 inches - 16 hands is 64 inches), weighs 1,800 to 2,000 pounds and is chestnut or sorrel in color. There are more Belgians in the United States than all other draft horse breeds combined.

Clydesdale: Developed in Scotland and named for the district in which it was bred in the 1830s, the horse is best known in the United States for its presence in beer commercials. Horses range in size from 1,600 to 2,200 pounds and stand 16 to 18 hands.

Haflinger: A smaller horse that originated in the Austrian Tyrol mountains in 1874, the result of a foal sired by a Tyrolean mare and a half-Arab stallion. Haflingers stand 12 to 14 hands and weigh 900 to 1,300 pounds.

Percheron: Originated in the Le Perche region of France southeast of Normandy, dating back to the Middle Ages. Thousands were imported to the United States in the last half of the 19th century and were popular with farmers and teamsters moving freight. A 1930 census showed 70 percent of purebred draft horses were Percherons. The powerful horses, usually black or gray, stand 16 to 17 hands and weigh 1,900 to 2,600 pounds. The Amish preserved the breed here after trucks and tractors took over.

Suffolk Punch: Least known here, the Suffolk emerged in Norfolk and Suffolk counties in England and were bred by farmers to work heavy clay soil. Smaller than other draft breeds, they stand at 15 to 16 hands and weigh 1,400 to 2,100 pounds. The American Suffolk Association estimates between 800 and 1,200 of the horses exist in the United States.

CAPTION(S):

Don Wright of Astoria watches the Draft Horse & Horsedrawn Equipment Auction & Swap Meet from his perch on a piece of equipment for sale. "There's something in the soul that's stirred by being in control of two powerful animals and working in partnership with them."- KATHY NOBLE Liz Bedsole combs a Belgian horse at the Sisters event, which draws thousands of draft horse lovers from across North America. Left: A curry comb frames a Belgian draft horse.